The Taoiseach has said a solution to the Middle Eastern crisis is at the top of his Government’s foreign policy agenda and has suggested that those involved could learn lessons from the Northern peace process.
His comments came in a keynote address to the King Faisal foundation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Mr Ahern is leading a trade mission.
The Taoiseach used his address to give an Irish perspective on the Middle East crisis.
He said the Middle East represented the greatest single threat to world peace and was at the top of the Irish foreign policy agenda. He said the world community had to redouble its efforts to solve the problem.
Mr Ahern added that a stable and secure Iraq, as well as a settlement in the Palestinian issue, was essential.
Iraq's future depended on its territorial integrity and an end to the brutalisation of the country, he said.
The Taoiseach said that other countries in the region had to help, but Ireland remained very concerned about the role played by Iran.
Mr Ahern said the lesson of Northern Ireland was that violence would end only when young people saw the political process offering a new path.
The Taoiseach is leading a trade delegation to Saudi Arabia and the United Emirates. The delegation of 114 companies is the largest Irish trade delegation and the first to this oil rich state to be led by a serving Taoiseach.
This morning he met the influential governor of the Saudi capital before officially opening the offices of Vilicom, an Irish company involved in the mobile phone and telecommunications business.
Vilicom is the first wholly-owned Irish company to set up operations in the country.
International involvement in the Middle East situation is set to step up a gear with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on an intensive visit to the region.
Education is one of the areas targeted in this mission and today Minister of Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, welcomed the inclusion of Ireland in the King Abdullah Scholarship scheme - a development which will see some 500 fully-funded Saudis travelling to study in Ireland each year.
Last night Mr Ahern was guest of honour at a dinner hosted by Crown Prince Sultan.
He will spend Wednesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi. The Taoiseach is due to meet King Abdullah tomorrow.
