The DUP has warned the British and Irish governments that it "will not be pushed over" when it came to talks involving Sinn Féin about the restoration of Stormont.
Yesterday both the Taoiseach and the Northern Secretary talked up the importance of a "clean" report on IRA activity from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) in January as a trigger for a renewed push for political progress.
Speaking in advance of separate talks in Downing Street between Sinn Féin and DUP delegations with prime minister Tony Blair later this week, Mr Peter Hain said that if the IMC gave "a clean bill of health to the implementation of the IRA's promises" then it would be "time to start talking and move Northern Ireland".
He added that early intelligence reports indicate that the IRA has "delivered on their promise" about ending violence for good, but that "bombs and bullets, punishment attacks, intelligence-gathering and targeting" also had to end.
Mr Bertie Ahern said of Sinn Féin: "The only danger for them is that [ progress] has to be based on a peace process that is sincere, that is honest, that is upfront, that is credible.
"The public will watch with all the cynicism that the public have about many things to make sure that that is the truth and, of course, I will be a member of the public watching that too."
However, the DUP's North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds warned: "The mere absence of activity, whether terrorist or criminal, does not in itself qualify any organisation for government.
"Unless there is unequivocal evidence of the dismantling of the criminal structures and the disbandment of the terrorist machine, the fact that the Provos keep quiet for a few months will not convince unionism to admit Sinn Féin into government."
Mr Dodds said the DUP would not be "pushed over".
Mr Hain confronted what observers see as unionist acceptance of enduring direct rule from London. Direct rule "cannot last years", he said, adding that the "period of political paralysis" had to end. "It has got to come sooner rather than later, and I will be working flat out in the coming months."
The Taoiseach told RTÉ radio: "I totally and fully understand the concerns that the DUP have. I would share those, but I think we are finding resolutions to the concerns," he said.
Speaking at the weekend, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams talked up the importance of an early restoration of the Stormont institutions.
Following a meeting of the party's ardchomhairle in Dublin, he said: "This morning the ardchomhairle discussed what needs to happen in the aftermath of the IRA's decision to complete the process of putting their arms beyond use."
He repeated that the DUP "needed space to consider all that has happened", and added: "There is a heavy responsibility on the Irish and British governments to ensure that there is momentum."