Nationalists were tonight under pressure as the British Prime Minister Mr Blair, pushed for agreement at critical make-or-break talks to end the deadlock threatening the future of the peace process.
Even though the IRA has renewed contact with the international decommissioning body for the first time since last June, Mr Blair was looking for the Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams to shift amid heightening London and Dublin fears that failure to negotiate a deal could leave the Belfast Agreement facing a formal review.
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Gerry Adams: under pressure from Tony Blair for some sort of progress
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He may not get an all embracing resolution on the key issues of decommissioning, demilitarisation and policing, but Mr Blair desperately wants to make some sort of progress before returning to Downing Street.
A source close to the negotiations said: "He is looking for movement. He believes its time for decisions to be taken."
The Taoiseach Mr Ahern who delayed the start of a visit to Japan, was also at the centre of the talks at Hillsborough, which involved at least one round table session of all the pro-Agreement parties during which Mr Adams bitterly attacked the First Minister Mr David Trimble's ban on Sinn Féin ministers attending cross border meetings.
He also accused Mr Blair of failing to deliver on pledges on policing and promises to clear the south Armagh countryside of military surveillance watchtowers which he claimed the British government made when the sides met at Hillsborough last May.
Mr Trimble meanwhile has hit out at the IRA's refusal to begin emptying their secret weapons dumps.
There was pressure as well on the SDLP to sign up to the new policing arrangements by backing a recruitment drive for hundreds of Catholics to join up.
But the British government's resistance to their demands for independent judicial inquiries into three controversial killings in Northern Ireland - Pat Finucane, Rosemary Nelson and Robert Hamill - was one of the reasons why the party was not yet ready to give its full backing, according to sources.
[ IRA statement in fullOpens in new window ]
(PA)