The Taoiseach and British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair held a series of meetings in Hillsborough Castle today in a bid to rescue the peace process and restore devolution to Northern Ireland.
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The talks have now broken up for the night.
During the day, Mr Bertie Ahern and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowenheld a round of meetings, separately and together, with the Mr Blair, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Mr Paul Murphyand the various NI party leaders.
Both Irish and British government sources said tonight that they were pleased with the progress in today's talks.
"We are not staying because we are not making progress, it'sexactly the reverse," said Mr Blair's official spokesman, emergingafter eight hours of negotiations tonight. Discussions are due to restart tomorrow morning.
Mr Blair and Mr Ahern travelled to Northern Ireland with a blueprint package they hoped would break the deadlocked political process. They tabled a 28-page document of proposals aimed at rescuing the Belfast Agreement.The package, split into five annexes, set out all the outstanding issues threatening the peace process.
The power-sharing Assembly has been suspended since the discovery of a suspected IRA spy-ring at Stormont last October.Unionists say only a huge and public disarmament gesture backed by a declaration the paramilitary organisation's war is over will persuade them that republicans are genuinely committed to peace.
Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble, who met Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams this afternoon, insisted this evening that the IRA commitment to ending its military campaign had to be monitored.
"The question of verification and sanctions is a deal breaker," he said. "There will not be any progress without it."
One strand emerging from today's meetings involved an independent monitoring body, made up of representatives from the British, Irish and US governments, to rule on paramilitary activity.Sources close to the negotiations confirmed the issue was one of the main stumbling blocks. "It's a major bone of contention," one aide said.
But senior Sinn Féin negotiator Mr Gerry Kelly insisted: "There is no way we will accept sanctions."
Amid increasing speculation that a huge move to empty their secret arms dumps could be imminent, veteran republican and former IRA chief of staff Mr Joe Cahill arrived at the talks.
Sinn Fein sought to play down the significance of his presence. However, before the IRA agree to effectively go out of business by agreeing to halt recruitment, purchasing guns and gathering intelligence, they want confirmation from Mr Blair about a major new programme of demilitarisation.
Mr Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness sought promises that thousands of troops would be pulled out of Northern Ireland along with the dismantling of Army watchtowers in republican areas.
Calls for policing and criminal justice to be devolved to the Stormont Assembly, a pledge to allow on-the-run paramilitary prisoners to return and moves on equality and human rights were also among the main Sinn Féin demands.
SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan said this afternoon it was important that the Belfast Agreement was fully implemented as he emerged from his party's 50 minute-long discussions with the two Prime Ministers.
Mr Durkan refused to speculate on the potential for agreement during today's talks but he insisted an IRA move could help create confidence in the peace process.
Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy, speaking earlier today on BBC radio, said Sinn Féin "are certainly in the business of ensuring we go forward in the peace process."
But Sinn Féin chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin struck a tougher note, demanding action by London on policing, demilitarisation, criminal justice, human rights and the Irish language. "Today's talks are critical to the future of this island," he said.
