The Sinn Fein Mid-Ulster MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, has hinted at the prospect of his party taking seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly ahead of tomorrow's ardfheis which will debate the Northern Ireland Agreement.
Mr McGuinness acknowledged on BBC1 television's Question Time debate on the Northern Ireland Agreement last night in Belfast that the issue of whether Sinn Fein takes its seats in a Northern Ireland Assembly would be discussed, among other issues, in the next few weeks.
"Obviously the issue of an assembly is a big question for Sinn Fein, there is no question or doubt about that.
"The fact is that at the moment our position is a constitutional ban on our party . . . I think that issue, and many other issues in the context of the Agreement are going to be widely discussed within our party in the coming days and weeks," said Mr McGuinness.
Mr McGuinness said the party "may be going down the road" to changing its constitution to allow it to take seats in an assembly but said it is "far from clear that it would be the case".
Mr McGuinness was joined on the panel by SDLP leader John Hume, Alliance leader Lord Alderdice, Ulster Unionist Dermot Nesbitt, and UK Unionist leader Robert McCartney, whose party, alongside the Democratic Unionists, oppose the Northern Ireland Agreement.
The atmosphere at last night's programme was restrained, in sharp contrast to a previous episode of Question Time last year in Belfast when the DUP staged a protest at the presence of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.
The DUP was absent this time, along with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam. Invitations to appear had been declined. There was no obvious negative interaction between the unionist politicians and Mr McGuinness.
The only visible sign of hostility occurred when Mr McCartney refused to pose with the other panellists before the programme began and told the audience anyone who believed the Northern Ireland Agreement strengthened the Union was "living in cloud-cuckoo-land".