The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, are on standby to fly to Hillsborough today in a final bid to secure the Belfast Agreement ahead of next month's Assembly elections.
US presidential envoy Mr Richard Haas is due in Belfast from Washington today as British, Irish and American pressure is put on the republican movement to deliver a clear and unambiguous statement about the future of the IRA and its cessation as an active paramilitary organisation.
Plans for yesterday's scheduled Hillsborough summit crashed late on Wednesday night after the British and Irish governments agreed that the terms of a proposed IRA statement would not deliver the "acts of completion" deal necessary to ensure the successful restoration of the Stormont Assembly and its power-sharing Executive.
Instead, Mr Ahern travelled to London for emergency talks with Mr Blair, after which both leaders insisted that "clarity and certainty" were required from all sides to keep the peace process moving forward.
Whitehall sources maintained that the British government did not actually doubt the intentions of either Sinn Féin or the IRA, suggesting that what looked like a gathering crisis might simply be "a translation problem". And Irish sources resisted any suggestion of an "ultimatum" to republicans, underlining Mr Ahern's view that the problem could still be resolved. However, political attention in unionist circles last night was fixed on Mr Ahern's seeming suggestion that failure to resolve the difficulty now would force the two governments to further "reflect" on their plans.
Speaking after his meeting with Mr Blair, the Taoiseach said the two governments could finalise their views on the remaining matters of difference and convey them to the Northern Ireland parties overnight. "In that situation we could be in Hillsborough tomorrow and if not we will have to reflect on it," he said.
One immediate decision in the absence of any fresh and acceptable republican text would be whether Mr Blair and Mr Ahern should publish the "shared understanding" of the two governments about all the "acts of completion" necessary to secure the full and final implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Blair and Mr Ahern had planned to unveil their draft yesterday, the fifth anniversary of the accord. Admitting his disappointment that that had not been possible, and maintaining his hope that it might prove so today, Mr Ahern said: "We do need certainties. We do need clarities. We do need trust and confidence in the ability of people to work together with the two governments and to move forward in a peaceful environment and that is what we have been trying to achieve. I hope we can succeed in doing that."
Mr Blair said: "The two governments are in complete agreement about the right way forward. We have to make sure there is total clarity and certainty in respect of the outworkings of the agreement. That has always been the case . . . We have got to make sure that people understand the time is urgent and I hope even at this late stage any of the difficulties can be ironed out and dealt with."
Official sources last night suggested Mr Blair's talk of urgency, and Mr Ahern's of further reflection, should not be seen to raise a question mark over the Assembly elections scheduled for May 29th.
The Taoiseach is apparently determined the elections should proceed and Mr Blair is known to be extremely reluctant to consider further postponement. However, assuming no breakthrough sufficient to secure an Ulster Unionist commitment to resume power sharing, Mr David Trimble said last night it would be for the two governments to explain how the Assembly would work in that event.
Mr Trimble confirmed the situation would have to be resolved "within days" if he was to put an "acts of completion" deal to the Ulster Unionist Council before the present Assembly's dissolution on April 28th.