SINN FEIN should be admitted to this afternoon's opening session of all party talks on the future of Northern Ireland if the IRA restores the ceasefire just minutes before the talks begin, according to the Tanaiste.
Speaking on BBC's On the Record television programme yesterday, Mr Spring stressed Sinn Fein, would also have to sign up to the Mitchell principles.
"We have spent many years trying to bring about talks which have all the parties in Northern Ireland involved. If there is a cessation of violence, both governments have made clear that we would have Sinn Fein at the table."
However, the Northern Ireland Minister, Mr Michael Ancram, who was speaking on the same programme, refused to state whether the British government would accept a ceasefire within minutes of the talks. But he insisted Sinn Fein would only be admitted if the ceasefire was unequivocally restored.
"We have to be satisfied that there has been an unequivocal restoration of the ceasefire of August 1994. I am not going to predict or speculate about what those words have to be. But it means you can't have a ceasefire which is contingent, qualified or temporary," he said.
Mr Ancram also stressed that if the IRA announced a ceasefire during the talks, Sinn Fein could not expect the process to be "stopped and rewound to the beginning" because it had now been admitted.
"The train would have begun to move and they would have to join at whatever position the train had reached at that stage," he added.
Both men underlined their confidence in the former US senator, Mr George Mitchell, who will chair the talks: Mr Spring described the possibility of unionists rejecting Senator Mitchell as an unwise and retrograde step but added he was optimistic that Senator Mitchell would win them over.
"I have difficulty understanding why anybody who wants to see progress made in Northern Ireland objects to George Mitchell. He has shown his capacity, his impartiality and his independence. I honestly and genuinely believe that over the next months George Mitchell will show his capacity and prove to people who doubt him that he has the independence necessary to make a very substantial contribution to these talks," he said.