The Taoiseach believes direct rule may continue in the North for a considerable time unless progress is made in the current round of negotiations, his spokeswoman said last night.
As the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, prepares to meet the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, in Dublin today, the Taoiseach's spokeswoman said he was not "pessimistic" but was "cautious" about the prospects for a deal.
Meetings and contacts were continuing this week to reach a deal under which the IRA would give up its weapons and permanently end all activity, and the DUP would agree to share power with Sinn Féin.
Government sources say unless a deal is struck within two weeks, the prospect for agreement before next year will recede. This is because it could take several months for the elements of a deal to be delivered upon, and the governments believe this process would have to be completed well before the British general election.
Mr Dermot Ahern insisted yesterday that comments he made last week that he believed Sinn Féin would be in government in the Republic in the future "were fully consistent with the Taoiseach's views on the subject".
While not contradicting Mr Dermot Ahern, the Taoiseach and other Ministers have sought to adopt a less upbeat tone about Sinn Féin's prospects for entering government.
Copies of the Taoiseach's remarks on the subject at the Fianna Fáil Wolfe Tone commemoration last weekend were circulated yesterday to the party's TDs and senators. The circular included copies of the Taoiseach's remarks to a 2001 meeting in Kilkenny at which the party resolved not to enter government with Sinn Féin until the IRA decommissioned all its weapons.
Sinn Féin chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin said yesterday speculation about the party's participation in government in the Republic was "academic" at this stage because it was a matter for the electorate to decide.