The Government is prepared to work with the Ulster Defence Association to advance the peace process, the Taoiseach has declared, following talks in Dublin last night with the organisation's political representatives.
The meeting with the Ulster Political Research Group began in Government Buildings at 7 p.m., shortly after Mr Ahern returned from an EU meeting in Madrid with the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar.
The group is keen to be heard in the upcoming review of the Good Friday Agreement and to secure better conditions for Loyalist prisoners in Northern jails.
Mr Ahern said he hoped the meeting, along with others, would "over time build a constructive relationship with the wider loyalist community".
"I know that all too often, loyalist people feel their voices are not heard, and their concerns are ignored. I am encouraged by some of the positive work of the Loyalist Commission and the Ulster Political Research Group.
"I stressed that progress can only be made when there is peace on the streets and that the use of violence, the threat of violence and involvement in criminality are contrary to the interests of everybody, including the loyalist community itself."
The UDA declared a new ceasefire almost one year ago, but it has been accused of breaking its truce on a number of occasions - including the orchestration of a spate of attacks upon Northern prison officers. The UPRG delegation, escorted by gardaí from the Border, included councillors Mr Frank McCoubrey, Mr Frankie Gallagher and Mr Tommy Kirkham, its prisoners' spokesman, Mr Stanley Fletcher, and UDA leader, Mr Jackie McDonald.
Following the 90-minute meeting, Mr Kirkham said: "It was an open meeting. It was amicable. We discussed the situation within the prisons. In fact, we asked for support for a review of the prisons' situation. He said he would work with us in the future. Today is only the start of a whole series of meetings."
Mr Kirkham said it was "an historic occasion" when a Loyalist group travelled to Dublin to get an audience for its concerns. "For some months now there seems to have been a pandering to the IRA by the Secretary of State and by the British Prime Minister. It is only right that we bring those concerns to the Taoiseach," Mr Kirkham told waiting journalists.
