The impending collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly will hamper efforts to solve the dispute at the Holy Cross Girls School in north Belfast, it was claimed tonight.
Father Aidan Troy has watched over the youngsters as they have run a daily gauntlet of Loyalist abuse on their way to and from school in Ardoyne since term began.
The Catholic priest tonight held talks with the Taoiseach Mr Ahern and asked him to raise the issue with his British counterpart Mr Tony Blair when the two meet at a European Union summit tomorrow.
He said action was needed before someone was killed - especially following a blast bomb explosion near the school run yesterday.
"There are children visibly getting sick before our very eyes, they are being absolutely terrorised. Then there is the level of the inter-community tensions and both must be addressed.
"I think the whole climate of what is happening in the north of Ireland at the moment, and particularly in north Belfast, gives a terrible sense of weakness of institution."
He added: "I can hear news bulletin after news bulletin saying something else has failed or is on the long finger. You do get the sense that we could very easily begin to sink into a society which is not necessarily lawless, but a society without structure or shape."
His talks with Mr Ahern followed a meeting with President Mary McAleese earlier today. "The crucial issue is to get people like Taoiseach Ahern, Tony Blair and Mary McAleese to keep standing up and say this is unacceptable," he said.
Speaking after the meeting in Government Buildings this evening, the Taoiseach urged local politicians and community representatives to "re-double their efforts in the coming days to facilitate inter-community dialogue and local agreement on the way forward". The Taoiseach called for an end to the protest at the school, which is now in its seventh week. "There can be no justification for a protest targeted at young children," he said. He said the girls, some as young as four, were being subjected to "appalling treatment".
He condemned yesterday’s blast bomb attack on Alliance Avenue, which occurred while parents and children were walking home from the school.
He added: "The protest at the school should be brought to an end immediately before more damage is inflicted on the innocent victims of this dispute."
Loyalists residents from the Glenbryn area have protested at the school since the start of the academic year. They say Republican paramilitaries are using the school run to launch attacks on their homes.
Additonal reporting by PA