It seems Bertie would say 'yes' to coalition quicker than Paisley, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor.
On Friday night at the opening of the Sinn Féin Ardfheis in the RDS in Dublin, Martin McGuinness set the tone for the weekend. He and his chief comrade Gerry Adams have very big ambitions for Sinn Féin. So don't "wobble", McGuinness effectively instructed delegates. There were media types in the hall looking for divisions but they were going to be sorely disappointed, he predicted.
The dominant theme was powersharing North and South, and policing. Delegates over the three days played mostly to the script written for them by the Sinn Féin leadership - but not totally, there were a few rumbles.
It had been a shaky enough year: what with the long-running fallout from the Robert McCartney murder and the Northern Bank robbery, the bombshell of the exposing of Denis Donaldson as a British agent (never mentioned at the conference), and Ian Paisley indicating that by about the time the ice cap fully melts he just might enter into a Northern executive with Sinn Féin.
It was important therefore to hold the line, to keep any differences or tensions within the family. Republicans are a tight outfit; for most of the conference they did the top table's bidding. But to use a fairly recent comment of Gerry Adams, republicans are not sheep, and on Saturday, unusually, we witnessed ordinary Sinn Féiners displaying some wolfish tendencies. At moments it seemed as if Sinn Féin was a normal party.
The most difficult debates for the leadership were on coalition in the South, on Saturday afternoon, and to a lesser extent on policing in the North, yesterday.
On coalition, the ardchomhairle wanted to have a free hand, not to tie itself to any proscriptive motion ruling out entering into government with one of the main parties, most likely Fianna Fáil. It supported safe motion 241, calling for a special ardfheis to decide the matter - post general election. But there were other motions insisting that Sinn Féin should not go into a coalition arrangement, ever, ever, ever.
One went so far as demanding that Sinn Féin stay out of government until Ireland was united - abstentionism once again.
Several speakers made it clear that, no matter how many seats Sinn Féin wins in the next general election in the South, it should be opposed to coalition.
Jackie Whelan from Waterford roused the crowd when, invoking all the names of the hunger strikers, he thundered that Fianna Fáil should be "put out to grass" and Sinn Féin should have nothing to do with them.
The leaders got the message; they saw the danger. Martin McGuinness, Gerry Kelly, Arthur Morgan and other senior party figures were wheeled out to warn against "never, never, never" motions.
So, motion 241 was called and passed. All the other contrary motions therefore failed and were not voted upon, leaving many members frustrated, cheated. But they enjoyed a little revenge.
Motion 253 committed the party to insist upon repeal of the Offences Against the State Act as a condition to entering coalition.
The leadership again opposed this motion, which must have been embarrassing for Martin McGuinness who was twice jailed in the South under the Act.
But for once the conference rebelled: the motion was narrowly passed and, notwithstanding Martin McGuinness's Friday night prediction, there was indeed a little "wobble", a little "division".
On policing it was important for the leadership that motions insisting that Sinn Féin would only support policing in the North when Ireland was united were sidelined in favour of the party's holding position: that it would take a special ardfheis to decide the issue, and only in the context of the devolution of policing and criminal justice to the assembly and the DUP agreeing to share power.
Here some of the younger delegates demanded Sinn Féin have nothing to do with the PSNI, ever, or at least until there is a united Ireland. But again wiser, older counsels prevailed and the ardfheis agreed with Gerry Kelly and Pat Doherty that the noncommittal party policy on policing was the best course.
So at the end of the tricky three days, even if Adams/McGuinness felt rather uncomfortable at times, they nonetheless got their way. It illustrated the extent of their appetite for power. It revealed just how determined they are to wield power in Dublin and Belfast, and as quickly as possible.
But listening to Ian Paisley these days makes you wonder if it will be easier for Sinn Féin to enter into government in the Dáil rather than Stormont.
While Tony Blair, rather in line with the DUP strategy, may be considering a phased return of a fully-functioning assembly, Adams insisted he would not work with a two-stage return of the Northern executive.
He said from "the republican perspective, the war is over", and asked the DUP leader, "Ian, is your war over?"
And that, from the republican standpoint, is what was most infuriating about the weekend for Sinn Féin. Despite the differences over coalition and policing, Sinn Féin is in rude good health.
If Sinn Féin has the seats and if Bertie Ahern bites, Adams/McGuinness in all probability - notwithstanding linking repeal of the Offences Against the State Act to coalition - would be able to persuade delegates at a special ardfheis to go into government.
Equally on policing, if a deal was doable, then Adams and McGuinness probably would have the clout to persuade the party to sign up to the Policing Board, however reluctantly.
But what can they do about Paisley? At the moment it seems Bertie would say "yes" to coalition quicker than the Doc would. And there, despite all the power that they exert, is the rub for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.