The indication by the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, that the IRA could disband and the DUP's open-minded response has created the possibility that intensive talks in September involving the Taoiseach, the British Prime Minister and the Northern parties could yet conclude positively.
"It's an interesting development. It's a beginning. Now let's see what happens next, and if these words can be matched by actions," a senior DUP source told The Irish Times last night.
A senior British government source has also responded positively to Mr Adams's comments, which the Sinn Féin leader emphatically stood over in a number of interviews on both Thursday and yesterday. A senior Irish source was also welcoming but guarded.
The British source saw significance in both Mr Adams's remarks and in the later DUP response. "Potentially this could be quite a significant development," he said
Mr Adams in a personal statement and in interviews on BBC and RTÉ said that the existence of the IRA and its arms was providing an excuse for unionists not to share power with nationalists and that therefore republicans may have to remove that excuse.
He made his initial comment to a BBC political journalist, Garret Gordon, on Thursday evening, saying: "I personally feel that while there are justifiable fears within unionism about the IRA and while people have concerns about the IRA, I think political unionism uses the IRA and the issue of IRA arms as an excuse.
"I think that republicans need to be prepared to remove that as an excuse."
He qualified his comments by adding: "But we who are in leadership will only be empowered to do so if there is a context in which we can make progress. I don't see the IRA doing that of its own volition. I see the IRA only doing that as part of an ongoing process of sustainable change."
Sustainable change, he indicated yesterday, would be the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement, which the DUP is seeking to recast.
The DUP Assembly member, Mr Ian Paisley jnr, in a statement on Thursday night was rather sceptical of Mr Adams's remark.
"Statements of this sort from Gerry Adams have become a regular occurrence. Sadly, they are rarely backed up with the necessary action from the IRA," he said.
However, last night there was a discernible softening of tone from the DUP, which in more generous language acknowledged that Mr Adams's comment should not be dismissed.
A senior Irish official source tied Mr Adams's comments with earlier positive-sounding messages from the DUP MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, who has said his party would share power with Sinn Féin if the IRA, over a timescale, disbanded and disarmed.
However, the Irish official cautioned: "There were a whole lot of subjunctive clauses in what Gerry Adams said. If we have movement, then certain things could happen."
Mr Adams was careful to stress that his comment about the IRA was not a throwaway remark. Asked on RTÉ if it was important, he replied: "Well, of course, it was important. I would not have said it otherwise."
He also said he had had a recent meeting with the senior Sinn Féin negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, to prepare for the September negotiations designed to lead to a restoration of devolution. They will culminate in three days of talks at Leeds Castle, near Maidstone in Kent, chaired by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
The Ulster Unionist MLA, Sir Reg Empey, said he had heard such comments from Mr Adams before. Republicans should do what they were obliged to do under the Belfast Agreement, demonstrate they were committed to exclusively peaceful means of pursuing their goals, he added.