Sinn Féin's chief negotiator flewl to the US today as speculation mounts that the IRA is preparing to issue a landmark statement on its future.
Martin McGuinness, who is being accompanied by party colleague Rita O'Hare, will travel to New York and Washington DC to brief Sinn Féin supporters on the current state of the peace process.
"The purpose of the visit is to brief political opinion and Irish America on the political situation," a Sinn Féin spokesman said last night. The pair will also meet President George W. Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss.
Former senior IRA man Joe Cahill made a similar visit the US in 1994, shortly before the IRA announced their ceasefire.
It is widely expected that the IRA will issue a statement today or tomorrow, announcing that it is to destroy its arsenal, end paramilitary activity and commit entirely and permanently to peaceful and democratic means.
Mr McGuiness refused to be drawn when interviewed at Dublin airport today on either the timing or the content of the IRA statement.
In a major speech in Belfast last April, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams urged the IRA to end its armed struggle and follow his party down the political route.
It is believed that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair are aware of the broad outline of the IRA statement.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said today the delay in IRA disarmament was inexcusable. He said the IRA disarmament was a central tenet of the Belfast Agreement, which was signed in 1998.
"That delay is not excusable and the sooner all of these matters are resolved, as far as I am concerned, the better," the minister said in Dublin today.
"Everybody knows what's required and I hope that if the Provisional movement does make a statement on its future intentions, that it will come up to the mark. I hope the Provisional movement realises that and that it doesn't hold back on any of these important issues."