The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, has said the Government will embark on a concerted effort this year to end direct rule in Northern Ireland and re-establish the Assembly.
In a statement last night, Mr Ahern said the Government will be stepping up contact with all political parties, with the British government, and with Ireland's friends in the United States in the coming weeks.
He said there were many challenges ahead and that unionist politicians must give positive leadership.
Mr Ahern also said the Provisional movement must recognise that the taint of criminality or paramilitarism can only lessen their credibility and that full support for policing is in the best interests of their own communities.
To avoid a repetition of sectarian incidents in 2006, he said the Government was calling on all political and community leaders to take a public stand against all sectarian attacks and all efforts to exploit such attacks for political gain.
