The Taoiseach and British Prime Minister are determined to maintain a strong North-South element to future politics and in the process safeguard 700 jobs, according to Dublin and London sources.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair in Downing Street last night discussed how cross border implementation bodies, established as a result of the Belfast Agreement, can be maintained and developed, the sources said.
Should the Executive, Assembly and other institutions of the Belfast Agreement be suspended - as seems increasingly likely - then the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) must also be frozen under current legislation.
The NSMC however, is the umbrella body for a number of implementation bodies dealing with North-South issues such as all-Ireland tourism, waterways, trade and business development, the Irish language and Ulster-Scots, and EU matters at a budget of around £50 million.
They employ about 700 people with Tourism Ireland Ltd, which markets the two jurisdictions on an all-Ireland basis and Waterways Ireland the biggest employers, the former has a workforce of about 300, the latter about 150.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair last night moved towards agreeing that the implementation bodies would not be dissolved, and while the NSMC might not function Dáil and Northern Ireland Office ministers would continue to meet to effectively carry on its work.
If the institutions are suspended, possibly tomorrow or Monday, Mr Blair is expected to appoint extra ministers to assist Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid and his two junior ministers Ms Jane Kennedy and Mr Des Browne.
Dr Reid and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen were in telephone contact ahead of last night's Downing Street meeting to discuss the continued running of the implementation bodies. The initial idea is understood to have come from Dr Reid and Mr Cowen is believed to have been immediately amenable to the proposal.
The British government in pursuing the proposal is anxious that it should not antagonise unionists while equally sending out signals to nationalists that it is still committed to genuine North-South co-operation.
What may have been the last NSMC meeting for quite some time took place in Ballycastle, Co Antrim yesterday. Mr Tom Parlon, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment joined Ulster Unionist enterprise minister, Sir Reg Empey and SDLP finance minister Mr Sean Farren for a meeting of the Special EU Programmes Sector.
Three more NSMC meetings are scheduled for the coming weeks, but it seems unlikely that they will happen. Yesterday's Ballycastle gathering was the 65th NSMC meeting.
