THE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs denied there was a Government split on Northern policy.

Ms Joan Burton was responding to Opposition demands for an explanation of remarks made by Tanaiste's adviser, Mr Fergus Finlay, and the Taoiseach. She was deputising at Question Time for Mr Spring, who is ill.

The matter was first raised by the Fianna Fail spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Ray Burke, who said the single biggest confidence building requirement was that the Government speak with one voice.

He asked for clarification on the views expressed by Mr Finlay on a Channel 4 programme, when he said all party talks without Sinn Fein were not worth "a penny candle". The Taoiseach had made it clear that he viewed the statement as inappropriate and that it did not reflect his view.

"Does Mr Finlay speak for the Tanaiste? Has the Tanaiste a different view from the Taoiseach?". Mr Burke asked what measures were being taken to remedy the "breakdown in unity" within the Government on the issue.

Ms Burton said the greatest confidence building measure that could take place would be the restoration of the IRA ceasefire. While she had not seen the television programme, her understanding was that the remarks made by Mr Finlay were very much in that context. Sinn Fein's participation in the all party negotiations was blocked by the fact that the cease fire had broken down.

"There is no disagreement among the Government parties in relation to this. My understanding of the programme - and I cannot comment on detail because I did not see it - is that it was a discursive look at the history of the creation of the ceasefire and the path to negotiations in the North.

"Mr Finlay, along with people like Dr Martin Mansergh, has been involved in very many stages of the negotiations. I understand that different people interviewed were giving comments on how they saw the process in a historical sense. And without doubt, in a historical sense it would be absolutely critical to the historical evolution of the process to have Sinn Fein participate in the negotiations.

She said it had been a consistent Government view that it would like to see Sinn Fein taking part in the negotiations. The barrier to this was the failure of the IRA to call a ceasefire, and she hoped that its leadership would reconsider its position in the context of what the people of all of the island wanted.

Mr Burke said that the matter needed clarification so that there could be one voice in the Government, not two, one from Iveagh House and one from Government Buildings.

Ms Burton repeated that she had not heard or seen a detailed quotation of Mr Finlay's remarks, or of the Taoiseach's remarks. "I do not want to comment as such on what either or both of them said . . . But what I want to say is that there is no disagreement within this Government that the essential confidence building measure in retaining the momentum for peace is primarily and firstly the restoration of the ceasefire."

Mr Michael McDowell (PD, Dublin South East) said the first place where bipartisanship should be demonstrated was within the Government. It was most inappropriate for a programme manager to express views in public which could embarrass either or any of the parties in Government.

Mr Finlay's remark, he said, was the equivalent of "conferring upon the provisional movement in its entirety a veto equivalent to the unionist veto which has taken so long to dislodge".

Mr McDowell asked if there had been dialogue between a Minister of State and Sinn Fein since the breakdown of the ceasefire.

Ms Burton said she supposed Mr McDowell was being consciously obscure, and all she could do was reiterate the position on the matter set out by the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste on a number of occasions. Her understanding was that all members of the Government had met those guidelines.

She told Mr Ivor Callely (FF, Dublin North Central) that any contact was at official level.