The Government does not re gard an imminent suspension of the Northern Executive as "inevitable", the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has said.
In Dublin yesterday, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said a suspension of the new political institutions would harm the prospects for weapons decommissioning.
Mr Cowen said he was unwilling to contemplate the consequences of a failure to break the deadlock until every avenue of progress had been fully explored, but he shied away from calling on the IRA to make a first gesture towards ending the impasse, insisting that the Government would limit its influence to the political field.
"What we as politicians must do is to try and ensure progress is maintained so that all parties can recognise that everyone is acting in good faith," he said during an interview with RTE television.
The contents of Gen John de Chastelain's report on decommissioning would be considered at a meeting between the two governments today, he said. Both sides would attempt to formulate a framework within which the deadlock could be resolved.
"We are seeking to ensure that we come up with options or proposals that permit everyone to go forward on the basis of the agreement being implemented in full," he said.
Mr Adams warned that a suspension of the political institutions would harm the prospects of decommissioning, to which he was personally committed and believed could happen.
He told reporters he would be in touch with the Government and others late last night and this morning in further efforts to resolve the impasse. Asked to whom he would be speaking, he said: "I'm not going to spell it out in the media because it's not helpful."
He still believed the latest crisis could be overcome. "If we can steady ourselves through this crisis, this issue can be dealt with." He supported the Taoiseach's view that "for the institutions to be lost is a disaster". He was committed to decommissioning and thought it could happen, but he believed it must be voluntary.
Mr Adams and other senior party figures met the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, Mr Cowen, and the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, yesterday at Government Buildings as time ran out for a resolution of the crisis. Mr Adams said his meeting was "very focused . . . nothing concentrates minds like a crisis. It is in all our interests to focus on ensuring the institutions stay upright."
Decommissioning was "a voluntary process", but he was "wedded" to it as something which should occur. "I think it can be achieved, but the way it is being dealt with is not helpful."
The time scale was a "matter for the armed groups and the de Chastelain commission". However, there was "a possibility that a British government is going to be spooked into suspending those institutions".
He also maintained that the British government had no basis for suspending the institutions and that if it went ahead it would be "clearly in default of the Good Friday agreement".