Mr David Trimble appears to have raised the negotiation stakes ahead of his potentially crucial meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in London tomorrow. The Ulster Unionist leader emerged from an hour of talks yesterday with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to revive the issue of decommissioning paramilitary weapons. Mr Trimble entrenched his opposition to powerful cross-Border institutions; and demanded further assurances about Dublin's commitment to change Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution as part of an overall settlement.
Arrangements for the future government of Northern Ireland, the scale of the cross-Border dimension, and Dublin's case for "balanced" constitutional change - embracing both the Constitution and the 1920 Government of Ireland Act - are set to dominate tomorrow's meeting between Mr Ahern and Mr Trimble. However, amid signs of a toughening of its position, The Irish Times has learned that the UUP recently urged the loyalist parties to reconsider their attitude to decommissioning weapons.
Mr Trimble has also effected changes to significant details of the party's devolution blueprint, effectively clawing back on aspects of the Strand One model proposed by unionists during the failed 1992 talks.
The Ulster Unionists are apparently irritated by a delay in the production of a report from the decommissioning sub-committee at Stormont, expected to emphasise "confidence-building" measures required from former paramilitaries now involved in the talks process.
Dublin's anxiety will be that the UUP's resumed focus on decommissioning, and the reported overtures to loyalists on the issue, might suggest a strategy geared to exploiting reported divisions within the republican movement.
Mr Trimble clearly had those divisions, and weekend remarks by Sinn Fein's Mr Francie Molloy, in mind yesterday when he raised a question over Sinn Fein's continued involvement in the process.
Asked how long he could remain in talks involving Sinn Fein, Mr Trimble replied: "How much longer can they remain in the talks, when we've got senior members of Sinn Fein/IRA making it clear that the talks are merely a tactic, and that they will go back to doing what they do best at a future date?"
Mr Molloy later clarified his position, saying he meant a return to dialogue, not a military campaign.
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street after his meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr Trimble said he was not opposed to arrangements that "bring people together to talk about matters of common concern, that make provision for co-operation on matters of practical benefit."
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach told the Dail yesterday he had asked his "colleagues" to raise, at bilateral meetings at the Stormont talks, the comments made by the Sinn Fein councillor, Mr Francie Molloy. He had not, however, received any reply.