The Government is to push for early direct engagement between the UUP and Sinn Fein during the review of the non-implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
The North's political parties may be asked to meet the former talks chairman, Senator George Mitchell, within a fortnight to begin the review.
Senator Mitchell has agreed to take a key role in attempts to resolve the impasse over decommissioning and the formation of an all-party executive. The Taoiseach confirmed yesterday that Senator Mitchell had agreed to devote "a few days" to the search for a breakthrough later this month and "a few weeks" at the beginning of September.
Senator Mitchell will join Mr Ahern and Mr Blair at Downing Street on Tuesday, where they are scheduled to meet for 90 minutes to decide how to proceed. British and Irish officials met in Belfast yesterday to discuss how the review is to be conducted. Mr Ahern said yesterday that Tuesday's meeting would attempt to draw up a working agenda for Senator Mitchell's involvement.
The governments' plan is to ensure the review is "very tightly focused", giving no one the opportunity to reopen discussion on the agreement other than the establishment of all the institutions.
Government sources yesterday dismissed as "nonsense" suggestions that the review might not get going until October. They said they hoped the Northern parties would meet Senator Mitchell within a fortnight, take a break for August and resume negotiations - again facilitated by Senator Mitchell - in early September.
Mr Blair and Mr Ahern are likely to decide to take a less prominent role in driving the political process than they have adopted in recent weeks. They are unlikely to join yet another lengthy "pressure cooker" bout of talks such as those which took place recently at Castle Buildings in Belfast, according to Government sources. Rather they will stand back from the process and hope Senator Mitchell can facilitate the ending of the impasse.
Government sources say the central disagreement holding up progress is between the UUP and Sinn Fein, yet these parties have met only once in the past three weeks. They must sort out differences in direct talks, the sources say, as the governments have no power to resolve the impasse.
Amid speculation about her possible replacement as Northern Secretary by Mr Peter Mandelson among others, Dr Mowlam yesterday began the process of trying to salvage the Belfast Agreement. She and her political development minister, Mr Paul Murphy, - also named as a possible successor - met pro- and anti-agreement parties at Stormont.
There were predictable recriminations, with Mr Gerry Adams accusing Mr David Trimble of trying to negotiate a new agreement, and castigating the British Prime Minister for his unsuccessful attempt to persuade the UUP to accept the Way Forward document.
"The British government needs to review its own stewardship of the process. It needs to work out whether chasing unionists with legislation worked. How long did they give it, 15 minutes?" said Mr Adams.
But he said he still retained hope that the Belfast Agreement would be implemented. But that would be dependent on the review taking place speedily and in a concentrated fashion. He warned against any unionist strategy to spin out the review until May, the deadline for implementation of all aspects of the agreement.
Mr Trimble said he also believed the agreement could be rescued. He again refused to be specific about whether he would follow the example of Mr Seamus Mallon and resign from his post as First Minister. He indicated yesterday that resigning could undermine the agreement further.
Mr Mallon said that while he was saddened at having to resign as Deputy First Minister he still believed it was necessary to inject fresh energy into the waning political process. He said Mr Trimble might "catch up" by also resigning.
