Republicans have responded angrily to the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair's decision to publish three questions that the British and Irish governments privately issued to the IRA seeking clarity about its future intentions.
But the British government has rejected a claim by Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, that Mr Blair, in his statement yesterday, broke a contract of confidence between the governments and republicans.
A spokesman for Mr Blair said the Prime Minister felt compelled to publish the three questions seeking guarantees that the IRA was ending all activity, in order to bring fresh impetus to the deadlocked political process.
Mr Blair challenged the IRA to unequivocally state that it was ceasing all paramilitary activity; that it was committed to full decommissioning; and that if the governments implemented all aspects of the Belfast Agreement, it would effectively state its war was over.
These three questions were put to the IRA after its statement of Sunday week which Mr Blair and Mr Ahern felt did not provide the clarity and certainty necessary for the governments' to release their blueprint for restoring devolution.
Elaborating, Mr Blair said the IRA should end "all activities inconsistent with the Good Friday Agreement, including targeting, the punishment beatings, the procurement of weapons".
He issued his statement in London yesterday with the full support and knowledge of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said British and Irish sources. Mr Blair signalled that he took the decision to release the questions because while both sides were "frustratingly close to an agreement" he felt there was no other way of ending the impasse.
In a number of media interviews Mr McGuinness was highly critical of Mr Blair for issuing his statement. He again insisted that the IRA statement was "clear and unambiguous" and accused Ulster Unionists of refusing to provide equally clear commitments that it would share power with republicans.
However, Mr McGuinness refused to directly address the three questions. "I am not falling into this trap of discussing the IRA statement," he said. "This is about David Trimble needing, even demanding, a victory over the IRA. He wants an IRA surrender."
The British and Irish governments still hope continuing behind-the-scenes contact with republicans in the coming days will lead the IRA to provide the wording necessary to convince the governments and unionists that it is ceasing all activity, and backing this up with major decommissioning.
"I think republicans need to realise that we are deadly serious about our analysis that acts of completion are required from the IRA to move this forward," said a senior London source.
Next Monday is the deadline for dissolving the Assembly and calling elections for May 29th. British and Irish sources however refused to confirm speculation that on Monday Mr Ahern and Mr Blair would meet to review whether this latest gambit to persuade the IRA had succeeded.
For the first time Mr Blair yesterday indicated that May 29th Assembly elections were not cast in stone. He suggested he could be coming around to Mr David Trimble's analysis that there would be little point in electing politicians to an Assembly that could not form an Executive.
Mr Trimble said this was a "crunch time" for republicans and that the IRA must "bite the bullet" on what was being demanded of it.
The SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the British and Irish governments were justified in seeking further clarity from the IRA.