The Sinn Fein leadership believes the coming elections in Northern Ireland could force a major renegotiation of the Belfast Agreement.
While stopping short of advocating such a development, the party's chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said the elections "could force a reassessment by all the pro-agreement parties". And he said the agreement's review mechanism provided the framework for any renegotiation.
His party was considering a range of options for possible changes to the Assembly rules and to "the basic architecture" of the 1998 accord.
At its most extreme this review could produce proposals to maintain the institutions of the Belfast Agreement with only minority unionist support.
At minimum, Sinn Fein strategists think, it may be necessary to lower the threshold of the Assembly's existing 40 per cent "cross-community" support requirement.
A second option could offer a "more empowered" role for the smaller parties, while offering a potential lifeline to the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, by enabling some of them to redesignate themselves as pro-Union groupings.
Mr McLaughlin also acknowledged a worst-case scenario in which he said it might be necessary to scrap the cross-community consent requirement. In theory this could permit pro-agreement unionists to stay in office as part of a simple pro-agreement majority, even if they emerged from the elections as a minority force within the unionist political class.
Sinn Fein has also been privately warning that the agreement could face a second suspension after the elections.
This became clear as a delegation led by the party president, Mr Gerry Adams, travelled to Dublin yesterday to again impress upon the Taoiseach that Mr Trimble's ban on Sinn Fein participation in North-South Ministerial Council meetings is "unsustainable".
Sinn Fein leaders are confident the party can win the West Tyrone constituency held by the Ulster Unionist MP, Mr William Thompson, so equalling the SDLP in terms of Westminster seats held.
The party now appears equally convinced that the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party is set to further erode Mr Trimble's position.
However, Mr McLaughlin made clear Sinn Fein's assumption that maintaining the peace process will have primacy with London and Dublin.
Clare Murphy adds: A "new North and new Ireland" will eventually be created as a result of the Belfast Agreement, according to the leader of the SDLP, Mr John Hume.
He said yesterday he believed the outstanding political issues, including demilitarisation and decommissioning, could be solved because of the strength of the new political dispensation. The SDLP was adamant that public inquiries into the killing of Mr Robert Hamill, Ms Rosemary Nelson and Mr Pat Finucane were a "commonsense" requirement in any deal.
"Representatives are now working together in common interest in real politics and in the social and economic development of the community as a whole," Mr Hume said.
"The more we do that together the more we will break down the barriers of distrust that go to the heart of our society and our new society will evolve . . . a new North and a new Ireland." He said there was no need to re-examine the architecture of the agreement.