Talks at an undisclosed venue in the North between senior civil servants from Dublin and the Provisional republican leadership were continuing late last night to try to break the impasse over arms decommissioning.
Progress reports on the talks, which began last Friday - possibly at a venue in or near Belfast - were being relayed to the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, and the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, in Dublin. There was no sign last night of any significant breakthrough as the officials tried to persuade republicans to make some gesture on decommissioning.
But sources close to the process said the talks would continue and it was hoped there could be a positive outcome, even if it was necessary to pass the midnight deadline set for the completion of the report by the Independent International Commission on decommissioning, led by Gen John de Chastelain.
The Government hopes that the republican negotiators could, in turn, convince their supporters of the need to make a positive gesture on decommissioning. The republican negotiators include senior Sinn Fein and IRA figures.
It was hoped that the IRA leadership could direct its representatives to pass on a positive message to Gen de Chastelain, rather than a blunt message saying the IRA would not decommission any weapons.
The IRA has, so far, never publicly committed itself to decommissioning any of its weapons.
However, in a statement issued last November it said it believed the "full implementation" of the Belfast Agreement would contribute to the achievement of lasting peace. The terms of the Belfast Agreement include a May 22nd deadline for the completion of the decommissioning process by armed elements in the North.
At about the same time that it made its statement last November, the IRA nominated Mr Padraig Wilson, the former leader of the IRA prisoners in the Maze, and the veteran Belfast republican, Mr Brian Keenan, as its interlocutors with Gen de Chastelain's commission.
The IRA has never confirmed the identities or role of the interlocutors with Gen de Chastelain's commission.
The appointment of Mr Wilson, who has been released early from a lengthy prison sentence for explosives offences, was seen by the Government as a positive development. He said in an interview with a British newspaper in 1998 that he broadly supported the idea of decommissioning weapons.
The views of his associate, Mr Keenan, who served a prison sentence in England for explosives offences, are not clear. Both Mr Keenan and Mr Wilson are said to be held in considerable respect in the republican movement.
Reports from Garda intelligence sources have indicated that there is still strong opposition within the IRA to any form of decommissioning of weapons within a deadline set by unionists.
However, there apparently remains some hope, based on the terms of the IRA's November statement, that it will make some form of decommissioning gesture within the May deadline set by the Belfast Agreement.
The talks between the Irish civil servants and the republican leadership began on Friday afternoon and continued with only short breaks over the weekend and throughout yesterday. The negotiators are understood to be the same figures who were involved in the protracted talks which preceded the signing of the Belfast Agreement at Easter 1998.
The IRA decision to allow its representatives to enter the negotiations leading to the signing of the Belfast Agreement was taken at an IRA convention in Donegal in late 1997. That convention endorsed the political leadership of Mr Martin McGuinness and Mr Gerry Adams.
According to Garda sources there is still strong support within the republican movement for the two Sinn Fein leaders but there is little support for the notion of decommissioning IRA weapons.