The Government is hopeful that agreement can be reached today on the decommissioning impasse to meet the Friday deadline for moving on to the next stage of the peace process.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, was unlikely to stay in the North beyond today because of his involvement with the Kosovo crisis and he hoped that "the business will be done by then".

During Question Time, Mr Andrews said the message he could bring was "one of hope, particularly in regard to the attitude of the parties meeting yesterday".

The House also learned that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had yesterday met Mr Paul Nelson, the husband of Ms Rosemary Nelson, the solicitor who was killed in a car bomb. Mr Andrews told Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, that it was hoped that the bodies of the 10 remaining "disappeared" would be recovered.

The Minister told Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, that the Taoiseach and Mr Blair had had intensive bilateral meetings, as well as meetings with the Sinn Fein leaders.

The Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, and the Minister of State, Ms Liz O'Donnell, and himself had also met Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP. Meetings also included one with the Garvaghy Road Residents' group.

"We accept that the question of decommissioning is central to the whole problem of the impasse. We accept that the agreement does not contain a precondition that there must be a start to decommissioning before Sinn Fein can take its place in the executive. Under the terms of the agreement, given the size of its mandate Sinn Fein is entitled to two places in that executive.

"It is equally a reality that the UUP interprets the agreement in a different way. Their understanding is that the participation of Sinn Fein in the executive requires a start to decommissioning."

He said the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning under Gen John de Chastelain was seen as the way forward by all sides. "The task now is to help Gen de Chastelain find the formula to unblock that impasse."

Mr Andrews said there was "no easy solution to the current impasse and, as the Taoiseach has indicated, accommodation can only be found if everyone shows flexibility and willingness to move from present positions".

He added that the challenges faced this week were "daunting", but a means had to be found to overcome them. "There is simply no alternative. As President Clinton rightly said, failure is not an option. The vicious murder of Rosemary Nelson, and other recent incidents of violence, have highlighted once again that there must be no going back to the old ways. The people of Ireland want a future built on partnership and peace."

Mr De Rossa pointed out that decommissioning had been "on the horizon" virtually since the beginning of the process. The initial unionist position had been that there could be no talks without decommissioning, then that it would happen during negotiations, and then it would happen within two years from the acceptance of the Belfast Agreement.

He said the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, was now in the position where he had to have some concession on that issue and that "it is critical that a compromise is found".

Mr Andrews said what was needed was a compromise that would meet the requirements of all the parties, particularly the UUP and Sinn Fein.