The push towards the May 22nd referendum and the June 25th elections to a new Northern Ireland Assembly will quicken tomorrow as the British government processes measures to give effect to the Good Friday agreement.
The Leader of the House of Commons, Mrs Ann Taylor, signalled the moves after yesterday's Commons statement by Dr Mo Mowlam, the Northern Ireland Secretary, outlining the terms of the proposed political settlement to MPs reassembled at Westminster after the Easter recess.
Announcing the rearrangement of Commons business, Mrs Taylor said MPs should complete in one day separate Bills providing for the referendum and Assembly elections, and a separate order - consequent upon the conclusion of the multi-party talks process - bringing the Northern Ireland Forum to an end.
At the same time, Mr Paddy Ashdown, the Liberal Democrat leader, confirmed he would be willing to join Mr Tony Blair and Mr William Hague on the campaign trail in support of a Yes vote, but only if he was advised this would be helpful.
Possibly due to the Prime Minister's absence in the Middle East, the sense of ceremony in the Commons was somewhat muted as MPs on all sides hailed an agreement which Dr Mowlam said had put the goals of stability and lasting peace "now in sight".
That there was little of fire or controversy was certainly attributable to the absence of the Rev Ian Paisley and Mr Peter Robinson of the DUP, the UKUP leader Mr Robert McCartney, and the declared Ulster Unionist dissidents.
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, was cheered when he rose to warn there would be difficulties and setbacks ahead, and to express concern that Sinn Fein proposed to "cherry-pick" some items of the agreement, while ignoring obligations it would place on it.
Agreeing with Dr Mowlam that "the British and Irish governments have formally resolved our historical differences through the general and mutual acceptance of the principle of consent", Mr Trimble said it was important that the agreement be seen "as a settlement and not a milestone in the direction of some other eventual outcome".
Mr John Hume, the SDLP leader, who was also warmly cheered, heaped lavish praise on Dr Mowlam and her ministerial team, and on Mr Blair for "the priority" he had given "to the greatest human challenge facing this House." And his deputy, Mr Seamus Mallon, declared the agreement "a great victory for the political process and for the human spirit", which "should not be cherry-picked . . . and should not be seen as a victory for unionism or nationalism".
However, Mr Andrew Mackay, the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, endorsed Mr Trimble's view that it had "strengthened the Union". He pressed Dr Mowlam for assurance "that no member of the new Assembly will be appointed a minister unless his paramilitary associates have begun substantial decommissioning of weapons".
Dr Mowlam outlined the decommissioning mechanisms contained in the agreement.