Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said today he had high hopes Northern Ireland's political parties would meet a November 24th deadline for restoring power-sharing government.
Both governments set the crunch deadline earlier this year, warning that failure to agree would put the regional administration into "cold storage", with direct rule by Britain continuing but with increased input from Dublin.
Dermot Ahern
"On 24th November we can re-empower positive politics in Northern Ireland for good," Mr Ahern said in the text of a speech to be delivered to the British Irish Association in the English university city of Oxford on Friday evening.
"It is, in a sense, the last threshold. A real opportunity. Let's not squander it," he said.
Mr Ahern said the context for progress in Northern Ireland had never been better, and that restoration of the Belfast-based assembly was "there for the taking".
The summer "marching season" had been the most peaceful in years, he said.
This combined with a stable security environment, the IRA pledge late last year to pursue its goals without guns or bombs, and positive signals from loyalist paramilitaries gave him grounds for hope, he said.
Talks between Northern Ireland's political parties aimed at resolving outstanding issues ahead of the November deadline are expected to take place in the second week of October.