The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, may personally host peace process talks before the end of June if they feel progress is being made in next week's resumed review of the Belfast Agreement.
The British and Irish governments decided to hold further review talks next Tuesday and Wednesday based on continuing behind-the-scenes contact with the parties, primarily Sinn Féin and the DUP, during the course of the European Parliament election campaign.
The Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, and the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, will meet the parties in talks dealing with North-South and East-West issues at Stormont on Wednesday while on Tuesday at the same venue Mr Murphy will discuss with the parties issues related to Northern Ireland alone.
Dublin and London sources said Mr Ahern and Mr Blair were willing to hold face-to-face talks with the parties in the following two weeks "but only if they felt such talks would be worthwhile".
The prospect of so-called three days or more of "hothouse" talks before the summer break chaired by Mr Ahern and Mr Blair, as was flagged earlier in the year, now seems unlikely however, chiefly because of the EU presidency pressures on Mr Ahern, according to the same sources.
While there have been some positive indicators of potential for movement, both governments believe that serious negotiations won't begin until the autumn. But they are anxious to create the conditions for a peaceful summer that would lead to such autumn negotiations taking place in a constructive atmosphere.
"If the two leaders get involved it may only be for a day to try to park the process through the summer so that it can resume in a cordial atmosphere in September," said a leading Dublin source. "We are a long way from a deal but if after next week's review it is apparent from the parties that there is a willingness to drive the process forward, then Mr Blair and Mr Ahern may hold talks with the parties before the summer break in July," added a senior London source.
The governments believe that the key to a new deal is the IRA signing up to paragraph 13 of last year's Hillsborough joint declaration, which requires it to end activity, and the DUP providing copper-fastened assurances that it would share power with Sinn Féin. In an attempt to get to that endgame stage there have been discussions around the implementation of a "route map" where there would be further British army demilitarisation, an effective amnesty for IRA and other paramilitary fugitives, and other sequenced actions leading to a subsequent IRA, Sinn Féin and DUP movement on the key issues.
The SDLP is also pushing its proposal of, in the meantime, resuming meetings of the Assembly, which would be run by an interim executive of civic administrators rather than politicians, pending the full restoration of devolution.
There has been a series of meetings in Dublin, London and Belfast in recent weeks involving Irish and British officials and the parties. At Stormont on Tuesday, Mr Brendan Scannell, head of the Anglo-Irish section of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Mr Blair's chief of staff, Mr Jonathan Powell, held separate talks with Sinn Féin and DUP representatives.
