The UDA has announced it will extend its ceasefire 'indefinitely'. The loyalist paramilitary group made its claim in a statement which was read at a press conference in Belfast today. The organisation also said it hoped for a political agreement which all sides could support.
The UDA announcement followed weeks of negotiations which involved talks between its representatives and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern and Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy.
Members of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), which is close to the UDA, delivered the statement in Belfast earlier.
Discussions are understood to have centred on the treatment of loyalist prisoners inside the high security Maghaberry Jail and the need for working class Protestant communities to receive economic aid.
The group claimed it wanted to develop relationships with the nationalist community and added that it would remain in contact with the decommissioning body and the Independent Monitoring Commission.
However, today's announcement comes only days after Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde accused the loyalist organisation of not holding to its ceasefire and of being involved in murder, paramilitary attacks and drug dealing.
Northern Ireland security minister Ms Jane Kennedy met a UPRG delegation last month and claimed the UDA could not seriously be considered to be on ceasefire. She blamed the organisation for hoax bombs in Belfast and attacks on prison officers' homes related to the dispute at Magheraberry.
Afterwards, Ms Kennedy said the UDA could not be considered to be on ceasefire until it renounced violence and racketeering. The organisation, which has fought a bitter feud and is steeped in organised crime, has been on a self-proclaimed ceasefire for nearly 12 months.
The UDA ceasefire has not been recognised since October 2001 when the then Northern Ireland secretary Mr John Reid declared it over after its involvement in sectarian pipe bombings on the homes of Catholics.
Four killings during 2003 were linked to a feud within the UDA. The last sectarian killing claimed by the group took place when a 19-year-old Catholic Mr Gerard Lawlor was shot dead in July 2002.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, today welcomed the UDA's statement, saying it represented an important commitment by those organisations to the achievement of a political settlement.
Mr Ahern said: "It is significant that the UDA/UFF wish to develop relationships with the nationalist community based on mutual respect and equity and that they want to move forward towards a new Northern Ireland that is free from all forms of sectarianism and racism.
"I hope that this development will help to ease tensions on the streets and to further develop a climate of confidence between both communities," he said.
Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness has tentatively welcomed this afternoon's statement by the UDA but warned that the loyalist paramilitary group's words would be judged 'by their actions.'
Mr McGuinness added: "Any process of conflict resolution requires collective responsibility and dialogue.
"Much work has been done by prominent Irish citizens in recent times with representatives of the UDA and I commend those involved."
Mr McGuinness said it was crucial that the UDA immediately ended sectarian attacks.