The Taoiseach has said he expects the British government to publish its long-awaited proposals for the demilitarisation of life in Northern Ireland in the "not too distant future".
Mr Ahern made his comments after meeting the British prime minister, Mr Tony Blair, in Helsinki last night ahead of today's start of the EU Heads of Government Summit in the Finnish capital.
The Taoiseach said the normalisation issue needed to be brought forward.
"In areas like east Tyrone and South Armagh there have been no security problems since the summer of 1997, yet the level of security infrastructure in those areas is the same as it was in the mid 1970s. The situation is not similar and we have to reflect that," he said .
In a meeting which lasted more than 90 minutes, the two leaders discussed a range of issues relating to Northern Ireland, including procedures and arrangements for next Monday's meeting of the North South ministerial council in Armagh.
Mr Ahern said they discussed decommissioning "at some length" and expressed the hope that the International Commission on Decommissioning would deal with the issue "otherwise we will be back in some difficulty".
He said it was important that all sides intensify their efforts to ensure decommissioning happens. The Taoiseach said his complaints and concerns over the bugging of a car used to drive the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, had been "well registered" with Mr Blair and that it was a case of "message received".
However, the Taoiseach said the matter was now for the British government.
The Taoiseach and Mr Blair also discussed the beef row between France and the UK.
Mr Ahern said the Government would be supportive of the British position.
He expressed his satisfaction that the discussions on defence policy to take place at the summit later today and again tomorrow were in keeping with Irish peacekeeping policies.
Pre-empting fallout from the Budget climbdown over the taxation of double and single-income families, Mr Ahern said the Budget problems were now behind the Coalition and he issued a warning to groups seeking further changes. "The Budget cannot be used by everyone who didn't find things in the Budget to their satisfaction to now get it changed. That's it. There will be no more changes to the Budget. That's a message for everybody," the Taoiseach said.