British and Irish officials will begin drafting a formula to address the decommissioning logjam today following the opening round of meetings between Mr Bertie Ahern, Mr Tony Blair and leaders of the North's main parties late last night.
Government sources reported after midnight that both the First Minister, Mr Trimble, and the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Adams, were sticking to the stated public positions on the decommissioning obstacle which is preventing the establishment of the executive.
"Everybody was positive in assessing the problem," according to a Government spokesman, "and accepted that it needed to be resolved. There was also an acceptance that Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party were in the same predicament".
The question of establishing a shadow executive as a means of circumventing the demand for prior decommissioning was not an option, sources said after the meetings in Hillsborough Castle.
"This is make-or-break week."
The main focus of last night's meetings, which began around 7.30pm and ended just before midnight, was mostly on Sinn Fein.
The British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach first held a joint meeting which lasted for up to an hour. After a break, the formal meetings with the main party delegations began at 9.30 p.m.
Both Mr Ahern and Mr Blair held a joint meeting with Mr Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness for well over an hour. This was followed by a joint meeting with Mr Trimble, accompanied by his deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, and party colleague Mr Reg Empey. A brief meeting was held with the deputy First Minister, Mr Mallon, and the SDLP leader, Mr Hume. It is understood that inter-party meetings were also held in between the formal meetings with the two leaders.
Though both the UUP and Sinn Fein delegations appreciated each other's positions, there was no movement away from them, according to a Government spokesman. The positive note from the meetings was that neither side said that the impasse was impossible to resolve. Neither said that the leaders were wasting their time.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair will make intensive efforts today to seek some formula to get both sides off the hook. Following a visit to a Belfast school at 9 a.m., the two leaders plan to move back to Stormont Castle to jointly meet all of the smaller pro-agreement parties - the Women's Coalition, the Alliance Party, the UDP and the PUP. They will also hold a joint meeting with the head of the decommissioning body, Gen John de Chastelain.
Mr Ahern plans to meet the Gervaghy Raod Residents' Association around midday while Mr Blair meets the anti-agreement parties, including Dr Ian Paisley and Mr Bob McCartney.
The Taoiseach and Mr Blair will move out to Hillsborough Castle at around 2 p.m. to resume their meetings with Mr Trimble, Mr Adams and Mr Mallon.
There was some speculation in Government circles early today that it may be premature to expect a breakthrough in the decommissioning obstacle by the scheduled time for the leaders' departures tonight.
The two leaders were informed by Sinn Fein that the IRA is bringing forward the date of its Easter statement to Thursday, if not Wednesday night. But Sinn Fein could shed no light on the contents of this statement. Some Government sources even believed it had not yet been written.
