Sinn Féin reaction: The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, has warned that the peace process could be "transient" and blamed the British and Irish governments for scuttling an opportunity to seal a comprehensive agreement in December.
Mr Adams, despite several questions from reporters at a Sinn Féin press conference yesterday, refused to make any comment about whether the IRA in its Wednesday night statement was implicitly threatening a return to a campaign of violence.
Neither would Mr Adams fully explain his comment that the peace process could be a "transient". He said republicans had acknowledged the positive contribution of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, "but we have told them both that confrontation is not the way forward.
"Otherwise, the peace process could be as transient as his time in Downing Street," said Mr Adams. He provided some elaboration, saying he told Mr Blair recently that British prime ministers down through history had "temporarily" addressed the Irish question, but "because the cause of the conflict has not been tackled, the peace phase was as temporary as their time in Downing Street".
When asked specifically did he believe there could be a return to violence, all he would say was: "Well, our focus is in preventing that. The challenge now for all of us in positions of political leadership is to rescue the situation.
"That is the focus of the Sinn Féin leadership. But we cannot do this on our own. The two governments have a critically important contribution to make.
"Either they can rise to the hard and difficult challenge of peacemaking, or they can go on making a bad situation worse. The focus of Sinn Féin in the time ahead is threefold: to defend the peace process; to pursue the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement; to uphold the integrity of Sinn Féin and the rights of our electorate, alongside the rights of all other citizens."
Mr Adams chiefly blamed the governments for the crisis. "The approach of the two governments has effectively scuttled the unprecedented IRA initiatives which they publicly outlined in December. The governments have opted to attack the commitment, integrity and motivation of Sinn Féin. This is fair enough in the cut and thrust of party politics, but has no place in a peace process. My remarks about the Irish Government are made more in sadness than anger.
"If an Irish Government will not stand up to a British government in defence of the rights of Irish citizens - then who will? The role of the British government and its agencies in Ireland has been shameful. When Mr Blair came into government he signalled a willingness to find a way out of this. He needs to deliver on his obligations."
Mr Adams accused the Taoiseach of effectively siding with the DUP in the recent negotiations. "He has a huge responsibility in all of this. But the tragedy is that for the first time we have an Irish Government publicly acquiescing to a DUP position.
"The mantra from Dublin is that: 'Sinn Féin won't come within an ass's roar of power, North or South, until the IRA is off the pitch.' This illustrates the flaw in the Government's approach. Not everything is about getting into power.
"Securing the peace process should be the priority and party political politics has to come second," said Mr Adams.
"The two governments say that the only obstacle now to a lasting and durable settlement is the IRA. This is patent nonsense. Are they seriously telling us that Ian Paisley has had a road to Damascus conversion - that he is now suddenly embracing equality and power-sharing?
"The DUP walked away from a deal in December because they oppose power-sharing and oppose the Good Friday agreement. There is no evidence that this has changed."
Mr Adams argued that the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, was never serious about doing a deal in December, indicating that he made his comments about humiliating republicans and issued his demand for photographic verification of decommissioning because he knew it was not deliverable.
"I think that was then compounded by the two governments putting (the demand for photographs) in their comprehensive agreement. So, one thing is for certain, there are lots of issues that need to be sorted out, not just one, and one of those is the willingness of the DUP to share power with the rest of us."
