The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, yesterday described his meeting with senior Sinn Féin officials in Derry as "frank" and with "tough talking" on both sides. Sinn Féin, however, described the meeting as friendly and cordial.
Mr Ahern's meeting came a day after the Provisional IRA issued two statements within 24 hours on the stalled Northern Ireland peace process, the second of which warned the Irish and British governments not to "underestimate the seriousness of the situation". The half-hour meeting between Mr Ahern and a Sinn Féin delegation which included the party's chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness and national chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, took place in the Rathmore Centre in Derry's Creggan estate.
After the meeting, Mr McGuinness repeated his assertion that those behind the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast last December "didn't give a damn" about the peace process. It followed an earlier meeting between Mr Ahern and SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan at Derry Airport. Speaking after that meeting, Mr Ahern called on all politicians to "try to keep cool heads in this situation we find ourselves in" and he reiterated the Government's view that the Provisional IRA carried out last December's £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery in Belfast.
"Sinn Féin have a mandate but we have to convince them that the connection between them and the IRA has to finish once and for all if they want to be part of any democratic institutions north or south of the Border," said Mr Ahern.
"It is time for calmness, it is nearly the politics of the last statement at the moment but we really need to keep cool heads and try to work our way out of these difficulties.
"There have been worse difficulties over the years since the Hume-Adams talks started, but I again stress, no democratically elected government can allow a situation to continue where there are illegal activities being carried on by people who quite clearly have connections with some of the people involved," he said.
Mr Ahern said that the police forces on both sides of the Border were definite that "there was Provisional IRA involvement in the robbery".
The Minister said he told the Sinn Féin delegation that any party which wished to engage in politics had to do so exclusively by democratic means.
"The Hume-Adams talks started nearly 18 years ago and it is time for people to come to the mark in relation to either moving exclusively on a democratic path or not, and the incidents in recent times have shown that those decisions are coming sooner rather than later," he told reporters after the meeting. "We have been at the negotiation table for some time and all of the issues, with the exception of two, have been agreed or at least accepted. The two issues outstanding are decommissioning and the end to paramilitarism. They are issues that particularly Sinn Féin can deal with, so it is up to them and to the people associated with them to make decisions in that respect and allow the peace process to be finalised once and for all.
"The statement by Martin McGuinness today that whoever committed the Northern Bank raid didn't give a damn about the peace process is helpful, but it is the view of the Garda Síochána in the South that this raid was committed by the Provisional IRA with the knowledge of the leadership of the Provisional IRA. That is something Sinn Féin have to reflect on," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr McGuinness described his meeting with Mr Ahern as a good one which took place against a backdrop of a deepening crisis which needed to be resolved. "We discussed the general deterioration and the need to avoid further confrontation. It was a very cordial meeting, it was a friendly meeting, there was little or no angst in the meeting and I have come away from it with the impression that people want to reflect on it," he said. "We cannot move forward on the basis that the IRA are the sole problem. We have to move forward on the basis that there is a comprehensive remedy to be achieved and that will require input from everyone. Our relationship with the Irish Government has been badly damaged by the events of recent weeks. That does not mean to say we can't sort it out."