The IRA was not prepared to add Mr Gerry Adams's clarifications to its statement to accompany the Joint Declaration from the British and Irish governments, The Irish Times has learned. The governments are believed to have proposed a formula to break logjam and allow Assembly elections.
It is not clear whether the IRA refused, or Sinn Féin failed to convince them, to incorporate the answers given by Mr Adams to Mr Blair's three questions as an addendum to the private IRA statement given to the two governments on April 13th.
The clarifications from the president of Sinn Féin seemed to commit the IRA leadership to put arms beyond use, end the conflict and disengage from "activities" which would undermine in any way the peace process and the Belfast Agreement.
It is understood that the IRA's refusal to include, or refer to, Mr Adams's clarifications in its statement, coupled with the lack of clarity on ending specified activities, were the primary reasons why the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, decided to conclude negotiations with Sinn Féin early on Thursday morning.
This led to Mr Blair's decision to postpone the Assembly elections in Northern Ireland later that day.
The two governments had been proceeding, up to that point, on the basis of a revised IRA statement submitted to them on April 13th.
Some 10 days later, on April 23rd, Mr Blair posed three questions for the IRA to answer in order to bring the necessary clarity to the negotiations.
Mr Adams responded to Mr Blair's questions last Sunday.
The two answers on the decommissioning of weapons and bringing closure to the conflict were acceptable to the governments.
Mr Blair sought further clarification from Mr Adams last Monday when he asked if there "will", rather than should, be an end to all paramilitary activity.
The two governments are believed to have proposed a formula to Mr Adams on Tuesday to break the logjam and allow the Joint Declaration and IRA statement to be published and the Assembly elections to proceed.
The formula outlined, they said, would be acceptable to Mr David Trimble.
To overcome the difficulty over the definition of IRA activity, it was suggested to Mr Adams that he should confirm that on the basis of contacts with the IRA leadership that what this means is that activity of the kind referred to by the Prime Minister cannot and will not be authorised by the IRA.
Mr Blair and Mr Ahern also proposed that an addendum be added to the IRA statement acknowledging that there had been considerable speculation on the meaning of their statement since it was finalised and given in confidence to the two governments. The IRA wished to make it clear that the interpretation of the statement given by Mr Adams, president of Sinn Féin, is entirely correct.
Mr Adams responded on Wednesday that "The IRA leadership is determined that there will be no activities which will undermine in any way the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement".
The negotiations between Sinn Féin and the Irish and British governments reached breaking point at 4 a.m. last Thursday.
Sinn Féin negotiators informed the governments that there would be no reference to Mr Adams's clarifications and no addendum to the IRA statement of April 13th.