Mr Gerry Adams said the Taoiseach failed to 'stand up' his claim that the Sinn Féin leadership had advance knowledge of last month's Northern Bank robbery in the course of a 90-minute meeting at Government Buildings yesterday.
But in remarks apparently designed to play down the Government's advance billing of the meeting as a major confrontation, Mr Adams stressed areas of agreement between it and Sinn Féin.
"There is actually quite a lot of agreement between us and the Government on the need to move the process forward and the need to tackle the outstanding issues," he said.
He and Mr Martin McGuinness had told Mr Ahern that his claim that the Sinn Féin leadership had prior knowledge of the robbery had compounded "profound difficulties" in the political process. "And we asked him to 'stand up' that accusation and he could not 'stand up' that accusation. He explained his position, but in my certain view, and we thought about it there before we came out, he did not 'stand up' that accusation." Asked had Mr Michael McDowell put forward any evidence, he said: "None whatsoever.
"The reason why there can be no evidence, there can be no intelligence, there can be no 'standing up' of an allegation that Martin and I had prior knowledge is because we didn't, and that is the truth of the matter."
Showing a desire to move the focus away from this issue, he said: "We need to remind ourselves that the primary issue here is the future of the process, and the need for all of us to play our role. The peace process and the prize of a lasting peace on this island is more important than the Northern Bank [ robbery]." He said he welcomed remarks by the Taoiseach that the Government was opposed to sanctions, or to "exclusion, to demonising, criminalising or any way excluding any section of the people". He said he thought the Taoiseach would make his view on this clear to the British government.
Asked about reports that the republican movement had said it would not sign up to an anti-criminality clause he said the Sinn Féin leadership was prepared to work to find a formula of words that would be accepted by all. "There is on behalf of the Sinn Féin leadership a willingness to get people to do whatever is required to enhance this process and to bed this process down. It is a matter for draftspeople right across the range to work out words" that would give people confidence that criminality was at an end.
Mr Martin McGuinness said the meeting "took place under difficult circumstances, but it was a vitally important engagement". Its aim was to ensure a continuation of the process and get an explanation from the Taoiseach about his remarks on the raid.