The British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair is due to hold talks today with the leaders of all the main political parties in the North in a bid to break the peace process deadlock.
Mr Blair was meeting the SDLP's Mr John Hume, Ulster Unionist Party leader Mr David Trimble and Sinn Fein leader Mr Gerry Adams at No 10, a Downing Street spokesman said.
The move follows the cancellation of today's scheduled meeting of the British-Irish Council in Dublin and confirms the intensification of discussions designed to stop the Good Friday Agreement faltering on the issues of policing reform, decommissioning and demilitarisation.
Mr Blair's spokesman said last night: "This is following on from the Prime Minister's discussions in Northern Ireland last week."