THE proposal by the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, last week to "pigeonhole" the decommissioning issue while Sinn Fein is excluded from the multiparty talks may be discussed at today's session at Stormont.
Today is the first anniversary of the start of the talks, where decommissioning of paramilitary arms has dominated the agenda.
The reaction to Mr Trimble's proposal to "park" decommissioning and go on to substantive talks is awaited with interest. However, the party still maintains that if Sinn Fein should be parachuted into talks, the issue of decommissioning would come out of the pigeonhole.
The UUP had bilateral talks with the SDLP yesterday, which were described as "cordial", at which they clarified the pigeonholing idea. The SDLP has given the proposal a guarded welcome but insists that there should be no roadblocks to moving into substantive talks.
It is not known if the issue will be discussed at today's plenary session at Stormont. NIO sources claim there would not be anything of significance to report.
This view was echoed by an Irish Government source who said the search would go on to solve the problem of decommissioning which has obstructed tee talks since their beginning a year ago. He said the new issue of pigeonholing needed to be "teased out".
Mr David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, which is close to the thinking of the loyalist UVF, said: "The war is futile, therefore if one wants to create peace, how does one do that other than through dialogue?"
Mr Gary McMichael of the Ulster Democratic Party, which is close to the thinking of the loyalist UDA, said: "What we need is for intelligent debate to take place and for conditions to be created whereby there can be dialogue.
"Everyone is concentrating on the need that everyone must move to Sinn Fein's position and everyone must engage with Sinn Fein. Republicans have to make it appropriate, they have to make it easy. They have to create the conditions where unionists will be willing to engage with them," Mr McMichael said.