The Taoiseach and the British prime minister are planning to shortly put take-it-or-leave-it proposals to the Northern parties.
These could involve the restoration of the Assembly in shadow form with a subsequent deadline for full restoration, according to senior London and Dublin sources. Mr Ahern and Mr Blair are becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of political progress and are determined to take the initiative by proposing a "roadmap" for restoring the Northern Assembly and executive to the parties, sources said.
Mr Blair, despite postponing a plan to deliver a keynote political speech in the North last week, remains determined to inject fresh momentum to the political process and may now reschedule the speech for April or May, and possibly before Easter, the sources said yesterday.
"We need to have movement by the summer. Things can't continue as they are. Peter Hain held [ telephone] talks with Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair in the past 48 hours, and there is now an emerging consensus of what needs to be done to break the political deadlock," one senior source told The Irish Times yesterday.
The governments have not yet finalised what they are describing as a roadmap to restore devolution but have completed a paper on how movement might be achieved, said one senior source.
One seriously considered initiative is the restoration of the Assembly initially in shadow form (which Sinn Féin opposes) but with a set deadline (which the DUP opposes) for the Assembly and executive to be fully functioning.
This could involve a demand that the executive be fully re-established before the Assembly elections scheduled for May next year, or a pledge from the parties that they would enter a power-sharing executive directly after the Assembly elections.
In the meantime the Assembly could operate in shadow form from the autumn.
If the initiative due to be unveiled by Mr Blair is rejected by the parties or if over a period of time it becomes clear it cannot work, then the 108 Assembly members will have their pay and allowances cancelled and the 2007 Assembly elections will also be cancelled, the senior sources made clear yesterday.
An additional element of this carrot-and-stick approach by the governments is Dublin and London agreeing that, notwithstanding the absence of power-sharing, the North-South element of the Belfast Agreement would continue to be implemented and also strengthened, said a senior Dublin source.
A spokeswoman for the Taoiseach said that Mr Ahern and Mr Blair intended to agree "a joint approach that will give clear leadership and direction". Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern and Mr Hain had been meeting the parties, she said, and were "making a full assessment of the various positions".
