The Taoiseach has welcomed the Ulster Unionist Party’s decision to back David Trimble’s plans to return to government with Sinn Féin following this week’s historic decommissioning move by the IRA.
Mr Ahern said today’s decision clearly demonstrated there was a strong wish on all sides of the community to move forward in a renewed spirit of partnership, and a wish to see the institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement fully back in business a soon as possible.
"I congratulate David on the emphatic nature of the mandate he has received. He has worked hard for it and he richly deserves it. I wish him every success in the election which must now take place in the Assembly," he said.
Earlier, the UUP’s 110-strong ruling body endorsed a motion calling on all 28 UUP Assembly members to vote for Mr Trimble's reinstatement following the IRA's historic disarmament initiative.
Though Mr Trimble won today’s round, some dissident UUP MLAs demanded more information on IRA decommissioning, overseen by General John de Chastelain, before agreeing to back their leader in the crucial Assembly ballot scheduled for next Friday.
With Mr Trimble needing more than 50% support of both unionists and nationalists in the chamber, complete support from his own benches is crucial in what will be a knife-edge poll.
The Upper Bann MP, who resigned as first minister in August over the decommissioning issue, insisted he would not be trying to persuade centre ground parties to re-align themselves as unionists in order to rescue the power sharing institutions.
He said: "We are going into this hoping to be elected, expecting to be elected on unionist votes.
"The stakes are high. The margin, I dare say, might be narrow but it's been narrow before and in the famous words of Harold Wilson, ‘One vote is enough'."
East Derry MLA Pauline Armitage and North Down Assemblyman Peter Weir have voiced most objection to a return to power-sharing on the back of the IRA's weapons gesture.
Mr Weir tonight said he was still not in a position to back Mr Trimble's bid to return to the head of the Stormont cabinet.
He demanded clarity on what the IRA’s intentions are and said General de Chastelain had a duty to make public what he saw to all the people of Northern Ireland.
An amendment tabled at the executive meeting calling for the party to delay a decision to a special gathering of the 860-strong Ulster Unionist Council representing grass-roots opinion was rejected.
Mr Weir said the 60 signatures needed to requisition an extraordinary meeting of the body which endorsed Mr Trimble's previous decisions to return to government with Sinn Fein had now been handed in to party officers.
This could now be held on November 17 during the UUP's annual conference, he said.
Nationalist support for Mr Trimble's bid has been assured, with both Sinn Féin and the SDLP keen to restore the devolved institutions to full working order.
Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin insisted all sides must now work together to meet the challenges of fully implementing the Good Friday Agreement.
"Those of us in political leadership will be judged in what we make of the moves which have happened this week," he said.
With the Reverend Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and other smaller anti-Agreement unionists still plotting Mr Trimble's downfall, a majority unionist backing cannot be guaranteed.
Mr Weir accepted disciplinary action would be "inevitable" if he failed to toe the party line but Mr Trimble refused to be drawn on what sanctions would be imposed on MLAs who refuse to toe the party line. (Agencies)