Taoiseach has warned that time is running out to secure a breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process.
Speaking after separate meetings with Sinn Féin and the SDLP, Mr Ahern said the next forty eight hours are crucial to the advancement of the process.
He refused to single out Sinn Féin or the IRA as causing the deadlock but insisted it was a collective responsibility of all those involved to ensure progress is made.
Following a telephone conversation between the two leaders this morning, Mr Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that they would issue their joint declaration on the way forward for the peace process on the North shortly.
Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, said after the talks that both governments had big decisions to make over the next 24-48 hours.
Mr McGuinness said these were 'critical times' and he urged both governments to publish their plan to move the peace process forward.
He acknowledged that all parties had decisions to make and he added that everyone should move together.
It was the first meeting since the Irish and British governments decided to delay the release of their plan aimed at implementing the Good Friday Agreement in full.
Mr Ahern also met with the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan.
Mr Durkan has stressed the importance of moving the peace process forward, despite disappointment at the inability of both governments to produce their proposals because of what they said was a lack of clarity from the IRA.
Yesterday, the US special envoy to the North, Richard Haass described the plan as an 'extraordinarily good package' that would benefit all the parties.
Harney calls for IRA arms move
In Galway last night, the Tánaiste, Mary Harney, said that while Sinn Fein had 'talked the talk' on the peace process, it was now time to 'walk the walk'.
At the opening of the Progressive Democrats National Conference, Ms Harney told delegates that actions spoke louder than words, and that the time had come for action from the Provisional movement.
She said the people of Ireland wanted to know whether the guns and semtex were going to be put beyond use forever, and that they were tired of waiting to hear that the war was over.
