During her visit to Dublin yesterday, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, spoke positively about advances being made within the talks process and said she would consider readmitting the Ulster Democratic Party to negotiations at an early date. Similar hopeful, if less specific, sentiments were expressed by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. And, in Washington, a meeting between President Clinton and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, echoed the need for peace and compromise.
There was an element of make-believe about it all: governments talking up the prospects for progress while key parties within the talks refused to engage positively in addressing the most central and divisive issues. And, outside the process, those opposed to a political settlement based on the Joint Framework Document continued to spread their sectarian poison.
The prospects are not particularly encouraging. But the governments have invested so much time and energy in creating an inclusive process - which has already delivered paramilitary ceasefires - that they cannot lose faith now. And the hope is that none of the political parties in the talks can be seen to walk away. In that regard, the anxiety of the UDP to be readmitted to negotiations at the earliest possible date would suggest considerable life remains in the process and that public pressure for a peaceful accommodation is growing.
The general terms of that accommodation were set down by the governments three years ago in the Framework Document and were itemised by Mr Ahern in a special Dail debate on Wednesday. A settlement, he said, would contain seven elements: balanced constitutional change; Northern Ireland institutions, including an Assembly, exercising devolved executive and legislative responsibility; a North-South Ministerial Council and North-South bodies with executive powers; an East-West Intergovernmental Council, for the purposes of co-operation involving the two governments and devolved institutions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; standing intergovernmental machinery between the two governments for interaction and co-operation on non-devolved matters; equality of treatment provisions and measures to establish a peaceful society, dealing with issues like prisoners, measures to deal with the concerns of the victims, security in all its aspects, policing and decommissioning.
Those elements would not satisfy the demands of either community in full and they would certainly cause antagonism. But they represent the basis on which the talks process has been established. For Sinn Fein and Mr Gerry Adams or the Ulster Unionists and Mr David Trimble to adopt an a la carte approach to the three-stranded talks menu at this stage would be an abdication of their democratic responsibilities.
Mr Adams's declaration that an Assembly dominated by unionists would be unacceptable to Sinn Fein would seem to reject the "consent" principle endorsed by both Governments. And his assertion that North/South institutions must not be subordinated to such an Assembly drew criticism from Mr John Hume on the grounds that he was "being either deliberately destructive or failing to face reality". On the other hand, Mr Trimble's reluctance to engage fully in the North/South strand of the talks is disappointing. And his party's refused to negotiate directly with Sinn Fein has become a self-defeating exercise where the prospects for a Northern Assembly are concerned. Time is running out for all the parties. Courage, imagination and a reinvigorated approach is required if agreement is to be achieved by the May deadline.