Adams 'personally ' against coalition with FF

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said he is personally against going into coalition with Fianna Fail but has not ruled it out completely.

Speaking to reporters before the start of the party's ardfheis in Castlebar, he said "my personal position is no, we would not".

He said:"I'm not mesmerised about being in government except on terms which advance the historic project which we have set ourselves and that is to build a fair and just society and to build a real republic across this island."

When it was suggested Sinn Féin did not have a definitive position, he said "we do have a definitive position. ...but there isn't an election for a number of years. We don't have a mandate."

He said " we want to be in government, But we don't want to be in government for the sake of being in government.We're in government in the North because we think we've good work to do and a responsibility to do it. But the only point of being in government is to bring about positive change."

Asked if he would consider coalition if offered the chance by Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin, Mr Adams said: "Of course we'd consider from all angles whatever would advance our project.

"But if you're suggesting and I want to be very very clear about this. We're here at this ardfheis to talk about Sinn Fein. We're not here to talk about the people who caused the mess in the first place and we're here to talk about solutions to all of these problems.

The ardfheis is the party's first in Connacht and 2,000 delegates will discuss 252 motions including a number of financial and economic motions.

Asked if he would praise Minister for Finance Michael Noonan for the seven year extension to Ireland's bail out loans agreed by euro zone ministers, Mr Adams said "he hasn't got an extension of our loans. What's he done is push it up the pipe."

He added: "They haven't separated sovereign debt from banking debt."

"Everybody will of course breathe a little sigh of relief that it means you don't have to pay it this week. But we'll still be paying it and if you're not paying it your children will pay it and if they're not paying it their children will pay it." Asked if it was a good deal he said "no, not at all".

"We're keeping the wolf from the door but we're not regenerating or reinvigorating our economy and we're not building sustainable jobs for citizens, who are bowed down by what's going on."

The Sinn Féin leader said: "It's all about debt, debt, debt. There's nothing about jobs.there's nothing about investment in job retention or job creation."