IN AN unusually strong attack on the role of the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, in the peace process since his resignation, the leader of Democratic Left has asked if he would "go rogue" in a Fianna Fail led government.
Mr Reynolds retorted last night, saying the remarks were "contemptible and despicable". Mr Proinsias De Rossa's presence in government was, in his view, "the greatest hindrance to rebuilding peace".
"He continues to relive an old republican split with personal vindictiveness that is frightening to observe. His comments are just as far out of line with the facts as his comments that the farmers are rolling in it," Mr Reynolds added.
Speaking to journalists yesterday in the last of his party's press conferences before tomorrow's election, Mr De Rossa said since he ceased to be Taoiseach, Mr Reynolds had been "putting his foot in his mouth in relation to the peace process".
He had been "making statements in Belfast" which were not only contrary to Government policy but to declared Fianna Fail policy.
Claiming that Mr Reynolds had made "inappropriate statements about what the Government should or should not do", he said that while he had played a significant part in the creation of the IRA ceasefire in the first instance, his record "since he was sacked by Fianna Fail as leader has been appalling and abysmal".
Mr Reynolds had made it difficult for the Government and for the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, to maintain their position, he added. Because of his standing and his role in the cease fire, many people internationally had looked to him for a "common sense view".
Earlier, Mr De Rossa had asked if the PDs would allow Mr Reynolds to "go rogue on the conduct of the peace process by the government?" "Can the PDs live with Fianna Fail's cosy relationship with Sinn Fein?" he asked.
Describing Mr De Rossa's remarks as those of "a desperate man trying to save a drowning Government", Mr Reynolds said the people of Ireland knew only too well that he had "never said or done anything in relation to the North of Ireland that was not in the interests of peace".
Bertie Ahern, not Mr De Rossa, laid down Fianna Fail policy on the North and no ceasefire would have occurred in the first place if the roles were reversed, he added. The performance of Democratic Left in the Northern Ireland elections was "nonexistent".