Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the fringes of the EU summit in Brussels today to discuss getting the Northern Ireland Executive up and running.
The plan is to have the Assembly meet for six weeks before summer to enable parties to build enough consensus to facilitate the establishment of a power-sharing executive in the autumn.
The two leaders used today's meeting to finalise their plans and to decide whether it is feasible to travel to Northern Ireland in the next few weeks to formally announce the initiative.
The SDLP and Sinn Féin have already declared their opposition to the plans.