The crisis over arms decommissioning deepened yesterday with sharp exchanges on the issue between the Northern Ireland First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams.
The British and Irish governments took a common stance, focusing on the need to set a timetable for the handover or destruction of paramilitary weapons.
However, Mr Trimble rejected suggestions that he had changed his position from demanding immediate decommissioning to one of simply seeking a date when the disposal of arms would start.
Responding to the stance of the Taoiseach that a date for the start of decommissioning was required, the Sinn Fein leader said he had already told Mr Ahern this was "not within our gift".
Mr Adams also revealed that he had spoken to the British Prime Minister by telephone yesterday morning, conveying his view to Mr Blair that "he needs to uphold the [Belfast] agreement".
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, who was in Dublin for a meeting with the Taoiseach, said: "It's no longer a question of if decommissioning is going to take place, it's a question of when. As so often has happened in this process over the months, you begin to look for momentum and make progress step-by-step."
Mr Ahern again stressed the need for a timetable: "The argument about decommissioning was signed off in the agreement and now it is a question of when, and we have to get agreement on that."
However, Mr Trimble rejected suggestions that he had changed his position on the issue: "My position is the position in the agreement. The agreement makes it absolutely clear that there has to be commitment to peaceful means."
The First Minister cast doubt on the prospect of further meetings with Mr Adams: "He has not yet delivered his side of the bargain, and I hope that he will. It was in the hope that he was prepared to do that, that I was prepared to speak to him. If he's not now prepared to do that, then that puts a question-mark over those encounters."
At a Sinn Fein press conference in Stormont, Mr Adams accused the Ulster Unionist leader of trying "to renegotiate, to in some way reinvent the agreement" and attempting to "cherrypick" its contents.
Mr Trimble and the British Prime Minister both had to uphold the Belfast Agreement, Mr Adams said.
He did not believe that Mr Trimble had shifted from a position of demanding immediate decommissioning to one of asking for a date for arms disposal. "That is not my understanding of his position," Mr Adams said. He pointed out that he "had the benefit of an hour's discussion" with Mr Trimble on Tuesday.
He said Mr Trimble should look to the "vast majority" of unionists who wanted the Belfast Agreement to work. On the suggestion of the Taoiseach that a date for the start of decommissioning should be given, Mr Adams said: "We would all like to know that." He had spoken to Mr Ahern twice in recent days, emphasising that it was not within Sinn Fein's "gift" to name a date.
The unionists needed to "wise up", he said. "It makes my position just untenable in terms of trying to move any matter on, if a leader signs up to an agreement on Good Friday and then appears to go back on his word on that issue."