The former leader of the Provisional IRA in the Maze is among the figures tipped to be the IRA's interlocutor with Gen de Chastelain's commission for arms decommissioning.
Senior Government officials met Gen de Chastelain at the end of last week about possible "modalities" for the surrender or disposal of Provisional IRA weapons.
According to Government sources, it is anticipated that any move towards decommissioning by the Provisional IRA will take place in the Republic. However, there was no indication yesterday that decommissioning was imminent. Further negotiations between senior officials and Gen de Chastelain are expected in coming weeks.
It is expected, however, that the Provisional IRA will appoint as an interlocutor either Mr Padraic Wilson, the former leader of the IRA prisoners in the Maze, or Mr Brian Keenan, from west Belfast, who is said to be one of the most senior figures in the IRA.
If Mr Wilson is appointed it could be seen as a hopeful sign that the Provisional IRA will decommission in some way. In June of this year, in an interview with a Financial Times journalist, he said: "I think voluntary decommissioning would be a natural development of the peace process once we get a sense that the arrangements envisaged in the agreement are beginning to function."
He said that the Belfast Agreement had "sown the seeds for a permanent end to the conflict" and added: "The government of Tony Blair has been qualitatively different to any of its predecessors."
Mr Wilson (42) was released from the Maze Prison earlier this year as part of the prisoner release scheme under the Belfast Agreement. He was sentenced to 24 years' imprisonment in 1993 after he was caught with an under-car bomb in Belfast city-centre.
It is understood the bomb was to be placed under a car belonging to a part-time member of the security forces.
Mr Keenan (58) was one of the founding members of the Provisional IRA and is said to have held senior positions in the organisation since the early 1970s. He has served two prison sentences in England.
In the 1970s he travelled to Libya and the Middle East and is understood to be multi-lingual.
At one point last year it is understood Mr Keenan declined an offer to become chief of staff of the IRA. The Provisional IRA is known to have an armoury roughly the size of that of a regular army infantry battalion, consisting of 600 rifles or more, a variety of small arms and medium to heavy weapons, and as much as two tonnes of plastic explosive.
Up to July this year, when a Provisional IRA arms smuggling ring was uncovered in the United States, the organisation continued to import weapons, mostly handguns and sub-machineguns.
The Continuity IRA has called on the Provisional IRA not to decommission its weapons but to hand them over to the hardline republican group.
The CIRA is the only republican paramilitary organisation not on ceasefire. In a statement last night, the CIRA pledged to continue an armed campaign and called on Provisional IRA members to "assist" by giving it weapons.
"Recent events at Stormont and elsewhere have now confirmed our constant warnings of imminent treachery. Any lingering doubts or confusion should dissipate," the statement said.
The CIRA reiterated that it had not joined "Real IRA" and INLA activists to form a new umbrella paramilitary group.