The Taoiseach has said there is "not a hope" of achieving decommissioning by the May 22nd deadline, but efforts to restore the suspended political institutions will intensify in the run-up to Easter.
Mr Ahern told the Dail yesterday the governments would try to reach agreement on all the outstanding issues, and then try to build a consensus among the political parties around joint proposals. They had set Easter as a target date for progress to be made, although it was difficult to see "how we can square the circles".
The first phase of the discussions between the governments would try to agree on how to implement the remaining parts of the Belfast Agreement. These include decommissioning, the Patten reforms of the RUC, and criminal justice and equality issues.
"The second phase will be to see what support we can win from all the parties," he said.
On decommissioning, while he said he would like to see progress "today and certainly by May 22nd . . . we are realistic and we know that there is not a hope of us achieving that objective. That is the view of all the pro-Agreement parties and the two governments".
He said the talks could include round-table discussions, but there would be a series of bilateral meetings first.