Next week Gordon Brown will meet Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness in Downing Street for another push on the devolution of justice. Given the bad blood between the DUP and Sinn Fein at the start of the Assembly term you could be forgiven for thinking this exercise is akin to rolling a very large stone up a very steep hill.
however intensive discussions are due to continue over the weekend and some of the officials involved claim the sides are getting nearer to closing the gaps on outstanding financial issues like hearing loss claims from retired police officers or police pensions. One senior source wouldn't talk figures but insisted that a "vehicle" could be found to resolve such difficulties.
After coming out of Downing Street the First and Deputy First Ministers will be getting on planes to New York to attend a session of Talk to the DUP and they say this session, the brainchild of the new US Economic Envoy Declan Kelly, is purely about business - there will be many US CEOs there and this is seen as an opportunity to press upon them the advantages of investing in Northern Ireland. But talk to Sin Fein, and whilst they are happy about the economic aspect of the gathering they will also tell you that it's about creating a space in which the former US President can bring whatever influence he has to bear to try to move the political process on.
"America wants to help Northern Ireland" my senior source says, "but the administration finds it difficult to persuade people to come here, make substantial investment and create jobs if the political climate is not stable. Americans find it difficult to explain why it is not possible to get agreement on policing and justice."
So as Bill used to say "it's the economy, stupid" but maybe with a bit of politics thrown in for good measure.
Either way the politicians think the gathering is important enough to postpone next week's scheduled Executive meeting.
Whilst US interest and investment may be dangled as a carrot, the stick in the current negotiations on devolving justice is that the UK government's finances will be much tighter after the next election. So why not do a deal now?
Certainly Peter Robinson's speech yesterday in which he acknowledged that Northern Ireland would not be exempt from any future cuts has opened up a debate about how the executive might cope. The Executive is already experiencing difficulties with the loss of revenue from potential property sales and planning application fees as well as its deferral of water charges and freezing of the regional rate. But if a future Conservative government demanded a 10% cut across the board it could be looking at trying to find an extra Β£900 million in savings.
Although Peter Robinson's suggested cull of quangoes, MLAs and the number of departments might be popular it would hardly generate the kind of savings required.
Privately some ministers believe we should be thinking radically - for instance might water charges or the privatisation of the water service prove inevitable? But the very nature of the government means that if one minister suggests a deep incision in one area, their colleagues will denounce them and defend their patch.
Given the propensity to deadlock in the Stormont system one can imagine any radical plan provoking a veto. At which point the only option may be to salami slice each department's budget by the requisite percentage, sharing the pain, but maybe not making the right decisions.
I'm off to Stormont to prepare for a broadcast. I'll be back on Sunday with Inside Politics. My main guest will be the former Finance Minister and SDLP leader Mark Durkan.
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