Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams flies out to the United States today for a week of engagements in which he must convince Irish-America and the US administration that, despite the current crisis, Sinn Féin and the IRA remain committed to the peace process.
Mr Adams will be in Washington for St Patrick's Day but will not be attending the annual White House function hosted by President George Bush because he and the other Northern political leaders were not invited due to the current political tumult.
The McCartney sisters and Robert McCartney's partner, Bridgeen, will attend the White House event at the US president's invitation, which is intended to act as a fillip for the family's campaign and a message to republicans that the IRA must end all activity.
The McCartneys travel in the middle of next week. They also hope to meet US politicians such as President Bush's special envoy to Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Hilary Clinton.
Mr Adams, who also has engagements in New York, New Jersey and Ohio, will be in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday he will meet Dr Reiss at the State Department and later that night attend the America-Ireland Fund dinner.
On St Patrick's morning he will attend a Friends of Sinn Féin breakfast. In the afternoon he will speak at the US National Press Club and then meet Senator Kennedy and the Friends of Ireland Ad-Hoc Committee.
Mr Adams said he would be seeking continuing support from influential figures in the US "so that the task of rebuilding the peace process can begin".
"I will be speaking directly to those who have supported the peace process and Sinn Féin's role in it.
"I will be briefing them on the grave difficulties that the process faces at this time and also outlining the contribution that republicans are willing to make to get the process back on track," he added.
"The peace process is the only way forward, but we have to be realistic. The only aspect of the process which currently exists is the IRA cessation. There are no political institutions, no dialogue, no plans to implement the outstanding aspects of the agreement," said Mr Adams.
"If we are to move out of this deepening crisis, then the starting point has to be genuine dialogue between the parties and the two governments. That is the message that I will be bringing to the US next week," he said.
Mr Adams travels to the US as a Belfast Telegraph/BBC Newsnight polls illustrates that he still commands strong support in Sinn Féin despite the continuing fallout from the murder of Robert McCartney, the Northern Bank raid and the allegations of multi-million-pound IRA money-laundering.
The poll shows that 88 per cent of Sinn Féin supporters believe Mr Adams is performing very well or fairly well. This compares with 93 per cent support two years ago in a similar poll.
A total of 55 per cent of SDLP supporters believe Mark Durkan has performed very well or fairly well. The rating for DUP leader Ian Paisley is 81 per cent.
Ulster Unionist supporters give leader David Trimble 55 per cent support compared to 64 per cent two years ago.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also performed favourably in the poll, with 54 per of the 1,010 Northern Ireland people interviewed saying he is doing very well or fairly well. This compares with 32 per cent support for British prime minister Tony Blair.
