THE general election will be in early June, the Taoiseach has said. Mr Bruton said the Government would like to see the Dail resume at the end of next month to complete legislation before the summer break.
Speaking on RTE radio's This Week, Mr Bruton said he expected a final decision on the timing of the election before the end of the week.
He ruled out any meeting with Sinn Fein in advance of an IRA ceasefire and expressed surprise at weekend remarks on RTE television by the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, that he would meet Sinn Fein immediately if he became Taoiseach.
"I was very surprised at what Mr Ahern seemed to be saying, to suggest that he would meet Sinn Fein immediately. He didn't say that there would have to be a ceasefire first. Perhaps that was just an omission on his part, but if it was it was a very serious one."
However, Mr Ahern clarified later last night that he would be prepared to meet elected representatives of both Sinn Fein and the loyalist parties in the context of a ceasefire being in place.
Mr Bruton said it was his fundamental belief, and a founding belief of the State, that a blurred line could not be made between parties which do not use violence and parties which support violence.
"Meeting people while they are either threatening violence or actually using it and treating them as if they are normal politicians is not on as far as I'm concerned." No Taoiseach, including Mr Albert Reynolds, had ever met Sinn Fein while it was supporting an IRA campaign.
Government officials, however, would be willing to meet representatives of Sinn Fein "if it is indicated that the purpose of the meeting is to answer certain questions which, if answered appropriately, lead to an imminent ceasefire".
Mr Bruton said it was "unlikely" Sinn Fein would take part in the resumed peace talks on the North on June 3rd but that it "depended on them".
"If they wanted to make the decision which they have got to make eventually, to put aside violence for once and for all, I think they should have made that decision before now. There can be no compromise really between democratic politics and paramilitary politics."
On the conditions for Sinn Fein's entry into talks, Mr Bruton said a "convincing" ceasefire statement was needed which would convince the unionist community that "this time it's for real and there's no going back".
"If they are in that frame of mind, then all sorts of technical problems will be overcome but if they are still in a halfhearted frame of mind where they are having a ceasefire but continuing with targetings and punishment beatings and behaving ambiguously and reminding us that the IRA hasn't really gone away, you know, if there's a sort of ambiguous attitude in their own mind then they won't convince others."
Mr Bruton defended his Government's record on public spending, which he said was rising less than it did when Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats were in government together.
His Government was determined to ensure it handled public sector pay negotiations in a way which was "consistent with social partnership but doesn't allow leapfrogging claims based on relativities".
On the alleged conflict between his evidence at the recent Dunnes payments tribunal and the beef tribunal, he said he had answered "in good faith" to both tribunals about different time periods when he had different roles.
"We have nothing to hide about any money that we raised from business," he said. "Every penny was accounted for in terms of what we raised from the beef industry in one case and from the Dunnes organisation in the other ... We do not as a party ever agree to give any favours in return for donations."
Mr Bruton said the Government would introduce mandatory disclosure of all donations of more than £4,000 to political parties and put limits on spending.
His party would publish its campaign budget before the election campaign was fully under way. This would detail spending "so that everybody will know that we're not going to run a campaign that will get us into debt and thereby place us in a position where we would be potentially compromised ever again".
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein has criticised the Taoiseach's comments on Mr Ahern's willingness to meet Mr Adams if he were Taoiseach. Sinn Fein's vice president, Mr Pat Doherty, also criticised Mr Bruton for saying it was "regrettable" that so many people had voted for Sinn Fein.
Mr Doherty said: "What dignity and respect is he according the £27,000 people in the North who voted Sinn Fein?"
. Mr Ahern is well ahead of Mr Bruton as first choice for Taoiseach, according the latest opinion poll. He is the choice of 48 per cent of respondents, compared to 34 per cent for Mr Bruton.
The poll, conducted by Lansdowne Market Research for yesterday's Sunday Tribune, finds 15 per cent of voters undecided. When they are excluded, the state of the parties is given as: Fianna Fail 45 per cent; Fine Gael 26 per cent; Labour 11 per cent; Progressive Democrats 6 per cent; Others 6 per cent; Green Party 4 per cent and Democratic Left 1 per cent.