The IRA has been frequently mentioned in the opening phase of the trial of three men from Northern Ireland charged with gun-running from Florida to Ireland and conspiracy to murder and maim. Any links to that organisation are far from clear, however.
The US government indictment against the three does not mention the IRA.
It accuses them in one count that they "did combine, confederate and agree with each other and with persons known and unknown to the grand jury to commit acts outside the United States, specifically in Northern Ireland, that would constitute the offences of murder and maiming if committed in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States".
These charges could carry a life sentence. They are also accused of the lesser charge of conspiring to send weapons illegally through the mail.
Some 23 packages were intercepted in England, Dublin, Galway and New York. The press release announcing the indictment does refer to "providing material support to terrorists" but without specifying any organisation.
The assistant US attorney, Richard Scruggs, at last year's bail hearing, told the court that Mr Conor Claxton (26) from Belfast, had admitted to an FBI agent, Mr Mark Hastabacka, that he was a member of the IRA, meaning the Provisionals, and that he was acting for "higher-ups". The arms were to be used to kill members of the RUC and Protestant paramilitaries. Mr Claxton allegedly said that he believed that the peace process was failing and that the arms from Florida were needed for this eventuality.
Mr Fred Haddad, the lawyer for Mr Claxton, appeared for the defence in a trial in the 1990s where four IRA members were accused of trying to smuggle a Stinger missile to Northern Ireland after being caught in a "sting" operation by the FBI.
Mr Haddad has shown that in this trial he will be portraying the situation in Northern Ireland as a "war" where the minority population sees the IRA as "freedom-fighters".
Mr Haddad has yet to cross-examine Mr Hastabacka about what Mr Claxton told him concerning the IRA. It is likely to be one of the highlights of the trial, which may last six weeks.
The IRA Army Council put out a statement soon after the arrests saying that it had not authorised the operation. The then Northern secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, stated that there was no evidence that the IRA was re-arming. But the prosecuting team at the trial does not seem to be impressed.
Assistant attorney Ms Stephanie Pell, presenting the government's case against the defendants, referring to the Belfast Agreement, which the US "supported and helped broker", said "one of the main things that had to happen was that all paramilitary groups had to decommission or turn over their weapons".
But, "at a very critical time, when there was a chance for peace in Northern Ireland, these people [the defendants] were stockpiling weapons and shipping them to the IRA".
Ms Pell also linked Mr Claxton with Robert Flint, a former gun-runner for the IRA who "was quite good at it". He will be called as a prosecution witness with immunity, although he is a convicted drugs-dealer and "a very bad guy".
According to Ms Pell, Flint will say he met Mr Claxton in a bar in San Francisco in May 1999 after getting a call from him. Mr Claxton, whom he did not know, gave him a note saying "Help out this guy" and signed "Seamus."
Ms Pell said "Seamus" was Seamus Moley, who was one of the four IRA men convicted in the Stinger missile case. At a second meeting in San Diego, Mr Claxton told Flint that IRA "higher-ups" were willing to come to the US to meet him.
Flint flew to Ireland on July 28th last year, two days after Mr Claxton, Mr Anthony Smyth, Mr Martin Mullan and Siobhan Browne had been arrested. Browne has pleaded guilty to the lesser charges and will be sentenced next month.
In Ireland, Flint called Ms Jackie McIntyre, the girlfriend of Mr Claxton, living at an address in west Galway, to where four of the 23 packages of concealed weapons had been sent. However, Flint was then arrested by the Garda and sent back to the US.
Again according to Ms Pell, a car with Northern Ireland registration arrived at Ms McIntyre's address in Galway to collect the guns sent from Florida by Mr Claxton and Mr Mullan. This car has been traced to a woman living with Mr Ciaran Hughes.
Mr Hughes was jailed in the US for eight years in 1986 when he and other IRA members were caught in another FBI "sting" operation in Boston where they were hoping to buy 100 rifles, ammunition and a Redeye surface-to-air missile. After his release, Mr Hughes returned to Belfast.
It was revealed by Ms Pell that one of the parcels to Ms McIntyre had been intercepted in Britain and fake guns and ammunition inserted for what is called a "controlled delivery". Other real weapons were found at Ms McIntyre's house when the Garda searched it. She was arrested and charged with possession of weapons but the charges were later dropped without explanation.
Ms Pell said there was also a video in Mr Claxton's hotel room in Florida called Against Her Majesty and a "Provisional IRA keyring" was found in his car. A poster for the Belfast Brigade of the IRA was found in Mr Smyth's apartment.
Until now, these are the main items listed by the prosecution linking the defendants with the IRA. And the defence lawyers have yet to have their say.
Two of them, Mr Dan McElhatton for Mr Mullan and Mr Haddad for Mr Claxton, have made it clear that they will put the actions of their clients in a political context of a British "occupation" of Northern Ireland and a struggle for freedom. Mr McElhatton has also said "not one gun or one bullet" ever got to Northern Ireland.
The defence has noted that the IRA is no longer on the US State Department list of active terrorist organisations. It was taken off when it declared its ceasefires and there were consequently no terrorist actions by it to report.
One observer at the trial describes this tactic as a double defence. "They did not do it and if they did, they were justified."