The Northern Secretary has called for movement by republicans to help restore confidence in the political process and end suspension of the Stormont institutions.
Speaking after a meeting in Washington DC with the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell; the Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft; and the FBI, Mr Paul Murphy said republicans had to indicate how their stance would change "in a peaceful and democratic society".
"I think everybody is aware that there has to be movement from the IRA in terms of where they are going, over the next month, in terms of where they believe they should stand when we are in the peaceful democratic society," he said.
He told the BBC that Sinn Féin's call for an timetabled implementation plan from the British government on the outstanding aspects of the Belfast Agreement was only one of a number of issues on the multiparty talks table.
He said any party was free to raise concerns about the agreement and its implementation. "That is why it's an open process, parties can discuss what they like."
Playing down talk of an early breakthrough in the multiparty talks at Stormont, Mr Murphy added:
"I'm not saying for one second that we're going to resolve these issues by the time we next meet in the plenary session.
"But there's always use in talking as a roundtable group of politicians who are interested in these things, of course it is, and we're able, so as parties can address the issues to other parties.
After all, they all want the institutions restored, they want devolution back, the question is, of course, they all have rather different views as to how that can be achieved."
But he stressed the importance of a clear indication from the IRA about its intentions.
"I mean that's the issue which people have been talking about over here, in the United States, and it's an issue which obviously is central to the restoration of trust which in turn means they can restore the \ institutions."
Mr Gerry Adams will be in Washington next week for talks with senior Congress figures including Mr Peter King and Senator Ted Kennedy, as well as President Bush's special envoy on Ireland, Mr Richard Haass.
The Sinn Féin president said: "My meetings in Washington will allow me to update senior political figures on Capitol Hill about the crisis in the process, the many issues involved and what is required to resolve it."
He added: "Primarily our focus will be on the imperative of reinstating the institutions which the British government should never have suspended.