The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister yesterday welcomed the first meetings of the new British-Irish bodies as a further significant step in the Northern Ireland political process.
At a Downing Street press conference, Mr Ahern and Mr Blair said the inaugural meetings of the British-Irish Council and the British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference would deepen understanding and strengthen ties between London, Dublin and Belfast.
Questioned about whether they believed weapons decommissioning would take place, Mr Ahern said that paramilitaries would assist the process by "decommissioning" as an issue. Mr Blair said the matter was being dealt with by the Independent Commission on Decommissioning, and that the entire Belfast Agreement had to be implemented.
Mr Blair declined to respond to questioning on Mr Chris Patten's report on the RUC, saying he would wait until the appropriate time to comment.
Asked about common interests between both parts of Ireland, and between Ireland and Britain on the fisheries issue, Mr Blair said: "There is a real problem, the fact that fishing stocks have been run down so low."
Mr Ahern pointed to the attendance of the North's new Agriculture Minister, Ms Brid Rodgers, at the EU Fisheries Council this week with the Irish Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods. They had argued a common case in the interests of the population, North and South, and the fisheries issue had also been discussed collectively yesterday.
Asked whether his Government would move to reduce the security presence in places such as south Armagh, Mr Blair said: "We are always looking for ways to normalise the situation." Mr Blair said the next meeting of the British-Irish Council in six months in Dublin would examine progress on five issues: drugs, social exclusion, transport, the environment and e-commerce.
Mr Blair described the council meeting as "an extraordinary event, a coming together of people who have much in common, much shared history. It was very good to see all the different parts of the Good Friday agreement falling into place.
"We have come further in the last few months than we could possibly have thought."
Asked about the fact that he had for the first time shaken hands in public with a Sinn Fein representative, the Minister of Health, Ms Bairbre de Brun, he said he hoped such gestures would soon be regarded routine.
"Part of this whole process is that we start to treat each other like normal human beings in a normal society," said Mr Blair. "Bairbre de Brun is a Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, and I think it would be strange if I were not able to shake hands with her in public. If that's a milestone, well, so be it."