British and Irish officials will today begin drafting a formula to address the decommissioning logjam following the opening round of meetings between Mr Bertie Ahern, Mr Tony Blair and leaders of the main Northern Ireland parties in Hillsborough Castle late last night.
Government sources reported after midnight that both the First Minister, Mr Trimble, and the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Adams, were sticking to their stated public positions on the decommissioning obstacle which is preventing the establishment of the Northern Ireland Executive.
"Everybody was positive in assessing the problem," according to a Government spokesman, "and accepted that it needed to be resolved. There was also an acceptance that Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party were in the same predicament."
Today is expected to see the talks reach a new level of urgency at Stormont's Parliament Buildings, with the British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach centrally involved.
In a development which may help the negotiations, the IRA last night revealed that it had located the graves of nine people the organisation had killed, mostly in the 1970s, and buried secretly.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair arrived in the North last evening and immediately began a series of meetings at Hillsborough Castle, which continued until shortly before midnight.
The question of establishing a shadow Executive as a means of circumventing the demand for prior decommissioning was not an option, sources said after the meetings in Hillsborough Castle. "This is make or break week."
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair first held a joint meeting which lasted for up to an hour. After a break, the formal meetings with the main party delegations commenced at 9.30 p.m.
The negotiations may run into tomorrow. If the impasse can be broken, the Northern Secretary, Dr Mowlam, will initiate the Assembly procedure leading to the allocation of ministries in an executive.
"There is a general desire to be constructive. This is very encouraging," Dublin sources said last night. A similar view was expressed by British officials.
Every effort is being made to bridge the gap between the unionists and Sinn Fein on decommissioning. "Today was a good day," Dublin sources said.
However, it was emphasised that while good initial progress had been made, there was still a lot of ground to be covered.
In a statement last night, the IRA said it had established a "special unit" 18 months ago which had found the graves of nine people killed by the organisation. "Information regarding the location of these graves is now being processed and will hopefully result in the speedy retrieval of the bodies."
The statement said: "We are sorry that this has taken so long to resolve and for the prolonged anguish caused to the families."
Eight of the nine were from Belfast. The best-known of the IRA victims, Jean McConville from Belfast, was killed in 1972 after she allegedly "admitted being a British army informer."
The announcement is likely to have some impact on efforts at resolving current difficulties.
The revelation came after the Government announced plans in Dublin to grant immunity to those whose evidence helped locate the missing people. The Northern Secretary, Dr Mowlam, indicated that similar measures would be considered in Northern Ireland.
Commenting before last night's talks in Hillsborough, Mr Blair said: "We have come a very, very long way indeed and I can't believe we are now going to throw it all away. The cost of failure is too high - it always has been."
The Taoiseach said he was hopeful progress could be made. "If people are prepared to move, if people are prepared to be flexible and creative, we can move. But if people are prepared to hold their lines then I'll be going back to Dublin tomorrow."
Talks between Sinn Fein and the UUP began in mid-morning yesterday and continued until late in the afternoon. Afterwards, UUP sources said the atmosphere was "very businesslike."