THE republican movement should stop blaming the British government and face its responsibility to rebuild the peace process and restore trust, the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said last night.
Mr Ahern, who was speaking in Belfast, called for an immediate IRA ceasefire and said that if Sinn Fein didn't "make the best of what is currently on offer", it would face increasing political isolation.
He was addressing a meeting organised by the Campaign for Democracy, a Northern based small cross community group. Other speakers included the Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, and Mr Dennis Haughey of the SDLP.
"The republican movement needs to address seriously without waiting any longer how it rebuilds peace and restores trust," Mr Ahern said. "The onus for building peace rests with everyone, including them.
"The entire responsibility cannot be shifted on to someone else. Failures by the British government are no excuse for the continuation of an IRA campaign which is rejected by the overwhelming majority of both the Irish people in general and Irish nationalists in particular."
Mr Ahern warned republicans that they would face increasing political isolation and loss of influence if "the IRA insist on going their own way to nowhere, refuse to listen to others, and damage the interests and safety of all on this island".
He urged Sinn Fein not to turn its back on the peace process as it was the only way forward: "Republicans, in my opinion, would be strongly advised to make the best of what is currently on offer and trust for the rest in the skills of their political leadership and the strong support that the will get from others for the exercise of their democratic rights once violence is renounced."
Mr Ahern said he was not sure that republicans understood how much their negotiating positions was undermined by IRA violence and he warned them against making extra demands of other parties and governments.
"It is a misunderstanding of the situation to be attempting to lay down new preconditions. Their present position is simply not politically tenable," he said.
He said that the difference between republicans and London, which stood in the way of a new ceasefire, was "small enough" and could be bridged. He urged the British government to reclarify that inclusive and substantive talks would start within a short, specified period of time following a ceasefire.
Any new ceasefire must be "real, not a sham" and couldn't be conditional or tactical, he said. "What will not work is an in between approach, on off violence as an a la carte option to be resorted to whenever difficulties or blockages arise in the peace process, he added.
With the Westminster election approaching, the electorate in the North were entitled to know "without ambiguity or equivocation what they are voting for in terms of a commitment to peace and democracy," Mr Ahern said.
New governments in Britain and the Republic perhaps offered "a final chance" to restore the peace process. It was unfortunate that the Stormont talks had dealt with nothing except decommissioning and had not moved into substantive negotiations, he added.
He urged the British government to adopt a more enlightened approach to demands for a new inquiry into Bloody Sunday, possible miscarriages of justice in Britain, and the "callous conditions of imprisonment" of Roisin McAliskey.
The Fianna Fail leader called for proportional representation, and legislation on marches which protected minority rights. "Unionists complain that Sinn Fein have not accepted the principle of consent. Let them show in Portadown that the Orangemen understand and accept the principle of consent" he added.