Northern Ireland was last night on the brink of an historic deal that will see the DUP and Sinn Féin sharing power - not by today as originally planned but in six weeks time.
The British and Irish governments are banking that prospective direct dialogue between the Rev Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams today will pave the way for a powersharing government in Northern Ireland in the first two weeks in May.
Intensive negotiations were continuing last night to ensure that the DUP leader and the Sinn Féin president will meet today to help create the conditions and atmosphere where devolution will happen by agreement in May.
Dr Paisley is likely to meet Mr Adams in either a bilateral DUP-Sinn Féin meeting or at a meeting of the Assembly programme for government committee. This would be an historic encounter as Dr Paisley has always refused to speak directly to Mr Adams.
Such a meeting now seems the only way of averting the dissolution of the Assembly elected earlier this month. "That Paisley-Adams meeting would have to happen if the DUP wants to convince Sinn Féin that this is not just another delay, and that there are good party reasons for the delay," said a senior talks source yesterday.
The British government was hoping Mr Adams would be reassured by the fact that a resolution approved by the DUP executive on Saturday removed the party's previous "conditionality" about powersharing. The 120-member executive voted for powersharing with Sinn Féin in May. The resolution was carried with the support of the entire DUP parliamentary party.
Party sources confirmed that MPs Nigel Dodds, Gregory Campbell, David Simpson and William McCrea had all backed the strategy largely credited to deputy leader Peter Robinson, and fully supported by Dr Paisley.
The sources also confirmed the additional assurance for Mr Adams that there would be no further vote by the DUP executive, and that delegates were told on Saturday they were voting for or against an "absolute commitment" to enter government in May.
"The shift that has happened within the DUP is quite significant, quite tectonic," added another senior talks source last night, who believed the prospects for a deal were very strong.
Speaking in Berlin earlier yesterday where he met British prime minister Tony Blair, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern indicated there was potential for agreement if the DUP and Sinn Féin could resolve outstanding problems. "There are lots of possibilities, if people don't agree there are no possibilities," he said.
Northern Secretary Peter Hain yesterday signed a 24-hour Assembly restoration order effective from midnight last night until midnight tonight. Ostensibly this means that if Dr Paisley refuses to nominate his ministers and himself as First Minister in the Assembly today, the Assembly and the prospect of powersharing government collapse.
Mr Hain yesterday indicated that he could accept a delay in establishing a powersharing government provided there was agreement between the DUP and Sinn Féin.
"If there's another way forward that has certainty about it, of course I'm not going to turn my back on it," Mr Hain said yesterday.
If Mr Hain now accepts the May option then the Assembly is unlikely to sit today at noon as originally scheduled.
As well as emergency legislation the DUP, Sinn Féin and the other parties require a commitment from Mr Hain that water charge bills will not be sent out tomorrow as planned, and that the £1 billion special financial package and other pledges will remain in place.
After contacts with Sinn Féin leaders yesterday, officials in Dublin and London believe that Sinn Féin can accept devolution in May if it copperfastens powersharing.
"Sinn Féin is determined to make real progress and achieve the restoration of the political institutions," Mr Adams said yesterday.