The crucial talks aimed at breaking the political deadlock in Northern Ireland were adjourned at Weston Park in Staffordshire at midnight last night with senior sources saying that the parties had finally begun to "seriously address" the key issues of IRA arms, policing and demilitarisation.
The talks will resume early this morning and may be adjourned later today to enable unionist politicians to return to the North for the Twelfth celebrations tomorrow. Negotiations could then resume on Friday if there appeared to be a possibility of a breakthrough.
One senior source at the talks said that Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP, spurred on by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, were at last "seriously engaging" in an attempt to resolve the main issues of IRA decommissioning, demilitarisation and policing.
A senior Sinn Fein negotiator said early this morning: "We will know later today whether there is a game plan to solve the outstanding problems."
A leading talks insider said: "There were a number of papers floating around tonight on how we might deal with the outstanding issues, but no single paper. We should know later whether we will need to return on Friday."
Earlier yesterday evening, hopes of a positive outcome were dented by a declaration from Mr Adams, in a speech to Sinn Fein activists in London, that the question of "all arms" would not be resolved "within the six-week artificial deadline imposed by David Trimble's contrived and calculated resignation".
Against the backdrop of the UFF's withdrawal of support for the agreement and the PUP's withdrawal from the present phase of talks, it seemed that Sinn Fein and the British government were on a collision course during most of yesterday over decommissioning, demilitarisation, policing and future protection of the institutions of government from political threat.
At the same time, the Ulster Unionists are understood to have spelt out their "bottom line" to Sinn Fein at a bilateral meeting yesterday morning. The UUP is demanding a start to IRA decommissioning as well as agreement on the modalities and time-tabling of subsequent disarmament.
However, in its strongest message yet, Sinn Fein again maintained that it was not at the talks to deliver a start to IRA decommissioning.