US President George W. Bush's special adviser on Northern Ireland is in Belfast today for meetings with politicians as efforts continued to restore the Stormont Assembly.
Mr Richard Haass, who took part in yesterday's peace process summit in Downing Street, met Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, Mr Martin McGuinness, Mr Alex Maskey, Mr Dara O'Hagan and Mr Philip McGuigan this morning.
After meeting Mr Haass, Sinn Féin's Mr Alex Maskey said intensive contacts between his party and the Ulster Unionists were continuing.
With speculation mounting that an Assembly election might not take place on November 13th, the South Belfast councillor said: "Obviously, people are talking about election dates but we have not got too focused on the dates.
"We expect there to be an election and we would hope to secure that in November. It would not be an attractive proposition for us to go into an election beyond November and we are working to get the election soon."
Ulster Unionist Party leader Mr David Trimble was due to meet his Assembly grouping today and brief them on the discussions.
After their meeting with Mr Haass at their party headquarters in East Belfast, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) claimed any deal struck by Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionist Party would not endure.
DUP deputy leader Mr Peter Robinson said: "I think what is described as an agreement would be something cobbled together for electoral purposes.
"The Northern Ireland electorate is far too sophisticated to swallow that one. They know quite well, and have seen it before, that David Trimble toughens up before an election and then slithers back as soon as the election is out of the way."
The SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan was also due to have a lunchtime meeting with the Northern Secretary Mr Paul Murphy.
The meeting was taking place amid criticism of the British government's handling of the negotiations by SDLP negotiator Mr Alban Maginness.
"What we have got on the one hand is 'the save Dave approach' while on the other they are trying to mollify Gerry Adams," the North Belfast councillor said.
"It is a sort of Celtic and Rangers type of politics and is something that the public out there reject completely."
After five hours of talks involving Mr Tony Blair, the Taoiseach, Mr Haass, Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionist Party yesterday, there was hope that a breakthrough could still be achieved in the peace process.
But talk sources indicated plans for an Assembly election could be put back from November 13th to a later date before Christmas if more time was needed to break the political impasse.