Ahern signals he will back Sinn Fein talks expulsion

The Taoiseach has signalled he will support Sinn Fein's expulsion from the Northern peace talks. This could happen at Dublin Castle today. Mr Ahern stressed the considerations he would take into account were "on the word of the British Prime Minister" rather than the evidence presented to the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, by the RUC.

The procedure to indict Sinn Fein for demonstrably dishonouring the Mitchell Principles was set in train by Dr Mowlam at the start of yesterday's talks and is now likely to dominate two, if not the full three days of deliberations in Dublin.

The Northern Secretary presented a confidential "speaking note" to all the Northern parties stating the British government concurred with the assessment of the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, that the Provisional IRA was responsible for the killings of Brendan Campbell and Robert Dougan in Belfast last week.

The Chief Constable's "firm view", she noted, was based both on intelligence information available to him, and on evidence obtained in the course of the RUC's investigations to date into the two crimes.

"Because criminal charges have now been preferred in respect of one of the murders, it is not appropriate to got into further detail here", she said in the indictment document, which was seen by The Irish Times.

Sinn Fein representatives reacted strongly to the move to expel them temporarily from the talks and vowed they would not be put out of the negotiations "without a fight".

The party president, Mr Gerry Adams, shocked some of his supporters when he stated last night he was "absolutely pissed off. We tried to make this thing work and those who have no interest in making it work seize on two men being killed to exploit it and bring this process down".

Threatening that the indictment procedure could be "a fairly lengthy process", the party's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, said there was "a tremendous anger in the North about the double standard which is being applied by the unionists to killings in the North".

Asked if he was in a position to state, as a matter of fact, that the IRA was not involved in the two murders for which Sinn Fein could be expelled, Mr McGuinness replied: "I am taking the IRA statement issued some time ago at face value and my reading of that statement is that the IRA ceasefire is intact".

Sinn Fein sources confirmed it has taken legal advice, north and south of the Border, with a view to mounting court challenges in both jurisdictions if and when it was expelled. It was looking at the prospect of challenging the British legislation on the ground rules for the talks in Belfast, and invoking the Constitution on the grounds of natural justice in the Republic.

The indictment procedure entirely dominated yesterday's business. Having moved it before lunchtime, the talks chairman, former Senator George Mitchell, had bilateral meetings with all of the participants in the afternoon. The talks will resume in full plenary session at 2 p.m. today, the deadline given to Sinn Fein to respond to the charge.

The Taoiseach, who appeared at Dublin Castle around 6 p.m. to host a reception for the talks participants, denied persistent speculation, fuelled by Sinn Fein, that the Government was not supporting the complaint initiated by Dr Mowlam. "That would be entirely untrue", he said.

Clearly sensitive to the political charge that he would accept the word of the RUC, Mr Ahern volunteered: "Can I just say that I noticed during the day that people were saying that all considerations were from the RUC. I have not been talking to anyone from the RUC, now or in the past. Any considerations which I take into account are on the word of the British Prime Minister".

Officials confirmed the Chief Constable presented a confidential briefing to the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, detailing the evidence behind the RUC's assessment of IRA involvement in two killings.

At the end of yesterday's session, the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, said he was not surprised about the delay in processing the indictment. "I could well imagine that the chairman would be scrupulously careful, particularly in a context where people are threatening judicial review."

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, has suggested that the Anglo-Irish Conference should meet this morning to enable the Government to cross-examine the RUC Chief Constable in confidence about the evidence supporting its assessment that the IRA was responsible for the two murders.