Anglo-Irish officials have been asked to prepare a position paper for presentation to the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister at 9 a.m. today reflecting some movement on "the margins of the main issue" of decommissioning by the main Northern parties.
After the adjournment of an intensive round of negotiations with Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party at 10.15 last night, Government sources said progress had been made during the day. "Both sides certainly gave but, after going round and round for hours, it was necessary to take stock of the situation," they stated.
Officials remained on in Hills borough Castle into the early hours to define the outcome of the discussions, after Mr Ahern and Mr Blair adjourned the talks until this morning. They have been asked by the two leaders to discern where the room for manoeuvre lies and their document will be used as a basis to start today's deliberations.
The negotiations had gone round and round in the same small circles for hours, one source said. There was even a meeting between the two leaders, Mr Trimble, Mr Taylor, Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness. It was now thought useful to draw the indications of movement into something real, he added.
Government sources also said they still believed an agreement to address the decommissioning obstacle was "possible".
Meanwhile, Mr Blair has made tentative arrangements to leave Belfast to attend Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons this afternoon. But he indicated to the Taoiseach late last night that he might remain at the talks if some momentum was being achieved.
The leaders are also considering broadening the talks forum today to include the PUP and the UDP, as well as the SDLP, in order to bring a new perspective to the current impasse.
Sinn Fein representatives again informed the two leaders yesterday that they had no knowledge of the contents of the impending IRA Easter message. It was confirmed that the IRA statement, which could be published as early as tonight, had not yet been written.
As Irish Government sources inside Hillsborough Castle insisted that the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein had not yet set out their bottom lines, there were detectable signs from the participants that there was "some room for give" on both sides.
