Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has failed to resolve major differences with DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley over the issue of IRA disbandment and the future status of the republican movement.
This emerged after 90 minutes of what Dr Paisley cheerfully described as "brutally frank" discussions at the Irish Embassy in London yesterday about the long-awaited IRA statement on its future intentions, which Mr Ahern does not now expect before next month.
Dr Paisley was unequivocal in declaring IRA disbandment the price of any eventual agreement to resume power-sharing with Sinn Féin. However the Taoiseach resisted this, saying he had never used the word "disbandment" - while insisting the IRA must end all paramilitary and criminal activity on the way to becoming what he termed "a commemorative organisation." Senior DUP sources dismissed this last night, suggesting nothing they had heard from Mr Ahern had led them to expect "the necessary clarity and certainty that the IRA is going out of business".
And the Conservatives joined the debate about the IRA's future, raising further pressure on both the Irish and British governments. Shadow Northern Ireland secretary David Lidington said the test of whether London and Dublin were genuinely satisfied with the terms of any IRA offer would be whether it would then remain an illegal organisation in both jurisdictions.
Mr Lidington said: "If the [British] government believes the IRA statement and its subsequent actions are sufficient evidence that the IRA has gone out of business, then it will presumably ask whether this is also a sufficient basis for de-proscribing PIRA as an illegal organisation under the Terrorism Act - because the logic of the government's position would be that PIRA had ceased to be a terrorist organisation. But if PIRA has not done enough to merit de-proscription, then surely it cannot have done enough to merit Sinn Féin's inclusion in government."
Dr Paisley, meanwhile, appeared to resurrect another "test", when he told reporters: "We made clear to the Taoiseach that when he, the Southern Government, are able to say to us 'we could share power with the IRA', it would be time enough for the people of Northern Ireland to think of having them back in the government of Northern Ireland."
At the same time DUP sources last night signalled a further significant departure from the agenda for last December's failed "comprehensive agreement". The Irish Times understands the DUP would require any party entering government to signal its prior approval for Northern Ireland's policing dispensation and the criminal justice system there.
Asked if there was clarity and agreement between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats about what was required of the IRA, the Taoiseach replied: "To move forward we need a clear, unambiguous end of all paramilitary and criminal activity and we need to see the end of decommissioning. That has been the Government's position for a long way back and it is supported by everybody."
On disbandment, Mr Ahern said: "I am on the record for a long way back saying that I am interested in seeing an end of paramilitarism and criminality and the concept of the IRA or any other organisation in Northern Ireland moving to a commemorative body. . ." He continued: "So I have never used the word 'disband' because I think moving to a commemorative organisation is not disbandment but disbanding away from criminality or paramilitarism. I can't see why anybody would force an organisation to do more than that."
Asked about suggestions that the IRA planned to continue as "a lightly armed gendarmerie", Mr Ahern cited historical examples of earlier UVF and IRA "old boys' parades", adding: "I've no difficulty with that."