The President of the United States, the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister issued a tripartite statement this morning urging Northern leaders, in the strongest terms, to meet the deadline set for all aspects of the Belfast Agreement on Good Friday.
"The prize is very great indeed and it is now in sight. We have come too far to go back now. Let us finish the task between now and Good Friday", they said.
President Clinton, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern worked on the text of the statement throughout St Patrick's Day in an attempt to give the final push to efforts to work out a compromise on the setting up of the Northern executive and a visible start to the decommissioning of arms in the next two weeks.
"The agreement endorsed by the people last May must be implemented in all its aspects and the remaining difficulties must be resolved," the three leaders stated. "We, as leaders, bear that responsibility and that means all of us whether we live in Northern Ireland, the Republic, Britain, or the United States. That is what the people want and we must not fail them."
A year ago, they added, some said it was hopeless, that the sides were too far apart. But the people and political parties in Northern Ireland proved them wrong.
"We all persevered. People compromised. People showed courage."
Mr Clinton, Mr Ahern and Mr Blair concluded: "One year on, we can meet the deadline that has been set. More courage will be needed. But we are nearly there."
On his departure from Washington yesterday, Mr Ahern said Mr Clinton concentrated his efforts very much on Mr Trimble and Mr Adams during his intensive round of meetings with party leaders at the White House. "He urged both of them to conclude an agreement and move on. He gave a lot of time to it," he added.
"From our perspective, we leave here convinced that we have to meet the Good Friday deadline. There is every danger that things will unravel and get difficult if we don't," he said.
"The President did press very hard on both sides. He is very au fait with all of the nuances. He understands this blow-by-blow as well as any of us. I think all the punches were well directed. All of the right things were said and he wasn't trying to hit one side or the other. It was very even-handed," Mr Ahern continued.
He said every one of the Northern leaders believed that an agreement had to be reached. But none of them knew how they were going to do it.
"I hit very hard at all of my meetings that parking or stalling was just a cop-out. I'd rather stay up all night for a week rather than push the problem down the road for a number of weeks."
Both Mr Blair and himself had arranged to keep in close contact with President Clinton up to Good Friday, the Taoiseach said. He also announced that he would be leaving for the EU summit in Berlin a day earlier, on Tuesday, and would be meeting Mr Blair on Tuesday or Wednesday. "There are going to be two issues - Europe and the North - right throughout the three days," he added.
With a greater understanding of the stalemate, but no resolution in sight, Mr Ahern said he was convinced that if a solution was to stand up with their respective colleagues, it would not work if only one side moved.
"Whatever construction, it will have to have both of them moving or nobody moves."
Government sources indicated that all efforts in the next week would concentrate on establishing the bottom lines underlying Mr Trimble's and Mr Adams's stated position.
Deaglan de Breadun, Northern Editor writes:
Mr Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, said in Washington that he was prepared to "reach out" to the Ulster Unionists to resolve the dispute over paramilitary weapons. He added, however, that he had to be sure of a "meaningful response" from the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble.
"I want to make sure that Mr Trimble and I jump together on this," he told a news conference.
He said the UUP leader had told him he wanted an "event" in which a range of republican armaments would be destroyed, but Mr Adams said he told Mr Trimble he could not "deliver".
The two leaders had a private discussion for about 30 minutes on Wednesday evening in an office at the White House.
