Senior Sinn Féin negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness today confirmed that his party would make no firm move towards joining the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
Mr McGuinness, who is at the party's ardfheis in Dublin, said as the 2,000 delegates continued their discussion, that party had still to decide on calling a special national meeting on the issue "after a serious debate within our party and with the community".
Mr McGuinness, who is due to address the conference on policing tomorrow, also reported "good progress" on party discussions on the question.
He added "We do need a policing service. This is a serious matter for us.
"But we cannot put in through at this ardfheis because we have not completed our deliberations.
"The whole logic of me being a minister in the executive in the north and representing that executive on the north-south ministerial council certainly argues for Sinn Fein being on the policing board.
"But delegates here have said we have to get policing right.
"We have to deal with the need for a representative, an accountable policing service, one which is free from the 'securicrats.'
"As we speak, work is going ahead on this issue - and I hope that we can get it right.
"There is no reason why we cannot get it right, and I think that if the other sides to this equation appreciate Sinn Fein's position on this matter - as they appear to do - and are prepared to give a real manifestation to that, then I think all this eminently suggests that we can get into a real debate within Sinn Fein, with our community, and move forward to a special conference at some time in the future.
"It is very hard to say when that will be, given that we have not finished these discussions."
In a separate comment, Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams - who is later due to give a keynote address at the conference - said: "We are currently in negotiations, and when they are finished, we may have some sense of what is possible.
"I have to say we have made some progress, and I will tell the delegates that.
"We need police - everybody needs police, and we need to be policed by people who are public servants.
"Let's see at the end of this stage of negotiations whether we have the basis for moving on to the board."
Mr Adams also said the question of imposing sanctions on parties involved in the Northern Ireland executive had to be within the terms of the of the Belfast.