The law should be upheld in Drumcree next Sunday, the Taoiseach said. "The Parades Commission has made a determination and, if nothing happens short of that, it should be upheld. People should accept it peacefully. People should not try to make the RUC's job more difficult by congregating on either side," Mr Ahern added.

In his last Question Time before the summer recess, he said he had met deputations from the SDLP and Sinn Fein earlier this week. Sinn Fein agreed with him that the law on marches must be adhered to and people should not be congregating.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, asked why, after the successful conclusion of the Belfast Agreement and the election of the Assembly, the IRA still had not said its war was over and its arsenal of arms could now be considered redundant.

Mr Ahern said he had had no contact with the IRA. "In terms of my meetings with Sinn Fein, and any other groups, I emphasise that I would hope that the war is over."

The security advice was that matters relating to the Provisional IRA were "calm and quiet", he said. "I welcome that. Of course, I would welcome positive statements from them as well."

Pressed further by Mr Bruton, he said the various parties had been positive about moving the agreement on but signals from paramilitary groups that they were committed exclusively to democratic methods would be a positive development.

"Perhaps these people would watch what happens on the ground. I have heard and met people from south Armagh and other parts of the North recently who would not have anything to do with the IRA and would be from other political parties.

"They have told me they see no de-escalation of roadblocks, of army-RUC checkpoints; that they see construction of army bases and see work on the tower blocks and they see as many patrols as they ever saw. Maybe that influences these people and it may be because of that they do not see demilitarisation moving on.

"Of course, my response to that is quite clear: the agreement is there, people have voted for it, so they should not be waiting to see those kind of things. Maybe that is what is on their mind."

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, asked if the Taoiseach had raised with Sinn Fein the desirability of a significant confidence-building measure and of some form of communication to indicate the substance of the message that the war was over.

Mr Ahern said he continually raised the issue. He said nobody would be happier than him if there was a statement from the IRA that the war was over.

"I would get the sense that the Sinn Fein leadership is trying extraordinarily hard - and has been for some time - to try to keep control. I know for a fact that elected members of Sinn Fein spent several hours on the streets with young people in Lurgan and west Belfast last Saturday to get them to desist from throwing stones and other activities."

He believed the Sinn Fein people he was meeting seemed determined to do all they could to ensure there were no difficulties.

The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said Sinn Fein needed the Ulster Unionist Party, and David Trimble in particular, to make the Assembly work and for it to become part of the Executive. "It is extremely important that there is a recognition of that fact by Sinn Fein."

There was a need, he added, for some type of declaration that the war was over, which would greatly assist Mr Trimble in moving his party forward in the workings of the Assembly and the Executive.

Mr Ahern said Sinn Fein needed the UUP and the UUP needed Sinn Fein. In talking to people in recent days, he had detected far more confidence and trust building up than in the past.