The Sinn Fein president has called on the party to rebuild itself in order to negotiate a new Belfast agreement on terms more favourable to nationalists.
Renewing his call on the organisation to "take to the streets in support of peace", Mr Gerry Adams told a party conference in Dublin yesterday that the peace process was "in tatters".
However, he insisted the priority was still to get the Northern institutions back in place as soon as possible. This was the "sole responsibility" of the British government and the Northern secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson. Mr Adams and Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, are due to hold talks with Mr Mandelson this morning.
Mr Adams was speaking at an internal party conference in Dublin City University which was closed to the media except for his address. More than 300 party members attended sessions devoted to reviewing the peace process and preparing for the next elections.
Sinn Fein remained committed to supporting efforts to resolve the arms issue, Mr Adams said. It was wedded to the objective of taking "all the guns out of Irish politics . . . However, I do not accept any special responsibility on our part to do this above and beyond the responsibilities of every other party in this process."
"If a British government, with all of its military firepower and muscle, could not get an IRA surrender in 30 years of war then unionist leaders or British ministers cannot expect a Sinn Fein leadership to do it for them," he said to sustained applause.
If the British government continued to act "illegally" by maintaining a unilateral suspension of the institutions, the Government should move to protect its position. This would be done by introducing legislation to amend the Acts under which the all-Ireland institutions were set up.
He told delegates it was the comparative weakness of nationalism which ensured unionist success in pulling down the institutions. For this reason, Sinn Fein had to reorganise, prepare policy positions, recruit and reach parts that had not heard "the real republican message".
"I'm appealing to the great and the good, to civic society, to the churches, to ordinary people the length and breadth of this island, to take the initiative and to win back the potential for change that is required to underpin the search for a lasting peace.
"If the present Good Friday agreement is lost because the British government caved in to unionist demands, one thing is certain. At some point in the future, a new agreement will be negotiated. We have to ensure that Sinn Fein is there in a better position to negotiate a better agreement than the one which is there now in tatters."
Mr Adams described Britain's support for the unionist stance on decommissioning as the biggest single mistake made by the British Labour Party since it came to power. He described British guarantees to unionists as "the virus that has infected the process".
David Trimble could not be blamed for behaving as he did when the British government was endorsing his position, Mr Adams said. "We can hardly blame David Trimble for threatening a British government when, from his point of view, his tactics pay off." The way Mr Mandelson had dealt with the arms issue had not only prevented an opportunity for a resolution, but had made it more difficult to get one in the future.
Mr Adams recalled that in November Sinn Fein had persuaded the IRA to enter discussions with Gen John de Chastelain in return for the unionists entering the institutions. This led to the second de Chastelain report, which said there was a "real prospect" of an agreement. However, Mr Adams said, this position had been rejected by the British government and the unionists.
"So with hindsight I now think that our efforts to resolve this issue in the Mitchell review was a mistake by us because we relied on others to keep to their commitments."
