Northern Ireland's most bitter enemies, Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists, are on the verge of a historic deal to restore power sharing in the province and end doubts about the destruction of terrorist weapons.
Months of secret negotiations between the two sides, the political extremes of Northern Ireland's religious divide, have stitched up the basis for a deal that would see the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont return to work early next year.
Power sharing, the bedrock for lasting peace under the Good Friday Agreement, was suspended more than two years ago after Unionists claimed the IRA had not renounced violence and amid allegations of spying by both sides.
The Irish and British governments have been engaged in intense diplomacy to bring the two sides together and have enlisted US President George Bush in the process. The President has spoken recently to Mr Paisley and Gerry Adams.
Mr Adams, the president of IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, said he believed Mr Paisley's DUP was close to signing up for a deal even though he has refused to talk directly with the Sinn Fein. He said he had told President Bush that "we may need help at the White House to deliver Sinn Fein's objectives".
Sinn Fein has also cautioned that it did not have any influence over whether the IRA would allow photographic evidence of decommissioning of its weapons, a central Paisley demand.
Mr Paisley's deep animosity towards the IRA, the Good Friday Agreement and Sinn Fein have long been feared as an insurmountable roadblock to peace and fears remain that Unionists could renege on any deal.
He emerged as the chief unionist figure after elections a year ago reduced the influence of David Trimble's Ulster Unionists.
Mr Paisley warned over the weekend that destruction of IRA weapons needed to be "transparent and conclusive" and he would walk away from any deal he thought unfair.
He was due to meet Canada's General John de Chastelain, the head of the decommissioning process yesterday, while Mr Adams was due in London for an unprecedented meeting with Hugh Orde, the head of North Ireland's police.
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who has invested considerable political capital in brokering a deal, was also expected to speak to Mr Adams.
Under the terms of a deal, the IRA would agree to destroy all of its remaining guns and explosives in front of two independent churchmen, one Catholic, the other Protestant.
Photographic proof of destruction is to be held by General de Chastelain's Independent International Commission on Decommissioning until March as the power-sharing assembly in Stormont is fully restored from January.
It is not yet clear if Mr Paisley will insist that the photographs have to be published, a move the IRA could resist as a sign of bad faith and public humiliation.
Alleged renegade IRA members issued a statement to several Irish Sunday newspapers saying they opposed further decommissioning and warning the organisation would split if it went ahead. But the three IRA battalions are believed to be far less influential than those supporting the Sinn Fein's moves.
Hopes were rising that the impasse in the Good Friday Agreement could be broken with high level talks in Downing Street between the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley.

It is also expected that the Republican Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams would have separate meetings with the Irish leader Bertie Ahern in Dublin.
These meetings follow a historic meeting between Gerry Adams and Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde over issues of police reform and decommissioning.

The current impasse concerns the key issues of decommissioning of paramilitary weapons and the 'de-militarisation' of the province. Previous efforts to achieve a compromise failed because Unionists claimed insufficiently large amounts of IRA weaponry had been decommissioned, and that there was insufficient evidence that the weapons had in fact been destroyed.

Some Unionists are insisting on photographic evidence of the destruction of IRA weapons, a request that is bound to be resisted by more militant Republicans. Even if further decommissioning occurs, Republicans are almost certain to want a specific timetable for the removal of British Army bases in Republican leaning areas of Northern Ireland (such as South Armagh), which are much resented by some local inhabitants.

If the current deadlock were broken, it would mean the reconvening of the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was shut down in 2002 amidst accusations of spying by both Republicans and Unionists.