Sinn Féin must make it clear that the Provisional IRA has ended all forms of criminality, violence and paramilitarism before the political process in the North can move forward, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, has insisted.
Ms Harney set the tone for the Government's meeting with Sinn Féin tomorrow, the first since the IRA was blamed for the Northern Bank robbery, by saying she was losing patience with the party's ambivalence about IRA activities.
In addition it emerged last night that the International Monitoring Commission, which reports on paramilitary activities, has sought a special meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. The commission is expected to focus on the Belfast bank raid. A Government statement said the meeting will take place "in the near future". Ms Harney said that Sinn Féin had serious questions to answer, she said the time had come for the party to make it clear that paramilitary activities and criminality were not acceptable and not compatible with democratic politics.
Ms Harney also suggested that Kerry North Sinn Féin TD Mr Martin Ferris was a member of the IRA army council, a claim Mr Ferris denied. "I am not a member of the IRA. I'm not a member of the army council," he said.
As the Taoiseach prepares for meetings in Government Buildings tomorrow with Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the UUP, Ms Harney also said she did not accept claims by Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness that they did not know the robbery was being planned.
"Very little happens without their knowledge. Very little happens without their approval, of that I have no doubt. And I think they are treating us as fools if they think that we are going to accept their word in relation to this matter. We're not."
Ms Harney also questioned why Sinn Féin, including Dublin MEP Ms Mary-Lou McDonald, refused to describe the murder of Ms Jean McConville as a crime. "They have to make it clear that criminality is over. They have to make it clear that murdering a mother of 10 is a murder, is a crime."
The Tánaiste's remarks on RTÉ Radio were dismissed by a Sinn Féin spokesman, who claimed she was "playing party politics" with the peace process.