The British and Irish governments have allowed the DUP and Sinn Féin extra time to reflect on their definitive response to their proposals for the restoration of a power-sharing administration at Stormont.
At the same time, London and Dublin have signalled their determination to force the pace of political development in Northern Ireland if the two parties fail to conclude a deal within days.
After talks with British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in London yesterday, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the governments would have to "make the call" shortly. After this he suggested they would publish their proposals and "give the people of Northern Ireland the opportunity to decide". Mr Ahern declined to say what this might mean. He surprised British officials, however, when he appeared to rule out the possibility that the proposals would be put to a vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Although dismissed by senior DUP sources, The Irish Times understands this is among the Plan B options under consideration should they and Sinn Féin fail to reach agreement.
At a minimum the Taoiseach raised the prospect that London and Dublin would have to proceed to implement proposals outstanding from last year's British Irish Joint Declaration in the event of continuing deadlock, when he said the deal currently on offer from republicans was one "he could stand over."
However Mr Ahern also returned to Dublin last night declaring himself confident that DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, was sincere about striking a deal with republicans. DUP sources were still talking up the possibility that a power-sharing Executive could be in place within months, while acknowledging they could not anticipate Dr Paisley's final judgment call.
The DUP leader saw the original weekend deadline for the conclusion of negotiations fall during a day of intensive talks which began for him with separate early meetings with Mr Ahern and Mr Blair and officially ended with late afternoon talks between the Prime Minister and the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble.
In between, Mr Ahern met the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, before travelling to meet Mr Blair at 10 Downing Street where they assessed the situation and instructed officials to work over the ensuing 24-48 hours to provide as much final clarification as possible for both sides. Mr Ahern warned there was a limit to how much clarification the two governments could provide.
After reportedly receiving a six-page document from the DUP leader seeking clarification on some 40 points, Mr Ahern said: "I have no doubt Dr Paisley is of the mind that if the circumstances are right and if the clarifications of the issues lead to acts of completion, that he wants to move ahead."
The Taoiseach told RTÉ News he could understand the rationale behind DUP demands for photographic evidence of IRA decommissioning. "this_is_a_left_sq_bracketDr Paisley] emphasised none of this was designed in any way to be linked to embarrassing people It's linked to transparency for the public at large." However as Dr Paisley insisted the Provisional IRA must become "an old boys association", it was clear major differences remained between the DUP and Sinn Féin on a range of other issues - most importantly over the proposed devolution of policing and justice powers.
New sources yesterday confirmed that the British-Irish proposals offered the DUP a significant achievement with the reinstatement of IRA decommissioning as a precondition for Sinn Féin's entry into government. The DUP however refuses to accept a timetable with a fixed date for devolution of policing powers during the life of the current Assembly.