The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister are examining plans to overcome the confidentiality restrictions between the IRA and Gen John de Chastelain's arms decommissioning body.
Intensive contacts will continue today with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) and republicans in an attempt to provide Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble with the "transparency" he has called for on decommissioning.
Specifically, Mr Ahern and Mr Tony Blair are looking at possible ways of publishing details of Tuesday's putting beyond use of a substantial and significant cache of IRA weapons and explosives.
Mr Trimble insisted last night the deal he struck with Mr Gerry Adams was on hold and suggested it could be restarted should the required transparency be forthcoming. Republicans yesterday defended Gen de Chastelain's body which Mr Trimble said had provided only "vague statements" about the IRA's decommissioning.
Mr Adams said yesterday the problems now encountered were more grave than the "glitch" suggested by Mr Blair at Hillsborough on Tuesday night. He insisted republicans had lived up to their side of the deal.
Details not covered by the talks between Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists were addressed by the contact between the arms decommissioning body and the IRA, he added. Mr Adams suggested there were just days to sort out the problem because of forthcoming Assembly elections, a belief shared by a well-placed British source at Stormont.
Options being considered yesterday included disclosure by Mr Blair and possibly Mr Ahern of extra details they have been given in private by Gen de Chastelain on the quantity and quality of weapons put beyond use this week.
With next Wednesday's scheduled meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council seen as a deadline for progress on the issue in advance of the November 26th elections, Mr Blair told the House of Commons yesterday: "We are working hard to find a way to try and disclose it."
He also told MPs he could understand unionist concerns about the transparency of paramilitary decommissioning and tried to assure them that they would be happy if they knew what he knew about the scale of the IRA's act on Tuesday. The Taoiseach was more circumspect in the Dáil, warning a breach of confidentiality would do "irreparable damage" to the entire peace process. He said he harboured reservations about Tuesday's planned sequence of events, warned Downing Street of his unease, and was reluctant to travel to Hillsborough as he had been unable to make contact with Gen de Chastelain.
While he and Mr Blair "do not rule out the possibility of saying more about what we were told [on Tuesday], it would be unwise to contemplate that course without giving the IICD the chance to resolve the difficulty through direct contact with the IRA".
Both governments hope such contact could encourage the IRA to authorise the release of more information containing the quantity of explosives and the number of firearms and other weapons put beyond use.
Acknowledging the IRA's current insistence on confidentiality, the Taoiseach yesterday urged the IRA to "revisit this thinking, at least in respect of yesterday's act".
He noted the IRA knew an inventory of weapons destroyed was kept by the decommissioning body concerning each decommissioning act, and this would be provided anyway to the two governments when the process was complete.
Mr Ahern said he and Mr Blair had "discussed at length" whether "if the two governments have more detail, they should simply publish what they know.
"However, we had to be mindful of the possibility that if the confidentiality which enables Gen de Chastelain to proceed with his task was lifted by the Governments, it could have the effect of damaging the prospects of fully resolving the arms issue in the longer term."
The Government was disappointed at the presentation of the decommissioning report by Gen de Chastelain. "I was very hopeful yesterday when I heard that these arms could have caused death and destruction on a gigantic scale, he said, referring to a remark yesterday by the general's colleague, Mr Andrew Sens.
"However, it does not sound as exciting when expressed in the military terminology of the commission."