The restored IRA ceasefire had proved to be of a markedly better quality than the one which ended with the bombing of Canary Wharf, the Taoiseach told the Dail.

Moving a motion that the Dail approve the establishment of the International Commission on Decommissioning, Mr Ahern said there was an apparent absence of surveillance or targeting, while punishment beatings in republican areas had ceased.

There was now a calm atmosphere and a level playing field for all eligible to take part in talks. He hoped the Ulster Unionist Party would decide in favour of participation in the talks at its meeting on Saturday.

"The Government here very much want the representatives of the unionist and loyalist people to take part, so that the voice and concerns of that community will be heard and fully taken into account. I want to stress that the process of dialogue offers no threat to the unionist community or to anybody else," he said.

Mr Ahern said the objectives of the commission, agreed by the Irish and British governments last month, would be to facilitate the decommissioning of arms in accordance with the report of the international body chaired by Senator George Mitchell.

The commission had been given four specific functions:

(a) to consult the participants in political negotiations in Northern Ireland, including both governments, and others whom it deemed relevant, on the type of scheme or schemes for decommissioning;

(b) to present to the two governments proposals for schemes for decommissioning;

(c) to undertake such tasks that may be required of it to facilitate the decommissioning of arms including observing, monitoring and verifying decommissioning and receiving and auditing arms;

(d) to report periodically to the two governments and the other participants in political negotiations in Northern Ireland.

Well-qualified people for nomination as members of the commission had been proposed by the governments of Finland, Canada and the US, and offices were available for the commission in Dublin and Belfast.

Arrangements were in hand for commission members-designate to visit Dublin for briefing, while arrangements had also been made for them to meet security experts in both jurisdictions. Any suggestions that the Government had failed to deliver on commitments, or held up progress in this area, were completely wide of the mark.

The Fine Gael deputy leader, Mrs Nora Owen, urged the unionist parties to recognise that participants in all-party negotiations who had accepted the six Mitchell Principles could be held to account during the talks if at any time they reneged on any of those principles.

"This is a protection which is built in to the talks process and for that reason, there is no need to suspect the setting of a trap," she said. Sinn Fein, in making public its commitment to these principles, had adopted the responsibility that went with them.

The Labour leader, Mr Dick Spring, said those going to the table on Monday must know they were not going there to win, but to seek agreement. He urged the Government to be generous in implementing a commitment in the Joint Framework Document to introduce proposals for changes in the Constitution to reflect fully the principle of consent in Northern Ireland.

"The timing of an Irish Government initiative in relation to the Constitution could play a vital role in shaping the atmosphere, and ultimately the outcome, of these negotiations."

The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said the talks would only succeed if all sides entered them with a realistic expectation of what could be achieved. If Sinn Fein entered them claiming it could achieve a united Ireland in this process, it was either "incredibly naive or deliberately misleading their supporters".

He said the Mitchell recommendation that there be some decommissioning during the talks must be the "guiding principle", as there would be no agreement without progress on decommissioning.

Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) said he would not be supporting the ratification of the proposed commission as it was now constituted, as its remit was too narrow. Sinn Fein had a "much broader view" of the need for demilitarisation in the six counties. "All armed groups must be included, most especially the largest and most heavily armed section, the British crown forces". There was also the "neglected is sue" of the estimated 140,000 legally-held firearms in the unionist community. However, Mr O Caolain said Sinn Fein would work with this or any commission which was established in the interests of the peace process.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, said the costs of funding the commission would be shared equally by the Irish and British governments. The overall costs of the international body chaired by Mr Mitchell, which operated for 10 weeks in 1995-96, had been £200,000. On that basis it was possible that the operation of the commission, which would be for a longer period, could cost around £1.2 million.

The motion was agreed.