Sinn Fein has been in contact with the `Real IRA' through intermediaries to persuade the organisation to call a permanent ceasefire, the party chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said yesterday.
In the wake of the `Real IRA's' statement that it had "suspended" all military operations as a direct result of the Omagh bombing, which was criticised by people and politicians throughout Ireland and Britain, Mr McLaughlin said Sinn Fein told the group there was a need to "recover the situation" from the "disastrous consequences" of last Saturday.
Mr McLaughlin told BBC Radio 4 that Sinn Fein was also working to persuade the two other republican groups that were not on ceasefire - the INLA and the Continuity IRA - to end their campaigns of violence. "I am making it clear that we got an announcement from the `Real IRA' which was insufficient in itself and there is ongoing work which requires a degree of sensitivity and very, very careful and discreet management.