Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Dublin on Thursday as the two governments prepare to push for full restoration of the Stormont political institutions this year.
Their meeting will take place the day before the two governments expect to receive a crucial report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) on the level of paramilitary activity since IRA decommissioning last year.
Dublin and London hope to work towards major inter-party negotiations at a series of meetings, the first of which is hoped for on February 6th.
The two leaders will meet at Farmleigh House, the Government announced last night.
"They will review the current position in the peace process, and will focus on the remaining issues that need to be addressed to bring about the full restoration of the democratic institutions of the Good Friday agreement," said a statement.
"In that context, they are also expected to emphasise the need for all of the parties to engage intensively in the coming months, beginning with the talks scheduled by the two governments for early February."
Bertie Ahern will be accompanied by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Justice, while Northern Secretary Peter Hain will accompany Mr Blair.
The IMC report is likely to be discussed by Cabinet next week and published the following day. It is expected to say that the IRA has been very quiet since decommissioning.
However, it is not known if it will give the totally clean bill of health that the governments hope will precede the attempt to make political progress.
The Irish Government is expected to emphasise the positive aspects of the report and to dispute the significance of any evidence that there have been isolated breaches of the ceasefires.
However, should the report back the view expressed to the North's Policing Board last week by PSNI deputy chief constable Sam Kinkaid that no paramilitary organisation had totally ended involvement in organised crime, it will make it more difficult to persuade the DUP to engage in full talks towards the restoration of the institutions.
PSNI chief constable Sir Hugh Orde has publicly backed Mr Kinkaid. Mr Ahern, however, has played down the significance of what Mr Kinkaid said.
Speaking in India last week, Mr Ahern said: "I have to say, up to the information that I had got, which was Christmas week from the most senior officer [Mr Orde], was the view that things were going well.
"That certainly is the information that I have received from security forces in the South, and it is also the intelligence that I am receiving from No 10 Downing Street."
He hoped some individual crimes would not be allowed to hold up political progress.
Political sources expect Mr Blair to deliver a significant speech during the course of his visit either in Dublin or in the North. If multi-party talks are called, discussions with the two governments are expected to dwell on the obstacles to the restoration of devolution.
However, some parties which envisage a limited restoration pending the full restoration of the Belfast Agreement institutions are formulating "plan B" options.