In three days of talks beginning today in St Andrews, the North's political parties will decide whether they can reach agreement by November 24th on restoring a devolved administration.
There is no guarantee that they will do so by then but we should surely know by Friday whether it is possible to make further progress on the two major issues of policing and powersharing. The indications are that this is so. The two governments and the parties deserve goodwill as they make this final effort.
It has taken an exceedingly long time to reach this point, most observers of the process would say. Artificial delays, opportunist prevarications and continual turning of tactical into strategic disagreements have exhausted much of the momentum to complete it. That is why it has made sense for the two governments to impose the deadline and insist it is real.
Whether most of what is required can be completed by then will depend on how well the bargaining goes. In briefings ahead of this week's talks, the idea of a contingency agreement, associating Sinn Féin's commitment to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland with the Democratic Unionist Party's willingness to engage in powersharing at a date after the November 24th deadline, was put forward as a fallback and rather pessimistic position.
There is now room to hope that more progress can be made than that. As always, the parties devote much attention to who will be blamed if they fail to agree. From Sinn Féin's point of view there would be much less likelihood of it being placed in that position if it held an ardfheis on the question of policing between the end of this week and November 24th. A decision to join the PSNI in principle would invite a commensurate move by the DUP. A great deal falls to political leadership in this endgame. If Sinn Féin is already politically committed on the policing issue, Gerry Adams should take this risk.
An important symbolic indication that such a move by Sinn Féin could be reciprocated came when Dr Ian Paisley and senior members of his party had a constructive meeting with Catholic Primate Archbishop Seán Brady in Belfast on Monday. The discussion ranged over the political, social and economic agenda of issues in Northern Ireland.
Outsiders should not underestimate the significance of Dr Paisley's statement afterwards: "We have had a very good and useful exchange of views across a range of issues. It is in the interests of everyone to develop the foundations for stability and prosperity for all the people of Northern Ireland". Such banal normalities are a real breakthrough in communal relations.
The great question hanging over these talks is whether this politically rational voice of Dr Paisley trumps his religious fundamentalism which has opposed a settlement. Last week's report of the Independent Monitoring Commission saying the IRA has disarmed ought now to tip the balance in favour of going for it.