The Taoiseach will pay his first visit to the all-party talks in Belfast the week after next. This emerged following a meeting between Mr Ahern and the leaders of five Northern parties in Government Buildings yesterday.
Mr Ahern said afterwards that he had "a very useful discussion" with delegations from the SDLP, the Alliance Party, Sinn Fein, the Women's Coalition and the Northern Ireland Labour Party. He believed there was now a confidence that, if everyone engaged in discussions on the peace process, they could move to an historical solution.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, said what emerged was the commitment of all the parties present to do everything in their power "to ensure that the talks process gets down to the serious business of reaching agreement".
The Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, suggested that the unionists had not yet engaged in the talks. Later Mr Ruairi Quinn had his first meeting with Mr Hume since he became Labour Party leader.
