The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, warned against blaming members and staff of the decommissioning body, the IICD, for the difficulties in the Northern peace process.
Mr Cowen paid tribute to the "professionalism and commitment" of the IICD, particularly the contribution made by Gen de Chastelain and Mr Sens.
"It is inappropriate and unfair to direct any sense of frustration stemming from the presentation and information regarding the decommissioning event toward them. They have faithfully carried out their task under the scheme established by law."
Mr Cowen, who was speaking during a series of statements on developments in the North, said Tuesday's IRA decommissioning was seen by republicans as part of a process of putting all arms beyond use. However, the leader of the UUP and his advisers decided the threshold of public confidence had not been met to enable the UUP to make its contribution to the deal.
"In the considered view of the Government, therefore, what is required now is to bridge the gap between what was done yesterday, as confirmed by the IICD, and how to communicate this in a way that engenders public confidence."
This was not simply a demand by the UUP, said Mr Cowen. In its statement, in May 2000, the IRA re-engaged with the IICD to begin a process to completely and verifiably put its arms beyond use. Mr Cowen added that the IRA had said: "We will do it in such a way as to avoid risk to the public and misappropriation by others and ensure maximum public confidence."
The reality, said Mr Cowen, was that decommissioning of arms on Tuesday had not maximised public confidence.
He was conscious of the sensitivity of the arms issue to those republicans who, though committed to peaceful means, respected the tradition of physical force republicanism.
"The Government recognises the contribution that the republican leadership has made. However, the presentation of decommissioning must surely rank as a secondary consideration compared to the over-riding need to create the degree of public confidence that will facilitate the creation of the second executive in the wake of the elections scheduled for November 26th next." Earlier, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said that in assessing the significance of the decommissioning act, they needed to recall that the IRA had once said there would never be any decommissioning, "not a bullet, not an ounce".
Regrettably the level of detail of the decommissioned items, despite the further details provided at his press conference by Gen de Chastelain, did not reach what Mr David Trimble felt was required.
"Why, you may reasonably ask, did the IRA insist that Gen de Chastelain, should maintain so much confidentiality about the material being put beyond use? That, for most of us is an absolutely reasonably question to ask. I cannot, none of us can, answer for or explain the thinking of that organisation. But their view is likely to be that the absence of confidentiality would damage rather than enhance the process of resolving the arms issue fully within their organisation. I sincerely hope that in respect of yesterday's act at least, the IRA will revisit their thinking on this issue.
"The point might also be reasonably made that if the two governments have more detail, they should simply publish what they know. This is something to which the Prime Minister and I gave some thought yesterday and discussed at some length.
"We had to be mindful, however, of the possibility that if the confidentiality which enables Gen de Chastelain to proceed with his task were lifted by the governments, it could have the effect of damaging the prospects of fully resolving the arms issue in the longer term."
