The Taoiseach Mr Ahern tonight unveiled a memorial in Scotland to victims of the Irish famine, four months after the ceremony was delayed amid fears that it might spark sectarian violence.
Mr Ahern paid tribute to the victims of the famine, many of whom emigrated to Scotland, as he opened the monument at the Carfin Grotto, near Motherwell.
Mr Ahern had originally been due to visit the grotto in February, but decided to cancel the trip at the last minute after local MP Frank Roy raised concerns that it fell on the same day as a match between Celtic and Rangers.
Earlier the Taoiseach today paid tribute to Scottish Catholic leader Cardinal Thomas Winning who died on Sunday.
Mr Ahern was speaking to the Scottish parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh while on an official one-day visit.
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The Taoiseach Mr Ahern.
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The Taoiseach hailed the cardinal - whose grandfather emigrated to Scotland from Co Donegal around the time of the Famine - as an "outstanding example" of the links, qualities and values Irish people had brought to Scotland.
"He was a churchman of international statute and a strong voice for social justice," Mr Ahern said.
The Taoiseach told members of the friendship and understanding between Ireland and Scotland and how he planned to discuss ways of developing this relationship "in new and mutually beneficial directions" in talks with First Minister Henry McLeish and Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell.
Mr Ahern told Holyrood how the Belfast Agreement had "transformed the political landscape" in a "hugely positive" way on the island of Ireland but made no reference to the present crisis beyond saying: "In recent days this dialogue has been taken up again intensively as we seek to resolve the outstanding issues in order to attain the objective we all share - a peaceful and secure future for Northern Ireland."
Before he addressed the MSPs Mr Ahern was welcomed to the Scottish Parliament by Presiding Officer Sir David Steel, who told him: "Devolution in the United Kingdom has radically changed the political landscape in this country and has deeply impacted on Ireland - a Good Friday Agreement and a long-awaited peace process.
"Our Parliament wishes to acknowledge the enormous contribution which you personally and actively made to that process."
Mr Steel called the Taoiseach's visit "a good day for this parliament and a good day for the relations between our two countries".
After the 25-minute visit he left to meet First Minister Henry McLeish at his official residence in the capital.
Mr McLeish said the meeting was an opportunity for both countries to discuss matters of common importance.
During Mr Ahern's visit a row broke out today over the decision to display the Union Jack flag alongside the Scottish Saltire and the Tricolour as the Taoiseach was addressing the Scottish parliament.
Scottish MP Ms Winnie Ewing reacted angrily when she entered the parliamentary chamber half an hour before the Mr Ahern was due to speak.
Pointing at the Union flag, which was displayed behind where Mr Ahern was set to make his speech, she remonstrated with the parliament's chief executive Mr Paul Grice asking him why the British flag was there at all.
Earlier, the veteran regional MP for the Highlands and Islands had said she was planning to lodge an official complaint with Mr Grice and Presiding Officer Sir David Steel over what she described as an "insult" to Mr Ahern.
Speaking outside the parliament building, Mrs Ewing said: "It's insulting to Bertie Ahern to fly that flag, which represents repression to the people of Ireland and people in many parts of the world. I think it's a disgrace."
Ms Ewing said she had been told by Mr Grice that the decision to display the Union Jack had been cleared with the British foreign office and Irish officials.
But Mr Grice then appeared and said it had not been cleared by Irish officials, to which Ms Ewing replied: "Of course they wouldn't. The Irish Consul would never have agreed to the flying of that flag."
' A live webcast of Mr Ahern's address to the Scottish Parliament can be accessed at: Scottishparliamentlive.com
( Additional reporting PA)
