Sinn Fein has confirmed that its president, Mr Gerry Adams, will travel to Cuba in late November/early December.
It was thought that Mr Adams might call off the trip in the light of the arrest of three alleged IRA members in Colombia and the US bomb atrocities.
Unionist politicians have reacted angrily to yesterday's IRA statement denying its army council had sent anybody to Colombia to train or engage in any military co-operation with the left-wing guerrilla group FARC.
Mr Adams, however, yesterday insisted that his party had "no case to answer" in relation to the arrests.
He insisted there was a "huge difference" between attacks on innocent civilians, such as those in New York, and those on armed forces. He rejected criticism of republican messages of sympathy to US victims, saying the media had been guilty of "mischief-making". "Given previous IRA actions, it is a legitimate question to ask from the point of view of victims of attacks here but it is not a legitimate position for the media who are about informing people about what is going on."
Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein vice-president, Mr Pat Doherty, has criticised the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, for "unwarranted attacks" on Sinn Fein during Tuesday's Dail session on the US atrocities. Mr Doherty said Mr Noonan had adopted "classic unionist speak" and indulged in the "most cynical pieces of political opportunism imaginable" against his party.