Hopes are growing of a deal with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol after things "moved" at a recent meeting between key players.
The British Irish Alliance summit took place in Oxford last month - and talks appear to have paved the way for a potential breakthrough.
Then Northern Ireland Minister Conor Burns met with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in the university city as the BIA marked its 50th anniversary.
A senior British Government source told the Mirror the meeting may come to be seen as a key moment in resolving the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The source said: "I don't know if there was something in the water perhaps, but it felt like things moved."
Mr Burns tweeted after the meeting: “Good 2 days in Oxford at British Irish Association.
“Good to talk to politicians from DUP, Alliance, Sinn Fein, the Taoiseach, Simon Coveney as well as Maros Sefcovic.
“Dialogue and understanding each other’s views always useful in building respect and trust. The BIA’s 50th year.”
Mr Coveney told the conference: “We will certainly be there as a willing partner to try and find solutions, or a basis for solutions, on the outstanding issues,” Mr Coveney said.
Critics say the Protocol, which effectively keeps the province in the EU’s Single Market for goods, has drawn a border down the Irish Sea - hampering trade between mainland Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
But supporters believe the mechanism is key to preventing a hard border on the province’s 310-mile frontier with the Republic - the UK's only land boundary with the EU.
Rows over the Protocol have helped cripple the Stormont Assembly, where the Democratic Unionist Party refuses to take its seats while the issue remains unresolved.
Unionists claim the ongoing row could threaten the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which brought peace to the province.
The clock is ticking on the deadline for a pact.
Legislation allowing the UK Government to effectively tear up parts of the Protocol returns to Parliament next week.
The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill has already cleared the Commons and will be debated by the Lords on Tuesday.
The source believed a settlement would be reached while the Bill was being knocked back and forth between the Lords and Commons.
Technical talks are taking place this week among officials from Whitehall and Brussels.
However, the source cautioned against expecting an immediate breakthrough.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly fuelled hopes of an agreement as he addressed a conference fringe at a drinks reception hosted by the EU’s Ambassador to the UK, João Vale de Almeida.
Mr Cleverly told diplomats that problems between Britain and the bloc were always sorted eventually.
“We look to overcome our challenges, we look to overcome our difficulties, and I have no doubt that we will,” he said.
“Sometimes it may take a little bit longer than we would like and and sometimes the route might be a little bit meandering, but I have no doubt that we will get to that good place because it is the inevitably positive outcome.”
In a thinly-veiled reference to the Protocol, Mr de Almeida admitted there were “issues where we still have situations we need to overcome”.
But he added: “I am inspired by what has been happening in the last few weeks on the mutual willingness to engage in order to find common solutions.”
