The Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, said his party would have to be "very, very persuaded" before it would agree to go into coalition with Fianna Fail.
He was speaking in Dublin before a meeting on the Irish language with the Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Mr Eamon O Cuiv.
He also rejected a claim by the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, that nationalists were getting 90 per cent of what they wanted in relation to the Patten recommendations.
Mr Adams said the assertion, made by Mr Mandelson in a radio interview, was nonsense. "Nationalists are not getting 90 per cent of what we want. The whole issue of civic policing, of an acceptable policing service, is bigger than any one political philosophy, and this business of trading it off is just absolute nonsense," he said.
Asked to comment on the Taoiseach's statement last week that Sinn Fein would have to resolve its relationship with the IRA before going into a coalition with Fianna Fail, Mr Adams said: "The question isn't whether Fianna Fail will go into coalition with Sinn Fein, because I am quite certain if we get the mandate that we require that a Fianna Fail party would go into coalition with Sinn Fein. The question is whether Sinn Fein would go into coalition with Fianna Fail."