The political process in Northern Ireland moved into a higher gear yesterday with a successful meeting between Mr David Trimble and Mr Gerry Adams and an announcement that military patrols in Belfast would cease from the weekend.
The first group of paramilitary prisoners to be released under the Belfast Agreement are to be freed this morning. It was announced that the North-South and British-Irish councils envisaged in the agreement would be set up within weeks.
Mr Trimble's hold on the Ulster Unionist Party was strengthened by the resignation of four dissidents who stood as anti-agreement candidates in the June Assembly elections.
However, a top-level meeting in Dublin involving police from both sides of the Border and from Britain was understood to have agreed that the "Real IRA" ceasefire should be treated with caution.
The North's First Minister and Ulster Unionist leader, Mr Trimble, met privately for 30 minutes with the Sinn Fein president, Mr Adams. Afterwards, Mr Adams described the UUP leader as a man "I can do business with". During a UTV interview, Mr Trimble referred to Mr Adams by his first name, as "Gerry".
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said he was "delighted" at the success of the meeting.
There was some surprise that the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders took place behind closed doors, with no others present. It is understood the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons was the main topic, with the pair outlining their respective difficulties on the issue.
However, there were signs afterwards of a thaw in relations and even a new spirit of compromise.
Mr Adams said he told Mr Trimble that "he and I had been cast in these positions and we had to narrow the gap". On Channel 4 News, Mr adams said: "What happened today with the British troops in Belfast should be happening all over the Six Counties and that's part of the agreement.
"What the British government signed up to was a publicised strategy to demilitarise the situation . . . "
Mr Trimble announced that the North-South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council would have their inaugural meetings by the end of this month or early next month.
Seven paramilitary prisoners are due to be released today under the Belfast Agreement. Six will be freed from the Maze Prison, near Belfast, while another will be released from Magilligan in Co Derry. It is believed three are republicans and three are loyalists.
Senior police officers from both sides of the Border and Britain met in Dublin yesterday for an assessment of the threat posed by republican paramilitary splinter groups. The talks were understood to have ended in agreement that the ceasefire statement this week by the "Real IRA" had to be treated with caution.
In Belfast, the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, said British army patrols in the city would cease from this weekend because of the reduced threat from paramilitaries.