The peace process has not "crashed," rather it has had the kind of "soft landing" that the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, hoped for, according to Downing Street yesterday.
Mr Trimble insisted the UUP had stayed away from Thursday's Assembly meeting because he did not want his Assembly members to take part in a "rancorous" exclusion debate. What should have happened, he said, was that the process should have had a soft landing: "A crash landing occurred because some people drove the process right to the very brink."
But Downing Street was quick to turn the logic around, insisting Mr Blair was as determined and convinced as ever that a lasting settlement could be achieved in Northern Ireland.
"Despite the angry words and the understandable frustration that came out yesterday, if you look at things in the round we have had a soft landing from this. Nobody's walking away from this, people are still talking. People are wanting to make this work and take it forward.
"We have never at any stage got carried away by success or overwhelmed by setbacks. We remain focused on what matters, bringing a lasting settlement to the people of Northern Ireland," a Downing Street spokesman said.
Mr Blair also briefed President Clinton during a 20-minute telephone call from Chequers, the Prime Minister's country residence, yesterday. Both agreed the talks process was "still very much alive. They agreed to take stock and then move forward again over the summer." Looking ahead to Tuesday's meeting between the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, in London, the spokesman emphasised that the two governments would be focusing on decommissioning and the establishment of the executive.
"This is not a review of the Good Friday agreement," he said.
London does not envisage a "full-time, permanent role in the process" for the former talks chairman, Senator George Mitchell, but he will play a key role in the review process, meeting all the Northern parties in the two weeks after the Ahern-Blair summit.
Earlier, the former Conservative prime minister, Mr John Major, said government amendments tabled on the Northern Ireland Bill this week should be implemented swiftly as a method of rebuilding confidence. Speaking on BBC radio's Today programme, he said: "The government yesterday made clear they would make some very important concessions to the legislation. I think they should make it publicly clear that they intend to keep those concessions and confirm what they are going to be."
Setting a positive tone despite the week's events, Mr Major said a "pause for reflection" should take place during the summer.
Meanwhile, in a Commons written reply, the Northern Ireland Minister, Mr Adam Ingram, confirmed that three prisoners released under the early release scheme had reoffended.
Two have been charged with offences including assault against police officers, affray, grievous bodily harm with intent and assault causing bodily harm. The third has been charged with receiving stolen goods and deception.
The Northern Ireland Prison Service said one was a republican, one a loyalist and the third a non-terrorist prisoner. "None of the three have broken the terms of their licence conditions," Mr Ingram said.