The British and Irish governments want to have the Northern Executive and Assembly back in operation by next January.
That's what they hope to realise out of Leeds Castle between today and Saturday lunchtime, according to dependable sources. Ambitious or what? Allowing for the New Year, the return to school and getting back into shape after the Christmas festivities, their January deadline could be towards the middle or latter end of that month.
That's not bad: it gives the parties four months to accept, acquiesce to, or grudgingly tolerate any agreement - or makings of an agreement - that might emerge from this medieval moated castle.
The line from the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, is that although it could all crash by Saturday, yes a deal can be done.
That's based on what they are hearing from their most senior officials who have been head-to-head with the DUP and Sinn Féin's chief negotiators recently.
There are always caveats, of course. Dublin sources say Sinn Féin and the IRA are prepared to go much further than what they were offering to David Trimble, in the collapsed sequenced deal of last October, in terms of disarming and ending activity.
But they are conscious that what P. O'Neill might construe as major might be minor to Ian Paisley. They are hearing the right noises from the DUP but remain nervous that possible differences between the Peter Robinson pragmatists and the Ian Paisley fundamentalists could cause this project to flounder.
Reading Gerry Adams and Peter Robinson in this paper this week and listening to them at press conferences, and talking to other senior Sinn Féin and DUP sources, the line is that a deal is do-able. But there's still a significant gap between what the DUP is seeking and what Sinn Féin and the IRA might deliver.
Mr Adams was emphatic that he would not stand any major tinkering with the Belfast Agreement. Mr Robinson equally said it must be recast. They both seem to agree that devolving responsibility for policing and criminal justice should happen but are at loggerheads over the timescale: soonest, says Mr Adams; latest says Mr Robinson.
Some of the big issues in terms of the mechanics of the Belfast Agreement are the DUP's wish to separate the unified functions of the First and Deputy First Minister, ministerial accountability and voting arrangements in the Assembly.
These and other matters are difficult, but they should not be insurmountable. With the applied ingenuity of the officials and the sharper negotiators it should be possible to devise proposals that the DUP would characterise as major amendments to the agreement and other parties would portray as minor sensible modifications.
Which brings us to the big issue: is the IRA really prepared to effectively wind up as a paramilitary force and to disarm? The clear message from Mr Adams is that this can happen provided the basic philosophy of the agreement remains sacrosanct and the DUP shares power.
The DUP has been setting the bar fairly high this week by insisting that Sinn Féin can't enter into government until disarmament and effective disbandment is concluded. "Completion, completion, completion," to quote Mr Robinson.
Now, normally that would set off cries from Sinn Féin of, "You're demanding capitulation, and that's just not going to happen." Queried about this, republicans were surprisingly measured in their remarks this week. "Everybody has to bring something to the table," was the comment from one senior Sinn Féin strategist. What does that mean? Well, it could mean that were the IRA to make the commitments to fade from the scene by January the DUP response would be generous.
What's chiefly required here is the reciprocal establishment of bona fides between Sinn Féin and the DUP: they have to share the load; neither side can be seen to be surrendering.
Last week the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, spoke of a phased, phrased deal. And that could be the key to bridging the chasm between Sinn Féin and the DUP: written commitments to do business and the DUP and Sinn Féin, and the IRA, establishing a degree of trust by the sequenced enactment of mutual confidence building measures leading up to January - if the governments' target date is attainable.
If politicians exit Leeds Castle with phoney-positive words, masquerading failure, the DUP will face some heavy taunting from David Trimble and his Ulster Unionist colleagues. That's also something of an incentive for the DUP to do a deal.
Still, if the DUP believes it can't sell what is on offer to its constituency, Peter Robinson, Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson will have no hesitation in walking away, even with David Trimble's cries of "Thought you could do better than me, na-na na-na-na," ringing in their ears.
The DUP and Sinn Féin can live with failure, knowing their constituencies won't abandon them, which is one of the problems of this process: plenty of carrot but where's the stick.
So can a deal be done? The honest answer is that nobody really knows - and that includes the principal players. Certainly based on experience it's probably best to tend towards pessimism.
Still, as pundits why should we make it easy for the politicians: politics is the art of the possible and having been around this problem so often surely by now it's possible for the politicians to surprise us.
