Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams is expected to be barred by the Bush administration from fund-raising during next month's St Patrick's celebrations in the US.
Last November, Mr Adams dropped plans to attend a major "Friends of Sinn Féin" fundraising dinner in New York after Washington imposed the restriction as a penalty for the party's refusal so far to join the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
The ban is set to be reimposed by members of the administration's National Security Council, which has become increasingly frustrated by lack of progress on the issue.
Policing will feature strongly during this weekend's Sinn Féin Ardfheis in the RDS in Ballsbridge in Dublin, when over 1,000 party delegates are expected to gather.
None of the motions to be debated on policing on Sunday morning favours any movement by the party, while many adopt a traditionalist approach - ruling out any involvement until the British quit Northern Ireland.
Despite the lack of support, the Sinn Féin is expected to make major moves on the issue in April - though it is not yet clear if this will amount to an unqualified membership of the policing board.
Announcing the programme for the weekend, Cavan/Monaghan TD, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the Democratic Unionist Party had failed to respond positively to the IRA's decommissioning last September.
The party will also offer "welcome home greetings" to the "Colombia Three" - James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley - who disclosed their return to the State last August.
Last night, a Sinn Féin spokesman was unable to say whether the party intended formally to introduce the three men to the conference, as happened in 1998 with the return of the four IRA Balcombe Street bombers.
During a debate on the peace process, delegates will be asked by Ógra Sinn Féin, West Tyrone Ógra and Dublin Ógra to support a motion that recognises "that Republicanism would not be in a strong position today without the armed campaign of the IRA" and that there would have been no peace process without the IRA.
