Britain must act to stamp out sectarianism which poses the biggest threat to the Northern peace process, Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams said.
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Speaking after a meeting the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in Dublin today, Mr Adams accused the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair of failing to face up to sectarian attacks in the North.
He said the British government's threat yesterday to crack down on paramilitary groups was fuelled by political bias.
Accompanied by Sinn Féin chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness, Mr Adams presented a dossier to Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, which detailed 363 attacks on Catholics by loyalists in the last three months.
"There has been a funeral today of a young man (Gerard Lawlor) who has been killed because he was perceived to be a Catholic. That cannot be allowed to go on," Mr Adams said.
"We have asked them (Mr Ahern and Mr Cowen) to take the figures which we have given them and to go to the British government and to ask the British government what they are doing about sorting this out and to face up to it.
Mr Adams said reports of sectarian incidents being "tit-for-tat" was fuelling anger among nationalists.
He warned Ulster Unionist Party leader and First Minister, Mr Trimble, of the consequences of boycotting the Northern Executive, which would collapse power-sharing government.
Turning to the statements by Mr Blair and Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid in the Commons yesterday, Mr Adams said: "Mr Blair's statement yesterday named the IRA four times.
"It did not mention the Ulster Defence Association, it did not mention the loyalist groups and all of that was based on bad advice to him by a system that used to pretend there was no such thing as sectarian attacks from loyalists."
He added: "By and large the system that runs the North is still a unionist system. The British government is not politically neutral on this issue so all of the advice will be to point out the republicans as the people who need to be confronted and it is a big challenge to turn that around."
PA