Sinn Fein was serious about its commitment to see the IRA begin disarming within a period of three to six months, a senior republican source has said.
While at the start of yesterday's talks the Taoiseach and British Prime Minister exhorted the divided sides, Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party, to make a huge effort to bridge their differences the source predicted that IRA decommissioning would begin later this year.
"The offer is genuine. IRA decommissioning has to happen, and will happen," he told The Irish Times, adding that the main factor that could wreck the chance of agreement "was the usual absence of trust".
In May, the same republican source with other republican contacts said the Sinn Fein leadership of Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness was working to bring about IRA decommissioning because it believed it was the only way forward.
They said that quiet behind-the-scenes work was continuing to persuade the general "republican family" that "republicans, so to speak, have to bite the bullet on decommissioning".
At the time it was stated that the leadership estimated that it had convinced at least 60 per cent of the republican heartland that it could radically shift position on disarmament without undermining its power base, and that it was constantly building on that figure.
Mr Adams was dismissive of the report, although the sources, when contacted later, insisted their information was correct.
The republican contacted yesterday said the Sinn Fein negotiating team had played a "stormer" in the talks at Castle Buildings, Stormont. It had been unified and coherent in its argument and presentation and had put the Ulster Unionist Party on the back foot.
While part of the republican constituency would be unhappy or anxious about the apparent commitment to see IRA disarmament he indicated that the Sinn Fein performance in the talks allied to its electoral successes would be sufficient to reassure the vast bulk of activists and supporters.
He dismissed the unionist suspicion that republicans were not serious in their purported pledge to see IRA decommissioning begin within a period of three to six months. Asked if the pledge was highly qualified he replied that, apart from seeing the Belfast Agreement implemented, "there were no qualifications".
Asked if republicans would backtrack on their commitment if they were unhappy with the recommendations from the Patten Commission on the future of the RUC he repeated: "There were no qualifications. The offer was genuine."
Yesterday morning Mr Blair and Mr Ahern made a strong pitch to convince the UUP that a deal should be done. Mr Blair also appeared to accept that republicans were playing an honest game.
In a strongly implicit reference to his conviction that this was an offer which might be folly to refuse Mr Blair said there had been "historic, seismic shifts" in the political landscape. "There has been huge progress. There is no doubt about that whatsoever." He added that the British and Irish governments were prepared to give "absolute legislative fail-safe guarantees" to underpin any deal.
There was a lot at stake, said Mr Blair. "The entire civilised world will not understand if we cannot put this together and make it work. They simply won't understand it, and rightly," he warned.
The Taoiseach also warned of the dangers of allowing this opportunity to pass by. "There is an awful lot to gain and a frightening amount to lose," he said.
But the mood between the two central players at the beginning of the renewed negotiations at noon yesterday was distinctly chilly. Mr Trimble said he was unaware of any pledge to decommission. "Despite the spin, despite the smoke and mirrors, there has been no commitment made by the republican movement to decommission in terms that would be recognised by the unionist community."
Mr Adams accused the UUP of rejecting the proposals hours before the deadline for agreement on midnight on Wednesday. The Sinn Fein proposals were outlined in four separate meetings with the UUP through Wednesday, but Mr Trimble was trying to impose new preconditions, he said.
"We explained to them we didn't want to give them words on paper because of the delicate nature of these negotiations.".
As yesterday's talks began with round-table discussions involving Mr Blair and Mr Ahern and the pro-agreement parties the British Prime Minister's official spokesman was making it clear "that there has been huge progress, and that when you boil it down the gap is not so monumental that it cannot be bridged".
And as the UUP put forward counterproposals the anti-agreement UUP MP, Mr Willie Ross, urged that unionists maintain their demand for prior decommissioning before it would join Sinn Fein in an executive.