The Taoiseach has said he is "very heartened" by the Bush administration's level of interest in Northern Ireland after informal talks yesterday with the US President.
Mr Ahern had a formal meeting with the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, and the N tional Security Adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, yesterday as it was confirmed that Mr Powell intends appointing a special envoy to take responsibility for Northern Ireland. Mr Richard Haass, director of policy planning at the State Department, has yet to be confirmed by the US Senate.
The move further allays fears the Bush administration would take little interest in Northern Ireland. Mr Ahern said the message he got yesterday from Mr Powell and in his informal conversation with President Bush over lunch was "consistent with what we have been hearing" from the US in recent years.
The Northern Ireland leaders are being given a higher level of access than had been expected, while Mr Bush is participating in more events than had initially been planned. This is seen as a response to pressure from within Mr Bush's Republican Party by senators and congressmen reliant on Irish-American votes. They have pressed the administration not to allow the Democrats to portray themselves as having a monopoly of concern over Northern Ireland.
President Bush attended the Speaker's lunch on Capitol Hill yesterday, sitting beside the Taoiseach at the top table. Mr Powell sat at another table flanked by the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon. Among the other guests were the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams; the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Seamus Pattison; the Irish Ambassador to the US, Mr Sean O hUiginn, and the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, Mr Dermot Gallagher.
After his formal meeting with Mr Ahern this morning, Mr Bush is also expected to have a short conversation with Mr Trimble and Mr Mallon. Mr Ahern told yesterday's lunch that he was "confident agreement will be reached by the June target date" on police reform. His optimism echoes recent similar statements by Mr Mallon and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.
He welcomed Wednesday's meeting between an IRA representative and the de Chastelain Commission and called for substantially more progress towards demilitarisation. "The people who have borne the brunt of living in a militarised environment need to see that politics does work, that there are tangible benefits to peace and that their daily lives can be changed for the better forever."