The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister insisted yesterday that the declaration drafted at Hillsborough offered the best basis for the formation of an executive and the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Ahern and Mr Tony Blair, answering questions from reporters, said that the declaration could allow the decommissioning hurdle to be overcome to the satisfaction of all parties.
The Taoiseach said that the proposal whereby the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries would hand over some weapons one month after the formation of a shadow executive including Sinn Fein could end the impasse.
Mr Ahern described the formula as a very simple process which could be implemented over a short period of time. It would allow the various elements of the agreement to be put into force.
"I believe this is the basis over the few days ahead for them [the politicians] to complete that work, and I think they understand that they can do that. And I do not believe that they will leave anyone down", Mr Ahern said. "I think the structure, the plan, the timing, the arrangements are all very clear, and were agreed, and so, without finishing everything, certainly we have cleared well over 90 per cent."
Mr Blair said that the break before the resumption of talks on Tuesday April 13th would allow a "brief pause for reflection" which in turn could provide the environment for the agreement to be implemented. He believed that the declaration could allow the d'Hondt mechanism to be triggered sometime after April 13th, establishing the executive. It could also allow some disarmament four weeks afterwards, taking place on a special day of reconciliation.
"Now, that is a tremendous way forward", Mr Blair added.
He realised that there would be opposition to the declaration from the anti-agreement bloc. "Of course, there will be people out there who will denounce this, who will denounce anybody who has agreed this as having betrayed them, as having committed an act of treachery. But these are the people who have never had anything to say about the future of Northern Ireland", he said. "They have never had anything constructive to offer. These people literally are the past in Northern Ireland."
Mr Blair said that he and the Taoiseach had agreed that the declaration did carry an obligation for some IRA decommissioning: "This is a way out of the impasse. We are agreed upon it. I believe everyone will be agreed upon it."
