The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, has said the 24 November deadline for the restoration of power-sharing in Northern Ireland is real and that there can be no deviation or delay.
In a statement issued in Derry where he is meeting the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, Minister Ahern said failure to reach political agreement on restoration would have stark implications.
Mr Ahern said the current effort to restore the Stormont Assembly is likely to be the 'last for some very considerable time'.
On Monday, Northern Secretary Peter Hain said that if a deal on devolved government in Northern Ireland was not achieved by the November deadline, then such plans could be shelved until 2009 at the earliest.
Minister Ahern said today that, in his opinion, Mr Hain's assessment was an underestimate and Stormont could be shut for even longer if there was no breakthrough.
The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair tomorrow to review the current political situation.
At talks in Chequers, they will discuss their plans for dialogue with the Northern parties in advance of the deadline for the restoration of devolved government.
It is expected that Mr Ahern and Mr Blair will agree the dates for discussions after the next Independent Monitoring Commission report is issued.
Yesterday outside Downing Street, the DUP leader, Ian Paisley, said he did not believe Northern Ireland would have a power-sharing administration by the November deadline set by the governments.
