The Taoiseach today criticised Ulster Unionist Party leader Mr David Trimble over the failure to restore the power-sharing executive in Belfast.
With Dublin and London set to call for new talks involving the Northern parties, Mr Bertie Ahern said it was crucial Mr Trimble played his part.
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Elections to the Stormont Assembly, due to take place on May 29th, were postponed after the IRA refused to meet Irish and British demands to declare an end to its 30-year campaign.
In Dublin today Mr Ahern said there was an onus on Mr Trimble as well. He said: "We need to hear Mr Trimble and his party and all of his party clearly state that they want to see cross-party operation of the Assembly - that they are prepared to work this out.
"But the nonsense of the last four years created in many cases by him and his colleagues of not working at the institutions has to stop. If we get clarity on one side we need it on the other side," Mr Ahern said.
However, Mr Trimble retorted, claiming the "real problem" was the failure of republicans to stop all paramilitary activity.
"They are keen to point out that this is the essential stumbling block but for reasons of communal solidarity, they feel that if they're going to bash republicans, they also have to have a go at us.
"They have got to realise there is no moral equivalence between republicans who extort, intimidate and beat people and unionists who took political action to compel the government to act against republicans."
SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan backed Mr Ahern's claim today that unionists also had to address nationalist concerns about their commitment to the political institutions.
He questioned recent comments by Mr Trimble and Lord Kilcloney about the prospects of a return to power sharing and devolution. "For leaders who are meant to be pro-Agreement, their regard for the institutions now seems to be hovering between agnostic and antagonistic," Mr Durkan said.
"Bertie Ahern is quite right to demand that David Trimble and all of the Ulster Unionist Party make clear their commitment to working the inclusive executive.
"It is not enough for David Trimble to make demands of the republican movement. He also needs to make clear what he will do to comply with the Agreement. That means working all of the institutions including the power sharing executive and the north-south bodies.