Peremptorily demanding decommissioning will get nowhere and, at worst, lead to the very situation that we are trying to avoid", the Taoiseach has said.
On a lengthy outline of the Government's approach to all-party talks on the future of Northern Ireland last night, Mr Ahern also said that if it is to be successful, they must involve "a radical re-negotiation on a three-strand basis, not just of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, but of the 1920-21 settlement".
Many of the original intentions in relation to NorthSouth relations and non-
discrimination were not fulfilled.
Addressing the Solidarity to Organise Peace Group in Dublin, the Taoiseach said that in preparing for talks, the Government would particularly seek to put
"more flesh on any ideas in the Framework Document, so that concrete proposals can be put forward that go beyond general principle".
Three key areas could be identified:
Fulfilment of the commitments to equality made by the British government in the Framework Document.
A more detailed approach to the envisaged North-South institutions.
The engagement of broader constitutional negotiations, "including the need for a new approach to constitutional doctrines on both sides".
Mr Ahern also told the group he will establish a committee, involving the
Government and Northern parties who wish to participate, to regularly review
"means of achieving progress" in the process.
He was also prepared to consider the possibility of reconvening, on an occasional basis, the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, which was stood down by the last government in the aftermath of the breakdown of the last IRA
ceasefire.
Meanwhile, decommissioning was an important issue, but arguments about how it is to be achieved must not be allowed to block political progress. The Mitchell report and the decommissioning and clarification documents agreed by the two governments represented a "reasonable approach".
"Democratic governments have a continuing duty to remove and decommission illegally held weapons. Mutual decommissioning, on the other hand, on a voluntary basis has self-evidently to be negotiated and agreed, as is clear from
Mitchell," Mr Ahern said.
Peremptory demands would get nowhere and it was time for honesty and realism on this issue. It was time for "the adoption of a position that is best calculated to genuinely remove the gun and the bomb as a factor in Irish politics for good".
The Irish Government took the view that a new political dispensation, commanding the allegiance and consent of both main traditions, was essential.
"The Government of Ireland Act of 1920 and subsequent constitutional development failed to resolve the conflict of political allegiances within
Ireland. A deep settlement, incorporating positive elements that have been identified, would address and over come previous failures going back to 1920, to achieve the basis of a just and durable solution," the Taoiseach added.
Everyone who put people first would welcome the restoration of the IRA
ceasefire. Acknowledging some unionists' difficulty in coming to terms immediately with the ceasefire, he said that political difficulties that follow are "far preferable challenges for politicians to deal with than a succession of coffins".