The secretary-general of the Commonwealth has welcomed the Taoiseach's prediction that Irish people will consider rejoining the organisation, although political leaders in the Republic and Northern Ireland yesterday offered mixed views on the idea.
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who will visit Dublin next month to deliver an address to the Irish Association, said he was "greatly encouraged by the Taoiseach's statement".
"It is clear that Ireland would be a very welcome member of today's Commonwealth, given the country's strong belief in democracy and its international commitment to human rights and sustainable development," he said.
In Dublin, political parties reacted coolly to the suggestion, while in Northern Ireland unionists were generally positive but cautious. Nationalists felt the matter was not a priority.
In an interview in yesterday's edition of the Times, Mr Ahern said he expected a debate on rejoining the group of former British colonies, which Ireland left in 1949.
The Commonwealth was "a very different thing now than it was 50 years ago", he told the newspaper. He said he would not seek to suppress the debate, although he would not venture his own opinion.
Mr Ahern repeated this at a press conference with Mr Blair in Dublin yesterday. "Let the debate take place," he said. Mr Blair did not offer a view.
Mr Ahern said that over the past 12 months, a number of parties - not just unionist parties - had put it to him that this issue should be discussed openly. The President of South Africa, Mr Nelson Mandela, had addressed the issue, as had the former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, he added.
People in his own "back-up group" had raised the issue, he said. It is understood these are the Minister of State, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, and the Minister for Sport and Tourism, Dr McDaid.
There was little public reaction in 1997 when Mrs Robinson raised the issue. But with Chief Emeka Anyaoku about to visit Dublin, and the British ambassador, Dame Veronica Sutherland, due to become a deputy secretary-general in the organisation next year, there was speculation yesterday Mr Ahern's comments could lead to a more significant political debate.
A Fine Gael spokeswoman said: "If Fianna Fail has discovered it is suddenly in favour, we will not stand in its way".
A Labour spokesman said the party would not give any official response "until the Taoiseach's idea was fleshed out in greater de tail", while a spokesman for Democratic Left said it was "not a live issue in politics at the moment". But if people wished to debate it, they should.
In Northern Ireland, the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, said it was an internal matter for the Republic. "We've got views about the value of the Commonwealth. We've got views about the value of the imperial heritage of the British peoples. What the Irish Republic do is entirely a matter for themselves," he said.
The SDLP Assembly member for Upper Bann, Mrs Brid Rodgers, said Anglo-Irish relations had entered a new era, which allowed issues such as Ireland's entry into the Commonwealth to be discussed in an "open and mature manner". But she said it was not on the current agenda.
"In the past we weren't sure of ourselves and certain subjects were taboo, but Ireland has now come of age and enjoys a new relationship with Britain as an equal."
A Sinn Fein spokesman said the party "signed up to the Good Friday Agreement six months ago and it's stalled, there's no movement on it, and to bring anything else into the debate right now would be unhelpful. Let's get the agreement that we signed on Good Friday sorted out first and get on with what we have on our plate at the moment without trying to overload the plate."
He added: "We are Irish republicans and our goal and aim is an independent sovereign Ireland and that is what we will strive for."
Mr Nigel Dodds, of the Democratic Unionist Party, said: "It's an interesting suggestion but I don't know how much in terms of substance it really means to be in the Commonwealth or not."
Mr Ian Paisley Jnr of the DUP said Mr Ahern's comments were "carefully choreographed" to coincide with the visit of the Prime Minister to Dublin and were a concession to Mr Blair.