Talks designed to produce an agreed British-Irish approach to renewed negotiations in the North suffered a setback this week, amid evidence of continuing disagreement between London and Dublin over the decommissioning issue.
At a meeting in Downing Street on Monday the Irish delegation presented its draft of a proposed position paper intended to detail the likely end result of full implementation of the Belfast Agreement across a number of issues.
However, the British side was subsequently surprised to discover that, with the negotiation at a still early stage, Dublin had conveyed its plan separately to Sinn Fein.
The two sides were due to resume discussions yesterday.
There is also clear British irritation with what ministers and officials consider an inadequate Irish grasp of unionist requirements on the arms issue, if there is to be any realistic chance of Mr David Trimble securing the consent of the Ulster Unionist Council to re-enter government with Sinn Fein.
It is increasingly clear that both governments now accept there will be no IRA decommissioning before the May 22nd "deadline" indicated by the Good Friday accord.
Moreover, London appears to accept that a declaration that "the war is over" - as originally demanded by the Taoiseach - is unlikely, at least in the short term.
With expectations thus reduced, the bid is to have the IRA indicate a firm commitment to "put weapons beyond use", and to define the circumstances in which it would do so.
But the British sticking point - and apparent cause of major disagreement with Dublin - is that any such declaration of intent must be accompanied by a clearly defined timetable.
Sources say the British government is highly unlikely to give a detailed commitment of its own, on matters such as policing, criminal justice reforms and demilitarisation, in return for a vague promise of future action by republicans at an unspecified date and in circumstances solely to be determined by them. "We need clarity on all sides," one British official confirmed last night.
At a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly members last Monday Mr Trimble said any emerging British-Irish position paper would not work, unless it contained a timetable for dealing with the arms issue.