The British and Irish governments are attempting to devise a revised package that could persuade Sinn Fein to endorse police reform proposals.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has promised to consider a set of proposals and questions on policing that Mr Gerry Adams put to him at Hillsborough Castle yesterday.
Hitherto the conviction was that Sinn Fein could not be persuaded to sign up to any new policing measures.
A Government spokesman said last night he expected the talks to enter a more intensive phase next week after what Dublin sources say has been some progress.
A Government source said last night the parties had become "focused again on what needs to be done".
Mr Adams's questions and proposals caused some surprise and also some suspicion that Sinn Fein was attempting to steal some of the SDLP's thunder on policing. Sinn Fein sources, however, insisted it was genuine in its attempts to find a resolution to the policing question.
Talks sources said Mr Adams's proposals would be carefully considered but, according to the British side, there is still a marked reluctance to agree to anything that would involve amending the Police Act.
The Sinn Fein leader's initiative would require careful and detailed examination, said sources close to the Hillsborough negotiations. "Because this issue is so complex this can't be done in a hurry," said one London insider.
He stressed that while policing was top of the Hillsborough talks agenda, the other interlocking issues of demilitarisation, putting IRA arms beyond use, and lifting the Ulster Unionist ban on Sinn Fein ministers attending North-South Ministerial Council meetings were carefully scrutinised.
Dublin and London officials are to continue their talks over the weekend. At the British-Irish Council in Dublin on Tuesday, Mr Blair and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will review opportunities for further progress. Talks may resume again at Hillsborough next week.
Mr Blair said progress was made during the intensive negotiations. While there was no breakthrough, there was an obvious willingness to find a solution. His comments were generally endorsed by the Irish Government, Sinn Fein and the SDLP.
Last night the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, urged nationalists and republicans to move on policing and decommissioning.
"The problem in bedding down the agreement has been that nationalists and republicans have spent all their time selfishly looking after their own interests. They need to realise they have a responsibility to make the agreement a success. They should see the bigger picture," he told a pro-agreement unionist meeting.
"The real problem with the agreement is that 45 per cent of the unionist community did not support it in the referendum and remain sceptical about it," he added.
Last night Mr Ahern spoke to the British Prime Minister Mr Blair by telephone.
Sources said that while the end of January is seen as a psychological deadline, the talks could go on into February if substantial progress was being made.
