Sinn Féin's would-be Dáil deputy, Mr Martin Ferris, posed some pertinent questions at the weekend about possible Sinn Féin participation in the next government.
Does the Taoiseach think it right for Sinn Féin to sit with Fianna Fáil ministers in the North-South Ministerial Council but not in a Dublin Cabinet, he asked. Is the IRA seen as legitimate by Mr Ahern in the Northern jurisdiction but not in the Republic? Does he think that votes cast for Sinn Féin have less validity than those cast for other parties?
As the possible arithmetic of the next Dáil begins to emerge, the paradox of Sinn Féin's place in political life - North and South - comes into sharp focus. Mr Ferris says he believes his party will gain new seats and he envisages Sinn Féin as being decisive in forming an administration. Most observers would say this is possible rather than probable. But it is necessary that issues which would arise in such an eventuality be anticipated.
The Taoiseach spoke at the weekend of his preferences in a new administration. Coalition with Sinn Féin was not among them. But he has not fully ruled it out in earlier statements. He has merely said that it could not happen while the IRA remains in existence, linked to Sinn Féin. There is room here for fudge - of the variety in which Sinn Féin and the IRA are expert. Is it possible therefore to view Mr Ferris's interrogation of the Taoiseach's position as an invitation to treat? Is Sinn Féin asking what it has to do to become pure enough to sit in a Dublin Cabinet? Or was Mr Ferris striking a defensive pose for his party in advance of the coming election campaign?
His questions are largely rhetorical. The arrangements in the Executive would not be acceptable in the Republic. What Sinn Féin will have to understand is that they are not acceptable in the long term either in Northern Ireland. If IRA decommissioning is not completed and if the new police service is not accepted across the community, the Belfast Agreement will fall, in time. Sinn Féin will hold no ministries because Northern Ireland will have reverted to direct rule. Sinn Féin ministers will not sit on North-South ministerial councils because they will not exist.
If it is Mr Ferris's hope or anticipation that the Government of this State will operate to the compromises which have been applied in order to allow Sinn Féin to participate in the Executive, he is profoundly mistaken. There will be some ambiguity in certain Fianna Fáil quarters about this. Fianna Fáil will be keenly seeking Sinn Féin transfers in certain constituencies. Meanwhile, the possibility of a Fianna Fáil-led Government supported externally by Sinn Féin - but without Sinn Féin participation - is not a mathematical impossibility and is quietly spoken of by some strategists. But Sinn Féin's ambivalence between democracy and violence would render even this an appalling and unacceptable vista. If Sinn Féin wants a share of power in this State, it has work to do. It has to choose finally, irrevocably and completely between the armed struggle - in any guise - and politics.