The Government is hoping Mr David Trimble will not walk out of a special session of the Belfast Agreement review scheduled for Stormont on Tuesday.
This is despite the Ulster Unionist leader's ultimatum, given to the British Prime Minister in the Commons on Wednesday, to bring down the process unless Mr Tony Blair can "summon up the courage" to act against Sinn Féin.
This follows the alleged IRA abduction of Mr Bobby Tohill in Belfast on Friday.
A well-placed source told The Irish Times last night that Tuesday's special session of the review would be the better for Mr Trimble's involvement.
The review is due to examine the question of alleged paramilitary activity, a key demand of Mr Trimble at the outset of the review at the beginning of the month.
Party delegations are to be asked how trust and confidence in the political process can be increased, and what each of them could do to foster progress and a more constructive dialogue about the current impasse.
The Government has already made its fears concerning the continuing allegations known to Sinn Féin.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, met the Sinn Féin senior negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, in Dublin on Wednesday evening. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, also held a private meeting with the Mid Ulster MP and made his views known.
There was some confusion yesterday about what terms the Ulster Unionist leader sought to remain part of the review. A source at Stormont said the British government was unsure what precisely Mr Trimble wanted, while a unionist source confirmed that Mr Trimble was "prepared to walk" from the review next week, but would not say on what basis.
The British government is said not to be keen on the exclusion of anyone from the process. It was admitted that, should Mr Trimble leave the review, the process would be flawed, "but not fatally".
Mr Cowen will be in the US next Tuesday preparing for the US-EU summit scheduled for June.
The Government will be represented at Tuesday's meeting of the review by the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, and by another Minister from the Cabinet.