In a mainly pessimistic assessment of the chances for success of the Mitchell review of the decommissioning impasse, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said there was a "very, very tiny possibility there may be a breakthrough" this weekend.
This was slightly more optimistic than his assessment at a Sinn Fein fundraising dinner on Wednesday evening when he told the audience: "I think on balance that the Mitchell review will probably not succeed." This was interpreted by some British media as Mr Adams writing "the obituary" of the review while on his brief visit to New York.
But Sinn Fein officials said yesterday the "obituary" report was going too far and that Mr Adams, in his meeting with the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, would make this clear.
Mr Adams tried to leave the door open to a last-minute breakthrough when he told the committee the only way this could now happen would be if Sinn Fein "can stretch ourselves further than we maybe think possible" and if the UUP could do the same thing. "In that way, we may get a resolution."
But he later said that one of Sinn Fein's future "big projects" would be that "if the review fails, to try and ensure that the agreement is implemented as far as possible". The other two projects are "to try and make the Mitchell Review work and to deal with the Patten report on policing and create a new police service".
Mr Adams flew back to Belfast last night.