The Irish and British governments have "no instant solutions" to solve the crisis created by the Ulster Unionists' threat to quit the Northern Executive in early January, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Dr John Reid, has said.
In Dublin for a meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, Dr Reid said detailed discussions would now take place with all of the Northern parties.
"I won't conceal from you that we face a difficult one at present. I can't say that Brian and I have any instant solutions, but we do know that the benefits thus far are benefits that we do not intend to dispense with and will work hard to preserve."
He emphasised that the Belfast Agreement had brought "huge benefits" to Northern Ireland and the Republic. "In any huge transformation, we will have setbacks. We will have steps forward and steps backwards," he said.
Mr Cowen said the two governments were "working hard" to try to accelerate the implementation of all parts of the agreement. He said the ambition of the all-party talks was to create "sustainable government" for Northern Ireland.
"We don't underestimate the political difficulties that recent developments represent, but we are determined, nonetheless, to try to work through these difficulties as we have in the past."
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair would be involved "at some stage", Dr Reid said, though no date for a meeting had been set.
Dr Reid refused to criticise the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, or the Lagan Valley MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, who leads UUP members sceptical to the agreement. "If pointing fingers and placing blame carried forward the agreement, we would be miles ahead of where we are. There is an underlying reassurance needed on both sides of the community," he said.
Asked if he would call Assembly elections before May, he said he was a "long way" from making a decision. On threats to Catholic recruits to the PSNI, Dr Reid said: "It would a terrible tragedy if that decades-long demand [for fair policing\] was to be stymied and blocked by the murderous threat of people from the republican side of the community."
