The package to restore devolution in Northern Ireland is not a "done deal", the British and Irish governments have conceded, despite personal appeals from President Bush for the North's political parties to reach an accommodation.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, conceded yesterday that notwithstanding the intervention of the American leader, there were still outstanding matters to be reconciled if the document is to be published tomorrow.
"There are still issues of tension with a number of the parties, not many, and not with one party. Minister Cowen, Minister McDowell and myself will continue to put our efforts into this. This is not completed," he said.
"There is a short list [of issues] for a number of parties, and we will just have to keep at those," added Mr Ahern at Hillsborough following his engagement with the Northern parties in the company of President Bush and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
However, Mr Ahern was optimistic the problems could be sorted out. "I think when we return here on Thursday, the job will be críochnaithe \."
Most of the pressure for last- minute alterations to the governments' document is coming from Sinn Féin, sources said, although the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists have concerns about a number of matters including, respectively, sanctions against anyone failing to meet their Belfast Agreement obligations, and new legislation to allow IRA fugitives avoid prison.
Republicans are insisting Sinn Féin must not face penalties for any future transgressions by the IRA. They also want changes to proposals on policing and demilitarisation, and pledges that responsibility for policing and criminal justice be devolved to the Executive within a specific and short timeframe.
"This is not a done deal," said a British source. "We are certainly not taking anything for granted. But the final issues are fairly minor, and the parties want final clarification on them, which at most might mean minor changes to the text of the document." He did not believe there was any danger Mr Ahern and Mr Blair could be forced to postpone publication of their blueprint. "It would be fairly amazing were that to happen," he said.
The governments still hope that their document will lead to a speedy IRA statement declaring that its war is effectively over and that it "frontload" such a commitment with a major act of decommissioning.
President Bush, Mr Ahern and Mr Blair made it clear in a trilateral statement that they expect a positive response from the IRA. "The break with paramilitarism in all its past forms must be complete and irrevocable," they said.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair believe President Bush's presence in Hillsborough yesterday and his personal appeals to the parties to accept the deal will be helpful. While much of the summit was devoted to Iraq, he made a number of comments on the peace process at his press conference with Mr Blair, and in the afternoon spent about 30 minutes with the parties.
