DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley said his party would not be "bluffed" by any IRA commitments to disarm and end activity after talks concluded on Saturday, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor at Leeds Castle.
He indicated that his party would test whether the republican movement would credibly demonstrate that it was going out of paramilitary business.
He said the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, told the party that very shortly the IRA would begin to disarm and end activity.
"I am too long in the tooth and I am too old to be bluffed, and I am not going to be bluffed. We say we will believe it when we see it. We are going no farther than that," said Dr Paisley.
He said that Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness had stated that the IRA was not at the talks and had given no promises.
Dr Paisley said the DUP engaged seriously in the negotiations and progress was achieved on the four main issues of ending IRA activity, decommissioning, power-sharing and policing.
"What is important for us is that we have entered this process and emerged from it able to look the people of Ulster in the eye and confirm that we are seeking to fulfil our election commitments, and every decision taken by us has been consistent with them," he added.
"Indeed, we believe we are making progress where others have failed," he said.
"I believe that a golden opportunity has been available to realise a stable and entirely peaceful future, and I told the prime minister that in some respects we have never been closer to solving the problems that have plagued us for decades," said Dr Paisley.
"We are committed to stay the course. We will not be running away, and we will deliver at the end of the day a better agreement for all the people of Northern Ireland," he added.
The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, welcomed the possibility that the issue of IRA weapons and activity appeared on the brink of resolution. Mr Trimble said there could be no changes to the fundamentals of the Belfast Agreement, notwithstanding the DUP's insistence that there must be major restructuring of the agreement.
"There have been some ideas put forward by the DUP. We are going to look at them over the next week or two, and if they are put forward with the intention of genuinely improving the arrangements, we are happy with that."
The Sinn Féin leader, Mr Gerry Adams, said the negotiations had established that it was not the IRA that was blocking a return to devolution, but the DUP.
"We did some good work with the two governments and made some progress across a range of issues," he said, while adding that he would not address the issue of what might emerge from the IRA.
He added, however, that he believed Sinn Féin signing up to policing based on an acceptable deal could happen in less than two years' time. Mr Adams said that if the final institutional issues concerning the DUP could not be solved, then the British and Irish governments must push ahead with outstanding elements of the Belfast Agreement.
The Sinn Féin president also disclosed that he had received assurances from the British government that an inquiry would be held into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, said the Finucane inquiry must be public.
Mr Adams also made it clear that, as Mr Ahern and Mr Blair had stated, he would not tolerate any alteration to the fundamental cross-community consensual philosophy of the Belfast Agreement.
The Catholic primate, Archbishop Seán Brady, has said it was "important for political leaders in the North to take risks for peace". Archbishop Brady said he and his fellow Catholic bishops were "praying for success in the peace process".
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rev Ken Newell, said a great opportunity had been missed to close down the IRA.