DUP leader Ian Paisley today said he would share power with Sinn Fein if there was "no arms and no crime".
The 78-year-old signalled that there was still a realistic prospect of devolved government for the Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland, despite the fallout from the robbery of the Northern Bank blamed on the IRA.
"I have made it clear that as a democrat if people turn up with a mandate and if that mandate does not depend on criminality, does not depend on armed revolt and rebellion... I would face up to the fact that I would have to do business with them," Mr Paisley told RTE radio.
He said there could be an "an old boys association" for retired IRA members, as proposed by former taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds. He added that he believed there would be "rethinking" among Republicans in the aftermath of the Northern Bank raid and the operations against IRA money laundering in the Republic.
There were also conciliatory signals from Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, today at a commemoration speech for IRA Volunteers in south Armagh. He said there was a need to take more risks for the peace process to succeed.
"Inevitably that will mean more hard choices, more hard decisions for Irish republicans as we push ahead with our political project and as we seek to achieve a united Ireland," he said.