Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he does not expect an answer from Sinn Féin this weekend on Government demands relating to IRA decommissioning and criminal activity.
Speaking in Naas yesterday, Mr Ahern declined to comment on the suspension by Sinn Féin of seven party members allegedly linked to the murder of Robert McCartney and said that was "entirely a matter" for Sinn Féin.
The Taoiseach said he did not believe that people were still being intimidated from co-operating with the police investigation into the murder.
"I don't have any evidence of that, but I think that clearly there is action taking place. We have seen a number of things happening over the last week. But the proof of that, the evidence of that, the commitment to that is what will lead to prosecutions.
"In this case, there's a lot of witnesses. This wasn't something that happened out of the view of people, so there are people who have the evidence."
He said that the McCartney family, who had been "very brave and courageous", wanted clear prosecutions and information which would lead to that outcome. "So whatever co-operation from whomever, and whatever format that can help to achieve those prosecutions, is what we support and what we want to see."
Regarding this weekend's Sinn Féin ardfheis, Mr Ahern said it would be wrong of him to dictate what should happen.
He said that the party and its leader, Gerry Adams, "know that there are a number of crucial issues that we would like to see answered either this weekend or some other time".
Mr Ahern added: "I have said I'm prepared to meet Sinn Féin. I'm prepared to move on. We want to get these hard questions. I know they are difficult. We want to get them dealt with so that we can move on with what is envisioned in the Good Friday agreement.
"That is our position. We haven't changed our position, we are consistent and we are determined that that is the position. We're not going to start making life difficult for another political party. If we don't get an answer this weekend, that isn't the end of the world as far as we are concerned, but we do want to move forward with Sinn Féin."