The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, are to meet in Downing Street tomorrow to review the threatened political process after a weekend which saw Mr David Trimble assertively defend the Belfast Agreement and his leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party.
Both the Belfast Agreement and Mr Trimble face challenges in the coming weeks, but according to Dublin and London sources, Mr Ahern and Mr Blair were encouraged by the way Mr Trimble answered his internal and external critics at the UUP conference on Saturday.
"This is a time to take stock and recognise that we need movement all round," said the London source, in shorthand version replaying Mr Trimble's call for some IRA movement on arms and concessions on police reform.
The Dublin source said Mr Trimble's authoritative defence of the agreement would impress both the Government and nationalist parties, but he repeated that nationalists viewed Patten as central to the new political dispensation.
The Taoiseach is likely to be questioned on the threat to Mr Trimble's leadership and on policing and IRA decommissioning when he addresses the British-Irish Parliamentary Body in Galway today.
Anti-agreement Ulster Unionists are still determined to proceed with an Ulster Unionist Council motion that the UUP should withdraw from the Executive in the absence of IRA decommissioning.
Mr Trimble is due to face a DUP motion of no confidence in the Assembly tomorrow. It is likely that UUP Assembly members will effectively boycott the debate because even anti-agreement Ulster Unionist MLAs such as Mr Peter Weir have portrayed the motion as a stunt.
The motion can have no practical effect as it cannot command cross-community support in the Assembly, but it could embarrass Mr Trimble and the Yes wing.
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, who has tabled the motion, believes it will increase the pressure on Mr Trimble and help to undermine any advantage he gained at the UUP conference.
"It is not so much about winning on the day as a platform for a message beyond the chamber, putting a case before unionists which will not be lost on the Ulster Unionist Council," he said.
Mr Trimble in his speech said nationalists should accept dilution of the Patten proposals on police reform. He also suggested that the UUP might withdraw fully or partially from involvement with the North-South bodies.
Last night, The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said he felt obliged to try to assist Mr Trimble with his difficulties. Speaking on the RTE programme, The Week in Politics he said it was necessary to find a resolution to Patten.
He said he would talk to the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, tomorrow in an effort to get compromises that would allow the peace process to move forward successfully.
