Ongoing IRA violence delaying peace process, warns Ahern
As the British and Irish governments faced renewed unionist pressure to exclude Sinn Féin from talks on the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Ahern insisted it was now time for republicans to end all paramilitary activity.
"The continuation of paramilitary activity by the republican movement negates any prospect of achieving inclusive partnership politics in Northern Ireland," he said.
"I believe the Sinn Féin leadership understand this reality and are working towards ... ending paramilitarism.
"The problem is that time is no longer a friend of the process. It is now almost six years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed. In that time, we have had significant historic events. But we have only periodically been able to see the Agreement working at its best.
"Remedying the deficits of trust and confidence that now exist requires a fast-forwarding to completion."
Mr Ahern was heckled by a small group of Sinn Féin activists who claimed he was not doing enough to support the peace process as he arrived in Derry to deliver a speech at the University of Ulster's Magee campus.
However, inside he told an audience, including the party's Martin McGuinness and Mitchel McLaughlin, that the process was continually in crisis because some would not relinquish the ways of the past.
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble led his party out of the review talks at Stormont earlier this week after insisting Sinn Féin be excluded following allegations of IRA involvement in the attempted kidnapping of dissident republican Bobby Tohill last month.
However, Mr Ahern said all-inclusive talks were the only way to reach a final settlement.
"Some parties seem to believe a policy of exclusion is the answer," he said.
"It is my belief that any such policy would not be workable. Arrangements which excluded the largest party in one community would scarcely be the best expression of partnership government, would in practice not provide political stability and would not be conducive to achieving closure on paramilitarism."
Senior British and Irish officials and the North's parties are set to meet again next week as the review process nears its scheduled end at Easter.
However, the entire process has been overshadowed by concerns over continuing paramilitary activity.
Mr Ahern said he agreed with Tony Blair that the people of Northern Ireland want the republican movement to commit to peace, unionists to commit to power-sharing and everyone to get on with the job of delivering good governance and a better future for all.
"If these core issues, which are inextricably linked, can be resolved, I believe that Northern Ireland will be on an irreversible path to peace, stability and progress."
Mr Ahern admitted the two governments must also meet their commitments.
"Regardless of political context, we must press on with the implementation of the outstanding aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, not as concessions to one side or another, but because they are the objective requirement of the new and fair society that the Agreement envisaged," he added.
