Reaction: The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has said an IRA "act of completion" is not a precondition for elections to the Northern Ireland assembly and that those elections cannot be postponed indefinitely.
Mr Blair's comments are the clearest indication yet that the British government will finally gamble on an election even if the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Féin fail to reach a prior agreement on a basis for the restoration of the power-sharing executive following such a poll.
Mr Blair's comments were taken in some quarters to mean a possible announcement of an election date within weeks, although the latest indications in Whitehall are that ministers think elections unlikely before March of next year at the earliest.
Speaking at his monthly press conference in Downing Street, where he announced the formation of the new Independent Monitoring Commission, Mr Blair insisted: "Obviously it is far better we have those elections against a background of agreement as to the way forward. We are working hard now and will do so in the next few weeks to achieve that agreement."
While stressing that he believed the particular month or date was not the critical issue, Mr Blair continued: "I hope in the next couple of weeks I will be able to be a little more definitive . . . I think there is a prospect of getting agreement".
As part of the search for agreement Mr Blair is expected to hold early talks with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. However, while Irish sources yesterday stressed Dublin's commitment to holding elections in the autumn, all calculations still turn on the continuing leadership crisis within the Ulster Unionist Party.
The challenge to Mr Trimble appeared to deepen last night as it was confirmed Mr Jeffrey Donaldson and the former Stormont minister, Sir Reg Empey, are to continue talks about a possible pact between supporters of the Belfast Agreement and the party's "soft No" faction.
At his press conference yesterday Mr Blair said he believed the British government had not crossed any constitutional barrier in respect of the Republic in defining the terms of reference of the independent monitoring commission.
The Prime Minister said this would prove of "enormous value" to unionists, who had been distrustful of political adjudications on the status of paramilitary ceasefires and who were entitled to the assurance "that violence is ended completely."
Legislation effecting yesterday's draft international agreement is expected to go before the House of Lords next week and the Commons the following week. Asked if the IMC gave Dublin a role in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland, Mr Blair said: "It doesn't in any way transgress our constitutional barriers with the Republic."
The Government has said the Independent Monitoring Commission is a support mechanism required to ensure that the power-sharing arrangements in the North can function fully.
With legislation to be published next week, the Government confirmed that its appointee to the commission will be a former secretary general of the Department of Justice and barrister Mr Joseph Brosnan.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said he remained confident that elections to the Assembly could take place this autumn, but the Government would continue to urge the British government to call the election.
The Government saw the commission as an "insurance mechanism" necessary to proceed with power-sharing, demilitarisation and decommissioning.