Irish and British government sources tonight played down reports of an imminent move by the IRA on arms decommissioning.
Earlier Britain's PA news agency reported the IRA had decided to decommission weapons in two of its secret arms dumps.
The announcement, which is said to come from security sources, comes as Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid prepares for another suspension of the Stormont Assembly in a bid to safeguard the Belfast Agreement.
Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Chief Constable of the RUC said he was not aware of any plans for imminent disarmament.
However, PA claim authoritative security sources in Belfast have said the republican leadership has already agreed to make a gesture.
The two dumps which have been examined three times by Mr Cyril Ramaposa and Mr Maarti Ahtisaari twice would either be sealed over or emptied and the weapons disposed of, sources said.
With today's Irish Timespoll saying that a majority of Sinn Féin voters now want the Provisionals to start putting their guns completely and verifiably beyond use, a security source said: "After America, the situation has moved into a different dimension, they (the leadership) believe it is now an even greater imperative and we expect the process to begin fairly soon. It is only a matter of time, certainly before the end of the year."
The IRA is to have more talks with General John de Chastelain, head of the decommissioning body.