Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor, reports on a better relationship between Gerry Adams and David Trimble
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, has confirmed that he exchanged a handshake of some importance with the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, during the summer.
Over many years, including the negotiations leading to the Belfast Agreement, Mr Trimble had refused such a gesture with Mr Adams, arguing that symbolically he couldn't be certain the Sinn Féin leader was not carrying a weapon.
One of the medieval explanations for the origin of the handshake was that when two people could make such a friendly gesture, it indicated they were not concealing a sword or other deadly weapon.
Even since the Belfast Agreement, Mr Trimble has refused to shake hands with Mr Adams for this figurative reason.
Whatever happened in their private talks during the summer, however, appears to have been sufficient for him to place more trust in Mr Adams.
Mr Adams confirmed that the handshake took place during the summer.
He said it was simply an issue of two people being able to act in a civic and civil way with each other.
However, Mr Adams also acknowledged that from Mr Trimble's perspective it carried some significance.
"It was an important step that had to be got out of the way. I think it is indicative also of the good working relationship there is between us and that is always important," he told The Irish Times.
Whether in the coming weeks the two leaders can go one important step further and shake on a deal that will lead to elections and a restoration of the Assembly and Executive is still a difficult call.
Mr Adams and Mr Trimble are due to meet again tomorrow, according to a senior unionist source.
This source and other talks insiders said the two politicians were now addressing the fine and "difficult" detail of what each requires from the other to ensure a political breakthrough, but that it was utterly unpredictable whether such a breakthrough would occur.
If Assembly elections are to be called by mid-November then a conclusion of the current behind-the-scenes negotiations, chiefly involving the British and Irish governments, Sinn Féin and the UUP, must be concluded in the next two weeks. At the very least the electoral office in the North requires four weeks to prepare for a poll.
Talks sources stress that, while the negotiations have reached an intensive stage, there are still awkward hurdles to surmount.
Last week Mr Adams warned that the UUP and the governments must be "rational and reasonable" about what they can expect from republicans - which was viewed as shorthand for a warning that what republicans might view as excessive demands must not be placed on the IRA.
Equally, Mr Trimble has made clear he would not be party to any deal that did not involve the IRA carrying out the "acts of completion" that the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, urged from the IRA in Belfast last October.
