Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has stated that the IRA has embarked on an internal debate to decide how it will respond to his urgings for the paramilitary organisation fully to accept peace and democracy.
Mr Adams issued his initial statement, effectively calling on the IRA to stand down and end all activity, at the beginning of April. This was followed by the IRA saying it would respond in due course. Now Mr Adams has issued another statement saying the IRA confirmed to him that it has "authorised" an internal discussion on his original appeal.
Mr Adams did not say when the IRA would definitively respond, or predict how it would react. He said, however, that a positive IRA response would have "enormous significance and impact".
"A positive decision by the IRA at the end of its internal deliberations will have enormous significance and impact. It has the potential to halt the downward spiral in the peace process and to strengthen our ability to advance our republican objectives," he said in his statement last night.
Mr Adams has said on a number of occasions that the final answer to his appeal is not likely to come before the election. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said it could take up to two months before such a response is forthcoming, suggesting that late June or July could be when the answer comes.
A Government spokeswoman last night said Mr Ahern had welcomed Mr Adams's initial appeal to the IRA earlier this month as significant and potentially important. "What we want to know is if actions will follow on foot of that appeal from Mr Adams," she said. That was still the position, the spokeswoman said.
A London source said this was also the British position.
The timing of the statement in the final stages of the Northern Ireland Westminster and local election campaigns is likely to trigger claims from Sinn Féin's political opponents that this is crude electoral opportunism.
Mr Adams, however, has repeatedly insisted that his is a genuine attempt to inject momentum into a moribund peace process. He returned to that theme last night.
"For the past four months the peace process has been in freefall. On April 6th, in an attempt to prevent this backward slide, I made a direct appeal to the men and women of the IRA to commit themselves to purely political and democratic activity," he said.
"Clearly such a momentous decision requires the widest possible consultation and debate within the IRA. In my April 6th speech I asked that organisation to initiate this as quickly as possible," he added.
"I have now received confirmation from the IRA leadership that a discussion on my appeal has been authorised by it. I am confident that the IRA will take this debate forward with all the seriousness that it deserves," said Mr Adams.
"I firmly believe that the way forward is by building political support for republican and democratic objectives across Ireland and internationally," he said.