THE Taoiseach rebuked one of his backbenchers when replying to questions on the admission of Sinn Fein to the multi-party Northern talks.

Mr Paddy Harte (Donegal North East) said that the key word was "trust". Rather than waiting on the IRA to come forward with a ceasefire, could they not assume that there were people in the IRA who wanted a ceasefire and take it on trust?

Mr Bruton said that in the final analysis, paragraph 8 of the groundrules document, which required people to demonstrate their commitment to peaceful methods and show it was firm, came down to a matter of belief.

"Until we actually have a cease-fire declaration, we have not got any statement which we can either believe or otherwise. The first prerequisite is that there should be a declaration of a ceasefire, because as long as there is no ceasefire, there is no question that anybody involved with the republican movement could sign up with the Mitchell principles."

The Fianna Fail spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Ray Burke, urged the Taoiseach to assure the House that the line given by Deputy Harte - that the IRA should be allowed to the table without a ceasefire - was not Government policy and not Fine Gael policy.

Mr Bruton said the Government's position was as it had declared it to be in the February 28th communique and the groundrules document. Sinn Fein could not participate until there was an IRA ceasefire and it complied with paragraphs 8 and 9 of the groundrules. They could not participate in the talks in any negotiating sense until after there had been a full signing-up to the Mitchell principles. Deputy Harte, he added, was asking a question of a somewhat academic nature.

Mr Harte said that Mr Burke was either being mischievous, or misunderstood his position. He had spoken out against the IRA and had never been ambivalent. "My theory is that so long as we wait on the IRA to deliver on a ceasefire, at this stage, we are giving them the veto to hold everyone else back."

He was asking if there was a possibility of assuming there was a ceasefire, because there had been no violence for so long, and moving to the next stage. "That is not breaking Government policy. It is facing the reality that the IRA has a veto on everything if they do not say they will have a ceasefire."

Mr Bruton said the position was that the IRA did not have a veto. The Tanaiste and himself, and indeed Fianna Fail, had made it clear repeatedly that the talks could proceed, and would proceed, with the other parties in the absence of Sinn Fein and an IRA ceasefire.

Mr Bruton said "I would not accept for one moment the idea that because the IRA has not reinstated its ceasefire, or is not actually killing people this week, would be a sufficient entry requirement to the talks.

I will never accept such a position. And I am surprised at Deputy Harte putting such a proposition forward because it has no basis in reality.

"If the organisation is unwilling to declare a ceasefire, then it is itself retaining the option of violence . . . and that is entirely contrary to the Mitchell principles. And I would invite Deputy Harte to read the Mitchell principles.".