The IRA must today offer satisfactory clarifications about its future if efforts to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly in time are to succeed, the Government has indicated.
Faced with suggestions that the IRA is set to publish its own document, the Government said the paper the organisation had submitted on Sunday night had not provided "enough certainty".
"It isn't clear enough for the two governments to understand, let alone anyone outside. We need to be absolutely sure that there is no ambiguity," one source commented.
In particular, the statement had failed to answer fully questions about the terrorist organisation's plans to decommission weaponry and the standing down of its members, sources said.
"There isn't a lot of time. It is still viable, but it is getting narrow," a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman told The Irish Times last night.
The Taoiseach discussed the IRA statement, received late on Sunday, during an early morning telephone conversation yesterday with the British Prime Minister.
During the day he twice met the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell and key officials, before delivering a speech in the Isle of Man last night.
In its initial reaction to the IRA statement, the Government said it welcomed its "positive aspects", which reflected the fact that "much progress" has been made.
This showed the desire of the IRA to make the peace process work, though both governments were now seeking clarification on several key points in the terrorist organisation's text, the Government went on.
The use of the phrase "much progress" was quickly placed alongside the more negative tones on offer from the British side. "It is a subtle difference really," said a Government spokesman last night.
Downplaying suggestions of differences between Dublin and London, a Government source said: "There is no point denying that a lot of progress has not been made." The Government believes that Sinn Féin President, Mr Gerry Adams briefed the Leader of the Ulster Unionists, Mr David Trimble on the contents of the IRA statement at a Belfast meeting yesterday.
However, Mr Trimble's subsequent declaration in the House of Commons that "very limited progress" had been made over the last week was noted by sources in Dublin.
The timetable for the remainder of the week is now increasingly crowded as time runs out for hopes that the Assembly can be restored in time for the elections scheduled on May 28th.
The British Prime Minister travels to Germany today for a meeting with the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, before travelling on to Athens for the EC summit meeting.
The Taoiseach intends to leave for Athens this evening, though he intends, for now, to preside over this morning's usual weekly meeting of the Cabinet.
"It would be possible for the Taoiseach to miss the Cabinet to travel to Hillsborough, but you couldn't have him and ministers such as Mr Cowen and Mr McDowell gone as well," one source said.
The two leaders could travel to Hillsborough on Thursday, though such a timetable would make it difficult for Mr Trimble to get approval for a return to office from the Ulster Unionist Executive Council.
Meanwhile, the Government intends to go ahead with a series of Dáil statements on Northern Ireland from 5 p.m. this evening, despite the lack of progress.
