The Irish and British governments yesterday staged a display of unity in advance of today's all-party talks in Belfast, issuing a joint statement outlining how the North/South bodies will operate in the coming months.
After a two-hour meeting at Farmleigh in Dublin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Northern Secretary issued a detailed "statement of clarification" on the matter.
The statement confirmed that the governments would take decisions to ensure the "proper care and maintenance" of the bodies but would give them no new functions.
The statement follows recent high-profile Ulster Unionist anger at how these implementation bodies would work while the North's political institutions were suspended. The UUP had claimed that the two governments were attempting to press on with developments of the North/South bodies in the absence of the democratic legitimacy conferred by the operation of the suspended institutions.
However, Mr Cowen and Mr Paul Murphy stressed that the arrangements to ensure the continuation of the bodies were temporary, and would terminate upon the restoration of the Northern Assembly. The statement indicated they would not be retained if the absence of the institutions continued for a prolonged period.
Both Mr Cowen and Mr Murphy went out of their way yesterday to stress how good the relationship between the governments was. In brief remarks to reporters after their meeting, Mr Murphy stated twice that "relations between the two governments have never been better".
The governments hope this "clarification" will clear the way for substantive talks at Stormont today on the prospect of a deal to restore the suspended institutions in the spring. Mr Cowen and Mr Murphy are understood to have discussed yesterday the prospect of movement from republicans, the British government and the Ulster Unionists required to bring agreement.
The governments and the parties will today discuss possible changes to policing; the devolution of criminal justice; the reduction of the British security presence in the North; and the requirement of the IRA to perform "acts of completion" to demonstrate its long-term commitment to the political path.
However, the issue of the North/South bodies may be raised again at Stormont today by the Ulster Unionists. Mr Murphy said the two governments would ensure that the bodies and their 700 employees "carry on doing what they are intended to do".