Sinn Féin will not enter a coalition government with mainstream political parties in the Republic unless by doing so its "struggle for equality" is advanced, Mr Gerry Adams said today.
"Sinn Féin will be in government in the north in the time ahead," Mr Adams wrote in today's edition of Village Magazine, "but while I am Party President we will only consider coalition in the south if that advances the process of change and the struggle for equality."
"We have no interest in Ministerial seats for the sake of it. And we certainly could not embrace, never mind support, the punitive anti-people measures, which the conservative parties advocate.
"Neither could we proceed without a real strategy for Irish unity," he added.
Mr Adams said Fianna Fáil and the other parties were "fixated with the growth of Sinn Féin.
"The Government's position and that of the other conservative parties, that they will not form a coalition with us until the IRA deals with the weapons issue, is a nonsense which flies in the face of the rights of the electorate.
"Those who ask would Fianna Fáil be in coalition with Sinn Féin are asking the wrong question. Of course Fianna Fáil would if it suited them. But the real question is will Sinn Féin join such a coalition?"
On Wednesday Fianna Fáil moved to distance itself from Mr Dermot Ahern's upbeat remarks about future Sinn Féin participation in government, saying the party had major steps to take before it can be seen as a coalition partner.
The Government issued a statement outlining the Taoiseach's view that paramilitarism must end, decommissioning of weapons must take place, and private armies eliminated before Fianna Fáil would "review" its current opposition to Sinn Féin participation in government.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern, said on Tuesday that it was "only a matter of time" before Sinn Féin was in government in the Republic.
Speaking to reporters at Hillsborough, Mr Dermot Ahern said Fianna Fáil's view that Sinn Féin should not be in government would change if circumstances changed. "I hope that happens in the future," he said.