Contacts through an intermediary between the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Mr David Trimble, and the spokesman for the Garvaghy Road residents in Portadown, Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, have failed to break the impasse over tomorrow's Drumcree parade.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, sent his personal secretary, Mr Jonathan Powell, to the North to mediate but that attempt also apparently ended in failure.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has been very actively involved and his Minister of State for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, visited Garvaghy Road last night, where he met leaders of the residents but left without any public comment.
Mr Mac Cionnaith said after a meeting of residents that their proposal for this year's march to be voluntarily re-routed by the Orange Order had been rejected and the situation was now deadlocked.
"Had the Orange Order responded, and re-routed voluntarily on Sunday, then we believe that gesture would have been acknowledged by this community and it would have transformed the situation.
"And I think there could have been steps taken to ensure some form of Orange presence on the Garvaghy Road at some time in the future.
"The Orange Order rejected that offer. David Trimble rejected it through a representative. They would only settle for the entire Portadown Orange Lodge marching down the Garvaghy Road this year."
Responding to Mr Mac Cionnaith's revelation about their unprecedented contacts, Mr Trimble said that it was no secret that contact had been made "at long distance" by people including senior representatives of both the British and Irish governments. He said Mr Mac Cionnaith had proved "totally intransigent - saying no to every reasonable suggestion that was made".
Meanwhile, it also emerged that Mr Powell, no doubt acting on behalf of Mr Blair, telephoned Mr Mac Cionnaith shortly before 6 p.m.
He requested that he ask the residents to consider allowing the march to proceed down the road unhindered, thereby taking the "high moral ground", as Mr Powell reportedly said.
Mr Mac Cionnaith responded that the British government should itself take the high moral ground by ensuring that the legally-binding decision of the Parades Commission to re-route the parade was enforced.
When the residents' meeting ended at 9.30 p.m., Mr Mac Cionnaith said: "All this community has asked for is a breathing space of one year. That is what the Parades Commission suggested. That's what we expect the British government to deliver."
Mr Ahern spent over two hours talking by telephone to Mr Trimble on Thursday, sources said. However, speculation that the Taoiseach would travel to Northern Ireland today was categorically dismissed by his spokesman.
There was continuing speculation also that Mr Trimble and senior members of the SDLP might make some concerted intervention today and a joint visit to the Garvaghy Road was mentioned as a possibility.
Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, called on the Orange Order to "face up to its responsibilities" and re-route the march.
There were numerous British army and RUC checkpoints around Portadown last night. Another 1,000 soldiers have been drafted into Northern Ireland in the past week.