Adams to urge governments to break deadlock

The Sinn Féin president has again called for a concerted effort to break the impasse in the peace process and stated he will …

The Sinn Féin president has again called for a concerted effort to break the impasse in the peace process and stated he will press the British and Irish governments on this point when they meet for talks in London on Friday.

Mr Gerry Adams, addressing the Sinn Féin Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown, Co Kildare, yesterday, said his party's objective in its talks with ministers, the other parties and government officials was unambiguous.

"Our objective is clear - to restore the political institutions and end the crisis in the process."

Pointing to the need for an intensification of efforts to find agreement, he added: "Sinn Féin is pressing for a comprehensive and holistic package, which deals with all of the outstanding matters in a way that is definitive and conclusive."

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He said such an accord should embrace "full participation in the political institutions; the issues of policing and justice, including the transfer of powers to the Assembly; the issue of armed groups and arms; human rights; equality and sectarianism".

Mr Adams urged the British and Irish governments not to let the agenda or timescale be dictated by unionists. "The reality is that if the political will exists - and republicans have that political will - then we can all collectively make progress. Consequently, the intense efforts to agree a package must continue until there is an agreement or until we have exhausted all possibilities of agreement," he said.

Turning to Sinn Féin's gains in the local government and EU elections last week, Mr Adams looked to the next general election and the possibility of an alliance of left-wing parties.

Addressing the Labour Party directly, he said: "People don't want more of the same. If Labour is interested in alternative politics it should work with others to build a real left alternative, instead of concerning itself with getting Ministerial seats. This alternative must also have a progressive and democratic position and strategy on the national question, an issue on which Labour has also been sadly lacking." He added it was little wonder "that the Labour Party went into the GPO with James Connolly in 1916 and never came out again".

He called for "a radical agenda to end inequality and advance the peace process and Irish unity".

"Everyone who is committed to ending inequality needs to come together in a broad, even at this point, informal alliance for change. This must include not merely political parties but community groups, voluntary organisations, trade unions, rural organisations, campaigning groups and human rights bodies," he said.

Looking ahead to next year's Sinn Féin centenary, Mr Adams said the task was to "re-popularise" the republican struggle. He said the party had to rededicate itself to the ideals of 1798 and 1916 and claimed that the current generation of republicans could do this. "It is not enough to sloganise. We are not verbalised republicans or rhetorical revolutionaries. We are deadly serious about turning the vision of 1798 and 1916 into a reality. I believe this generation of Irish republicans will do just that."