The Taoiseach and British Prime Minister are set to invest further personal political capital in the ailing peace process by hosting at least one day of intensive talks at Hillsborough beginning tomorrow.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair yesterday put renewed pressure on the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein to give detailed responses to a series of ideas to end the impasse. These comprise suggestions on how to restore the suspended political institutions, to deal with the decommissioning issue and to implement the remainder of the Belfast Agreement.
However, sources in both governments last night expressed frustration that they had received no indication of what, if anything, the republican movement is willing to do to resolve the deadlock. Irish Government sources also say they have no reliable indication of the minimum Republican shift required by the UUP for it to agree to participate in restored political institutions.
After seven hours of talks involving Mr Ahern, Mr Blair and the main pro-agreement parties at Downing Street, there were no signs of an imminent breakthrough. And while the British government announced that Mr Blair and Mr Ahern would travel to Hillsborough tomorrow for talks, the Taoiseach indicated this was conditional on the responses of the UUP and Sinn Fein in further contacts today.
Last night both governments played down suggestions of a difference of approach, with spokesmen agreeing the two leaders were likely to travel to the North in the morning, but the final decision would be made later today.
Sources in both governments say Mr Blair and Mr Ahern will travel only if they believe their presence at talks will bring progress. Both are anxious to avoid participating in another failed high-profile attempt to reach agreement.
After a day of talks at Downing Street which went on for two hours longer than expected, sources in both governments and all parties played down hopes of a breakthrough. Signalling frustration at the slow pace of the talks, Mr Ahern said: "There seems to be no amount of debate we can have on these issues. We are going to have to go slowly through them and try as best we can to get through them."
In a downbeat assessment, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, suggested no progress was made at yesterday's talks. However, Mr Trimble and his party's team left Downing Street at lunchtime while talks and contacts between the two governments, Sinn Fein and the SDLP went on until 6.30 p.m.
On his way into Downing Street shortly after noon yesterday, Mr Trimble said he was seeking answers on what was being proposed and what the republican movement was willing to do. As he left he said: "I can't say we have answers to the questions we were posing as we went in." Refer-ring to the republican movement, he said: "It boils down to one question: are they actually prepared to do anything?"
Mr Blair is likely to have further talks in London today with Mr Trimble. A Downing Street spokesman could not say if Mr Blair and Mr Trimble would meet. However, the UUP leader is expected to return to London for Prime Minister's question time in the Commons this afternoon, and party sources said it was likely they would meet if anything substantial emerged during yesterday's talks between Mr Blair, Mr Ahern and the Sinn Fein delegation.
While it is generally accepted an early statement from the IRA on the status of its "war" would form part of a package leading to the restoration of the political institutions, the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, last night dismissed the idea out of hand. Asked what expectation he had of a statement soon from the IRA, Mr Adams said: "None whatsoever."
Differences also remain between Sinn Fein and the UUP on the implementation of the Patten report on police reform and the pace at which the British military presence in the North is to be reduced.
The Sinn Fein delegation remained at Downing Street yesterday for almost the entire duration of talks and was involved in informal talks with officials of both governments and the SDLP, as well as its encounter with Mr Blair and Mr Ahern. Mr Adams rejected suggestions that his party was being put under more pressure than the UUP, saying: "We didn't come to Downing Street to be pressurised."
Meanwhile, it has emerged that once the May 22nd decommissioning deadline in the Belfast Agreement has expired, the international decommissioning body is likely to remain in place but this time with no set deadline for the completion of its work.
The mandate of the decommissioning body, headed by Canadian Gen John de Chastelain, is expected to be renewed later this week through the making of the necessary Order in Council at Westminster.