The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who will meet the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, on Friday, said the Irish and British governments will move rapidly after the Northern Ireland election to seek the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
With voting taking place tomorrow, Mr Ahern told Fianna Fáil members in north Dublin last night that the two governments were determined to bring finality to outstanding difficulties.
The last attempt to broker an agreement between Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists broke down last month after the IRA refused to allow the head of the independent decommissioning body, Gen John de Chastelain, to disclose how much weapons and explosives it had put beyond use.
Referring to the breakdown on October 21st, Mr Ahern said that progress had been made despite the difficulties that arose. He appealed to voters to turn out in large numbers. Mr Ahern will meet Mr Blair at a meeting on Friday morning of the British-Irish Council in Wales.
The meeting in Cardiff will take place before the final result of the election is known although the two leaders will discuss the emerging trends.
"I do not know whether the full results of the election will be available at the time of our meeting but I hope that we can have some initial exchanges on the steps that we can take to restore the Assembly and the Executive," said Mr Ahern.
The "core principles, values and protections" set out in the agreement would not be affected in the review scheduled to begin in December, he said.
Thus the fundamental elements of the agreement were not up for renegotiation.
This was seen as an implicit message to the DUP, whose "renegotiation" policy is crucial to its attempts in the election to supersede the UUP as the biggest unionist party.
The Taoiseach said his priority after the election was to put a functioning power-sharing executive in place.
"This priority task should not be confused with the four-year review of the agreement which, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, will commence in December," he said.
"It is the intention of the two governments to consult with the parties prior to bringing forward proposals on the agenda and conduct of the review."
He said the Government wanted to advance the commitments made in the Joint Declaration by the Irish and British governments earlier this year.
Legislation to establish the commission to monitor paramilitary ceasefires will be introduced shortly. Sinn Féin has said it will not co-operate with the monitoring commission because it is outside the scope of the agreement.
