The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, has tried to placate unionist fears about the Belfast Agreement but also admitted that the gap between Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party on decommissioning now "appears to be too wide to be bridged".
Saying that the UUP demand is outside the terms of the agreement, Mr Adams said, "Sinn Fein would not be dogmatic on this point if there was some way of meeting the UUP demand."
He was speaking at a press conference before the start of a large Sinn Fein fund-raising reception and dinner in a Manhattan hotel. Some 1,000 guests paid $500 a head to attend and hear Mr Adams give his assessment of where the peace process stands.
The Sinn Fein leader said at the press conference that as a result of the Mitchell review, from which he had just come, "it is my certain view that many unionists are prepared privately to accept that what we have put forward on the issue of decommissioning is the best way. There has been no alternative put." Sinn Fein's proposal is one "that will work".
He warned the unionists that "this is their last and best chance" to get the decommissioning issue sorted out. But he said that "we cannot be held back by the bigoted element" in unionism which ranged from liberals like Mr David Trimble to "anti-Catholic bigots".
Mr Adams was asked if he would agree with the analysis of the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in a newspaper article yesterday that there was "a big battle" going on within the republican movement between conservatives who say violence is the only way and those who want "proper democratic politics".
Mr Adams replied that he would "not use the language he uses but I think the commitment of the IRA to the peace process is evident from the reality that we are now in the fifth year of an IRA ceasefire - four years in total - so the intention and commitment of that organisation is to assist and help in the move forward and the effort to find a lasting peace."
Mr Adams said that there was a huge debate going on within Irish nationalism but repeated that he would not use Mr Blair's terms to describe it.
He said that "we recognise the fears of the unionist section of our people. We want to make peace with you. We want to share the island of Ireland."
"I have acknowledged already that republicans have inflicted hurt and that the unionist community has suffered, as we all have. I regret this."