The British government is believed ready for a fresh push to establish the institutional structures of the Belfast Agreement before Christmas. Expectations of an urgent London initiative grew last night as it emerged that ministers and officials have all but rejected suggestions that decommissioning can be "parked" until spring.
That option, canvassed recently by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was effectively closed off last night as the political focus turned to Mr Tony Blair's historic address to the joint Houses of the Oireachtas on November 26th.
Dublin, Belfast and London believe Mr Blair's address to the Oireachtas, the first by a British Prime Minister, provides a new deadline, and the impetus for a resumed attempt to move the peace process forward.
While there are as yet no plans for a prime ministerial summit meeting ahead of Mr Blair's Dublin visit, sources in both capitals say nothing is being ruled out. The Taoiseach, meanwhile, is expected to return to Belfast later this month to join resumed negotiations on North-South co-operation and the role of the proposed implementation bodies.
The sense of urgency in Downing Street has grown sharply since Mr Blair's meeting last Monday with the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams. The continued failure to resolve decommissioning, has heightened fears that the republican movement might be minded to "play the issue long" pending publication of the Patten Commission's report on policing, expected next May.
There is also anxiety that the Ulster Unionists might be tempted to further delay, since the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, looks certain to regard the European election in the same month as a rerun of the agreement poll.
While the dominant view in London remains that the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein have no alternatives, there is open acknowledgement that a continuing impasse until spring or beyond could threaten the agreement's survival.
The immediate hope in Dublin and London is that early agreement can be reached on the implementation bodies and on North-South co-operation. In addition, Mr Trimble's agreement on the shape of the new Northern Ireland administration would further bolster nationalist and republican confidence in his commitment to fulfil the agreement. While he is still refusing to enter the "shadow" executive without IRA movement on arms, it is understood Mr Trimble is also continuing to press for inaugural meetings of the North-South ministerial council and the British-Irish Council in their shadow form.
It seems clear London no longer views decommissioning as solely a problem for Mr Adams, but rather that Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists will have to move from their declared "bottom line" positions. That said, British sources continue to insist that decommissioning is an obligation under the agreement and must be completed within two years.