A US State Department decision on a Irish-British request to designate dissident republican group the Real IRA is expected to be announced within weeks, diplomatic sources said today.
Designation would make fund-raising illegal in the United States for the Real IRA.
"We have the request under consideration," a State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for the Irish Embassy in the US said a final decision by US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell was expected to be announced in a matter of weeks.
He would not be drawn on the likelihood of a positive decision, although analysts said recent activity by the Real IRA, and the joint request by Dublin and London, made designation the likelier outcome.
Congress must approve the designation and the government has to show it reached its conclusion on the basis of its own evidence. Any hint the decision had been prejudged could help a challenge against the move in US courts.
The gardaí and the RUC have made a joint recommendation calling for the Real IRA to be designated terrorist in the United States.