In a statement marking the 10th anniversary of the first IRA ceasefire, the Taoiseach has said that forthcoming talks between the Northern parties can help usher in a new era of peace, prosperity and reconciliation in the history of Ireland.
Bertie Ahern said that there is an obligation on political leaders to show the way towards a Northern Ireland that replaces suspicion and hostility with trust and dialogue, and violence with the rule of law.
He added the responsibilities facing the parties at talks tomorrow in Belfast and in Leeds next week were clear, and included an end to all forms of paramilitary activity, the decommissioning of all paramilitary weapons and the need for the republican movement to accept and support policing in the North.
Meanwhile in Downing Street, the North's Independent Monitoring Commission held talks with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The body was set up last year to monitor the activity of loyalist and republican paramilitaries.
Afterwards, the IMC Chairman Lord Alderdice said the intensive political efforts over the next few weeks by the two governments and the political parties would have substantial implications for the work of the commission.
However, he said IMC members at today's meeting had not given Mr Blair any new indication of the level of IRA activity because it was still collecting evidence.
Adams comments on ceasefire
Separately, the Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said the IRA is genuinely interested in building the peace process.
Mr Adams said that the IRA ceasefire ten years ago had given birth to enormous hope and expectation for the future.
The Catholic Primate, Dr Sean Brady, marked the ceasefire anniversary earlier by praising the representatives of churches who helped to bring it about.
Dr Brady said a culture of peace was now developing throughout Ireland.
Fewer deaths in decade since ceasefire
In the decade since the IRA ceasefire and the loyalist ceasefires which followed it, 179 people have died as a result of terrorism. That is 600 less deaths than during the previous ten years.
Unemployment has also fallen and the general economic climate has improved.
However, so far there has been no sustained period of devolved government on the all-party basis envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement.
