After months of painstaking negotiations directed by the Irish and British governments, a comprehensive political settlement involving the most intransigent political forces in Northern Ireland is in sight.
The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, the Rev Ian Paisley, and the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, are expected to respond shortly to the terms of a carefully choreographed deal put forward by Dublin and London. The mood music is so positive that official sources are speaking about "when", rather than "if", devolved government will be re-established.
Of course, difficulties remain. It would be extraordinary if years of suspicion and distrust could be put aside within a matter of months. And the most potent display of that legacy lies in the continuing refusal of the DUP to engage in face-to-face negotiations with Sinn Féin. In spite of that, significant progress has been made. Both parties devoted considerable time and effort during the summer to ensure the marching season passed off peacefully. They also prepared their constituencies for the political accommodations that would be required if the parties were to share power within a new Executive.
Six months ago, the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, identified four key issues that had to be resolved: paramilitary activity, arms decommissioning, stability of the Northern Ireland institutions and policing. The parties made considerable progress in dealing with those issues at Leeds Castle in October. And, yesterday, both Mr Adams and Dr Paisley engaged in separate discussions designed to prepare public opinion for a settlement.
Mr Adams spoke to the PSNI chief constable, Mr Hugh Orde, for the first time at a meeting attended by Mr Blair, in London. They discussed demilitarisation in Border counties in the context of an end to paramilitary activity. And the Sinn Féin president later described the exchanges as constructive. Given that Sinn Féin continues to boycott the new policing arrangements, such a development is of considerable importance.
At the same time, Dr Paisley met Gen John de Chastelain, in Belfast to discuss the decommissioning of IRA weapons. Afterwards, the DUP leader commented that the political process had reached a delicate stage and it was now up to the British government to deal with the circumstances surrounding decommissioning.
A range of sequenced actions, designed to bring about a power-sharing Executive next March, has been painstakingly negotiated with the DUP and Sinn Féin. And while some detail, such as the publication of photographic evidence of acts of decommissioning, has not been decided, the obstacles are surmountable. Even if the two parties find it impossible to overcome their deep-seated distrust at this time, the governments will publish details of their proposals in the expectation that, in the near future, paramilitary activity will end and be replaced by community policing and devolved government. There appears to be inexorable movement towards a deal.