Historic breakthrough 'can be achieved'

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern last night expressed confidence that a historic breakthrough can still be achieved that would see the Democratic Unionist Party sharing power with Sinn Féin in restored institutions in the North.

But Mr Ahern added the ultimate call on whether or not an agreement would be possible would have to be made "within a matter or days" and also accepted that the restoration of devolved government may not occur as quickly as the Irish and British governments wish.

Hinting at the exhaustive and at times frustrating nature of the talks, he pointed out that the DUP and SF could not continue to pursue perfect deals in endless negotiations.