The Taoiseach has said the question of the early release of the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe is not only "off the table" but he does not "see it coming back on the table" again in future talks.
In the Dáil yesterday Mr Ahern also said the report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, to be published tomorrow, goes further than he has ever gone in blaming the IRA for the Northern Bank raid.
And in a downbeat assessment of the prospects for progress, he said he did not "see a way of getting the [ required] trust and confidence at present".
His comments on the McCabe killers yesterday afternoon appeared to signal a hardening of the Government's position on this issue. His position has consistently been that the issue is "off the table". This leaves open the prospect that it could come back on to the table again if a power-sharing deal in the North was in sight.
Yesterday's remark, however, suggested that the Government has now decided that it is unlikely to negotiate on this matter again in the context of a deal in the North. In relation to the men's release, he said: "That is off the table and I do not see it coming back on the table either for that matter."
The Government did not agree to reflect this new formulation in a motion on the peace process agreed between the Coalition and Fine Gael last night.
That agreed motion, to be voted upon in the Dáil tonight, says on the McCabe issue that it welcomes the Taoiseach's statement that the issue of the men's release was "no longer on the table". Mr Ahern also confined himself to this precise formulation in a Dáil speech last night on a private members' motion on the peace process.
Tonight the Dáil will vote on this motion - an amended version of a Fine Gael private members' motion - agreed after lengthy negotiations between the Government and the largest opposition party yesterday.
In an unusual step this amended version will be in the names of Mr Ahern and Mr Enda Kenny, reflecting a desire to show Dáil unity on the issue. Labour, the Green Party and most if not all Independents will support it.
Fine Gael's motion reaffirmed commitment to the Belfast Agreement; regretted the lack of agreement on decommissioning and criminality; noted the damage done to the peace process by the Northern Bank robbery; noted the assessment by the Irish and British governments that this was the work of the IRA; and rejected Sinn Féin's view of what constitutes criminality.
The amendment in Mr Ahern's and Mr Kenny's names leaves all of this unchanged, but replaces a reference to the Taoiseach having made an "offer" to release the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe.
The Government insists that the release of the men was a "demand" made by Sinn Féin rather than an "offer" by the Government.
The agreed version to be voted upon tonight "welcomes the Taoiseach's recent statement that the question regarding the early release of the murderers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was no longer on the table".
In relation to the IMC report, considered by the Cabinet yesterday, Mr Ahern said that "if anything it will go beyond anything I have said on previous occasions. I will leave people to read this independent report for themselves."
The Taoiseach also said he believed the Bush Administration had already decided how it was going to deal with the question of whether to invite Sinn Féin representatives to the White House for St Patrick's Day celebrations.
It is believed that while the Taoiseach will make the traditional presentation of shamrock to President Bush in the White House, the Northern parties will not be invited to a St Patrick's Day party as they have been since the mid 1990s.
This approach would avoid the scenario of having Sinn Féin leaders as guests of President Bush after they have been accused of foreknowledge of the Northern Bank robbery, while avoiding any discrimination against them by the White House which would be portrayed as "exclusion".