Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has warned Northern Ireland could be in political limbo for 20 years if plans proposed by the Irish and British governments to restore the Executive fail.
He was speaking ahead of tomorrow's first meeting of the Northern Assembly at Stormont for over three years. Devolution was suspended in October 2002 over allegations of a Sinn Fein spying ring at Stormont. There have been three failed attempts to establish a multi-party government since then.
The two governments have now set a November 24th deadline for the appointment of an executive.
"To go any longer will just be a nonsense. It will be unworkable, it'll flake away," Mr Ahern told RTE Radio's This Weekprogramme. "It's not that I'll say that or Tony Blair will say that that's just the reality of it. If we can't do it in six months then we're unlikely to do it this side of the next twenty years and that's my view and that's Tony Blair's view."
Under the government's proposals, Stormont's 108 Assembly members will initially be given six weeks to form a multi-party government comprised of the Democratic Unionists, Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP before the summer. If that proves impossible, they will have until November 24th.
If the parties fail, both governments insist the Assembly will be suspended and MLAs' salaries and allowances stopped. London and Dublin have said they will seek to implement the Belfast Agreement themselves and step up cross-border co-operation.
Mr Ahern said today the November deadline was too long in his opinion, but he had agreed to it as a compromise.
The Taoiseach argued that issues like IRA criminality, paramilitarism and arms decommissioning were now resolved and should no longer block talks between republicans and unionists.
"It is a major achievement, I think, to get there and I'm very happy we're there," he said. "For the first time since 2002, we've achieved the resolution of so many issues that have bedevilled us for 30 years or even for 130 years."
He insisted that cross-community consent was the only solution to the impasse in the peace process.
"It is the only thing that will work in Northern Ireland. It is the basis of the Good Friday agreement taking account of the review that was done," he said. "That's the only way we'll resolve this issue and next Monday starts that and they've six months to decide and I hope they do it right and I believe they will."