If an acceptable formula could be devised which would allow for some form of IRA decommissioning, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness would go for it, according to senior mainstream republican sources.

The Sinn Fein leadership of Adams and McGuinness would gladly grasp at a realistic proposal which could see some weapons or explosives disposed of in some fashion.

The problem is to bring sufficient of the broad republican movement, in its political and paramilitary guises, behind the leadership. According to these sources, efforts are afoot to achieve that objective. These efforts, they say, involve cautious internal debate and some necessarily Jesuitical manoeuvring.

At the moment, it is estimated those who favour moving on the arms question number about 60 per cent. If Adams and McGuinness could bring that figure to 70 per cent, they could move on disarmament, according to these well-placed sources.

"The leadership is currently stuck on decommissioning, but if Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness and Mitchel McLaughlin could get unstuck, if they could find a formula, or an acceptable fudge, they would go for it," said one senior republican figure of influence. They'd like David Trimble to assist in this grand and dangerous project.

It's a view with which senior figures within the SDLP and the Irish Government would concur. The mood music from republicans at the Hillsborough Declaration discussions was that the IRA would be receptive if the executive was formed, according to Government and SDLP sources.

There was no formal pledge, but the commitment amounted to much more than a nod and a wink, they added. They said that whenever Adams, McGuinness and others have spoken about an inability to deliver IRA decommissioning, there is always an addendum of "not at this stage" or "not in the current circumstances".

Republican sources this week said cautious but significant politicking was going on internally with the ultimate goal of persuading or compelling republicans to make concessions on the arms question.

"It's a case of softly-softly gets things done," said one respected and trusted mainstream republican.

Another source, citing what he saw as a good example of the current leadership's commitment to the agreement, said McGuinness attended a fairly recent meeting of the republican family involving more than 100 former prisoners and other activists.

"One of those present said it didn't matter if the agreement `went down the tubes'; the challenge was `not to give any political ground to the SDLP', but McGuinness said, `No, I want to see this work' - and his comment was noted."

During the talks leading to the Belfast Agreement, informed sources have revealed, the Adams-McGuinness leadership worked on the formula that they would run with a deal if they could maintain the support of 70 per cent of the broad republican movement.

"They haven't got the necessary 70 per cent to make a move on decommissioning yet, but they are getting there, and I believe they will get there," said one of the sources.

The timing is the difficult factor here. The two governments and the parties would, in the best of all possible worlds, like to see some compromise deal on decommissioning before divisive campaigning for the European elections, but whether Adams and McGuinness would feel confident of striking a deal in the next week or so is open to question.

"If it could be done, it would be done," said one of the sources. The success of any new initiative will also rest to a large degree with David Trimble, but in terms of the republican focus, the word is that the Sinn Fein leadership wants action on arms.

What happened during the ardfheis last weekend however may have shaken their confidence somewhat. On Sinn Fein's 40-member ruling council, the ardchomhairle, there were elections for nine places. The senior personnel who lost their seats caused great surprise and internal debate.

Those ousted were ministerial nominee Bairbre de Brun, Assembly member Alex Maskey, press officer Jim Gibney, all Belfast-based, Francie Molloy and Barry McElduff from mid-Ulster, and Dodie McGuinness from Derry.

All of these are trusted supporters of the Adams-McGuinness peace process strategy. Gibney and Maskey in particular are close confidants of Adams. Effectively, they were replaced by Southerners, former IRA gunrunner Martin Ferris from Kerry, Sean McManus from Sligo, Caoimhghin O Caolain TD and Pat Treanor from Monaghan, and Sean Brady and Sean Crowe from Dublin.

An easy analysis is that this is a case of Southern hawkish republicans replacing Northern doves - after all some of the strongest opposition to the ceasefires of 1994 and 1997 came from Southern republicans living relatively safely away from the fray.

However, that argument does not hold because those who ousted the close associates of Adams would generally be perceived as supporting the Belfast Agreement and all the difficult choices which it entails. The key may be that those who failed to be elected were from the North, while those who supplanted them were from the South. It appears to be a case of 26-county republicans stating to their six-county colleagues: "We haven't gone away, you know." Still, it will have caused some unease to Adams and McGuinness.

"It was some sort of shot across the bows, but what it really means I'm just not sure. Certainly there was a fair-old shake-up in the Sinn Fein politburo and, if that happened in, say, Fianna Fail or Fine Gael, you'd hear more about it," said one republican figure.

Decommissioning was not a major issue at the ardfheis. A few speakers insisted there would be no movement on guns, but their number was relatively small and, in some cases, one had to question whether their heart was really with their words.

One leading republican, who favours some decommissioning fairly quickly after an executive is formed, spoke of delegates waltzing around the subject last weekend. "People were afraid to confront the issue. Most were being superficial. The question is do we or don't we decommission, but they seemed to be hoping that they would wake up and it would all be done."

He expressed his viewpoint to people he trusted and, he admitted, was rather duplicitous to others whom he didn't trust so well. He named a number of leading mainstream republicans who felt the IRA should make some gesture on decommissioning. Others were keeping their heads down.

"One man said to me, `You'd want to stay clear until we see how all this falls out.' He was distancing himself from any opinion in case something hard landed on his head," the source said.

The source believed that while the leadership was at the moment rather worried about pushing the boat out on weapons for fear of a backlash, it was still working to bring that extra 10 per cent on board the decommissioning train.

"I don't see any other way out. There is no alternative," said this republican. "There is no stomach for going back to war. The only danger is if things reverted to a 1969 situation, where there was a major onslaught from loyalists or some calamitous act by loyalists.

"Gerry Adams's comments today in London about the UDA and the LVF having broken their ceasefires reflects the concern," he added yesterday. In adopting a policy of realpolitik, he also reflected republican annoyance with David Trimble. "If he had taken the jump and allowed the executive to be formed at the start of the agreement, this would be all over. There would have then been so much pressure on republicans that you would have decommissioning by now."

If this was to work, he indicated, it would require some risk-taking from Trimble as well as from Adams and McGuinness. "It's all about the proper choreography," the source said, "but I think it will be done."