Mr Ahern said his message to Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble was that the Irish government was trying to find a means of working with unionist leaders and their people. It is political leaders who must have the courage to advance the situation towards a permanent peace and to a position where those engaged in violence would be redundant forever, he stressed. Mr Ahern said he had been in telephone contact with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams on Saturday - after the IRA issued its statement announcing its ceasefire. The message was that we must make this permanent and I am in the business of making it permanent. Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness, writing in the Irish News today, took a slightly tougher line on his party's expectations of the talks.
Peace demands justice.
We want an Ireland free and independent. We believe that an agreed unitary and independent Irish state is the best structure to achieve a lasting peace. It must accommodate the diversity which exists among our people and provide for national reconciliation. Our task is to turn this vision into a reality. We must not lower our expectations or be conditioned into accepting anything less than full freedom, equality and democracy.