Sinn Féin and DUP leaders are expected to be presented with a plan for securing IRA disarmament and restoring devolution today as the deadline for reaching a deal nears.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has set a deadline for next week to break the two-year political deadlock. Otherwise, it faces being mothballed until after the next British general election, which is expected next year.
The proposals from the Irish and British governments are expected to be presented privately to the various parties later today. The governments hope their "creative" formula would allow a visual aspect to IRA decommissioning that would satisfy the DUP but could be tolerated by the IRA.
The IRA has accepted a proposal to allow a representative from the Catholic and Protestant churches to join with decommissioning chief Gen John de Chastelain in overseeing future acts of IRA disarmament, according to informed sources.
Such visual evidence would most likely be by still photographs rather than video. The proposal would appear to meet the DUP's central demand for "visual" decommissioning. Sinn Féin initially rejected the demand, but the governments are hopeful their new proposal would be accepted.
The IRA accepting independent witnesses to future disarmament events is conditional on the DUP agreeing to share power with Sinn Féin, sources said.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, is to meet the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Paul Murphy at Iveagh House in Dublin this afternoon.
An SDLP delegation was briefed on the proposals in Dublin by Mr Ahern. After a 45-minute meeting, party leader Mr Mark Durkan claimed the DUP was getting too much.
"The governments know from Leeds Castle that we have a number of very serious misgivings about what they are proposing to do and some of the changes they are prepared to make to the Agreement to satisfy the DUP," he said. "We believe the DUP are getting too much and giving too little. We need to see some capacity and commitment on the part of the DUP and so far we are not seeing it."
Mr Durkan, accompanied by party chairman Mr Alex Attwood, refused to disclose specific detail on the proposals made by the two governments.