Talks involving the key parties in the Northern Ireland peace process are expected to move to England this week, as the Mitchell review of the Belfast Agreement enters a defining stage.
The Irish Times understands that Senator George Mitchell, who is heading the review, has suggested that the parties set aside two days for "intensive and unbroken" discussions away from Castle Buildings at Stormont.
Party leaders and members of their delegations have been asked to clear their diaries for the two-day session, expected to take place on Wednesday and Thursday.
There were indications last night that the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, might also meet party leaders in London in the course of the week. However, official sources would say only that they were unaware of any definitive plans.
Sources indicated that neither Mr Blair nor the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, would be joining the actual review process.
Speaking at the Conservative Party fringe in Blackpool last Thursday, Mr David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader, suggested that the review would run for another "two to four weeks".
The general expectation in political circles is that the next fortnight will determine whether there are any grounds for a breakthrough in the devolution/decommissioning impasse.
Opinion within Mr Trimble's close circle appears to have hardened against the previously-canvassed "post-dated resignation" option - under which Mr Trimble would form the executive, while tendering a letter of resignation as First Minister, to become effective should the IRA fail to begin decommissioning within a specified period of time.
Instead, following Saturday's UUP conference and Friday's publication of the party's submission to the Mitchell review, the fixed line appears to be that Mr Trimble will move to form the executive only in return for specific republican commitments on the principle and time-tabling of decommissioning - and that questions of "sequencing" will be considered only in the context of such a commitment.
Mr Trimble emerged strengthened from his party conference at the weekend, having faced down his critics and staged a spirited defence of the Belfast Agreement.
The hitherto vocal anti-agreement faction within the party was surprisingly muted at the conference in Enniskillen on Saturday, although the UUP honorary secretary, Mr David Brewster, warned that any retreat from the party's stance on IRA disarmament would not be tolerated.
Some anti-agreement members complained that the agenda was designed to prevent them having their say, but nonetheless senior unionist opponents of the Good Friday accord, such as MPs Mr William Ross, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson and Mr William Thompson, who would have been in a position to voice dissent, kept their counsel on Saturday.
In a sharp, implicit reference to some of his Westminster colleagues, Mr Trimble said that had he taken their advice, he would have resigned as party leader. He had no intention of resigning, he added.
Mounting a strong defence of the agreement, he told his critics: "I will not lead this party into a never-never land of false hope or imitation-Carsons without the gritty realism of James Craig. Nor will I court popularity by hyping solutions I know are not attainable."