The process of talks which gets under way this morning at Stormont falls some way short of the ideal of having everyone around the one table or even under the one roof. Various of the principal parties whose assent will be necessary in any overall settlement will not be there. But what is being initiated today is a process which will define indisputably and irrevocably the line between those who accept truly democratic principles and those who do not.
It will take a while. But remarkably, and for the first time, that time scale too is defined and limited. Come June the elections will have taken place - perhaps in tandem with referendums jointly held North and South to take away whatever mandate for violence the IRA may claim it can trace back over almost 80 years to the general election of 1918. Substantive negotiations on a new settlement will then take place with or without Sinn Fein. That party's presence or otherwise will be determined by its IRA colleagues decision whether or not to continue its campaign of violence.
Expectations that the IRA would renew its ceasefire once the two governments had announced a firm date for all party negotiations have not been fulfilled. There is understandable dismay that this should be 50. For even though there have been no IRA bombings for a fortnight, the threat of violence hangs ominously in the air. And in Belfast the risk is high of some confrontation - perhaps unintended or unplanned - between IRA and loyalist paramilitaries. The conflagration could occur at any time. Sources close to the loyalists report high tension, as IRA gunmen target leading paramilitaries in dummy run attacks.
It would appear there is now extensive discussion and debate within the Provisional movement. There is little more the governments can do to assist those within the movement who are urging the political path. Protestations from Sinn Fein spokesmen that they are being discriminated against and that new preconditions are being set for their participation in talks ring hollow in the extreme. Sinn Fein cannot be considered in the same light as other political parties as long as its associates are engaged in acts of terrorism. And the mantra like proclamations of its electoral mandate earn no sympathy. The governments must not cede any ground from the present position of dealing with Sinn Fein through officials and through officials only until the IRA reinstitutes its ceasefire.
At this writing it is unclear whether Sinn Fein members will attend today's talks. A party spokesman at the weekend indicated that they would not, offering the doubtful rationale that they had not received an invitation. The positions to be adopted by the main unionists - Mr Trimble's UUP and Dr Paisley's DUP - are also unclear. The best information suggests that they will not be present at Stormont today but will engage with officials and perhaps British ministers in London later in the week a form of dialogue at a distance.
The situation remains perilous as long as any group claims the right of resorting to force. But there has been measurable movement and there is a considerable political attainment in getting to this morning's position. Few would have given odds that it could be done at all when the IRA once more went on the pathway of murder and destruction at Canary Wharf almost a month ago.