Adams says he expects `one or two more' SF resignations

Mr Gerry Adams has stated that "one or two" more Sinn Fein members may leave the party, but insisted that there is no major split within the IRA or Sinn Fein. He described the current difficulties as a "spat".

In the wake of last week's resignations of some senior IRA members and the decision of nine Sinn Fein members in Co Louth to quit the party, the Sinn Fein president went public over the weekend to try to quash suggestions of serious divisions within the broad provisional republican movement.

He did concede, however, that the rumblings within republicanism when allied to the lack of pace at the talks were "risky" and "dangerous". Asked for an assessment of the state of the IRA ceasefire, he said: "I think we have to wait until the dust settles down on all this." He accepted the IRA statement that only a small number of members had left the organisation. "I think we have to give credit to the IRA, that it does have credibility on these issues."

He said the ceasefire was "by any measure a good and genuine cessation. I think the IRA as an organisation is cohesive. It is bigger than any individual or number of individuals," he told BBC Radio Ulster on Saturday.

People should not exaggerate the scale of the resignations. "Nine people have left. I don't expect a replication of that anywhere else on this island. Maybe one or two about the place may follow the lead but let's not get it out of sync," he said.

He was disappointed the Sinn Fein members had resigned, but he was generally careful in not personally criticising those who had left. He did, however, refer to people with "a sectional or narrower view" or an "egocentric view, not necessarily an egotistical view. So, we have little spats like this and what a leadership has to do is lead."

He said Sinn Fein was a democratic party and people were enti tled to resign if they wished. He did object, however, to dissidents pushing their case through the me dia before informing their local Sinn Fein branch in Co Louth.

"I think all of this plays very much to the agenda of those people who have tried to cultivate confusion and dissent, who when they can't get a split try to create the illusion of a split," he said.

"And coming at a time when there has been no real movement, beyond most of the parties actually getting into the same room, of course all of this is risky, it is dangerous, but it is always going to be testing, it is always going to be challenging - the search for peace. That is what we have to see our way through."

He dismissed a suggestion by one of the dissidents, Mr Rory Doogan, that in seeking facilities at Westminster, Sinn Fein was preparing the way for eventually taking seats at Westminster.

"Rory needs to catch himself on with statements like that. I was elected not to take my seat, and so was Martin McGuinness," he said. Sinn Fein's purpose was to end the link with Britain, not to enhance it. Nonetheless, he would continue to press for offices at Westminster. He intended meeting the House of Commons Speaker, Ms Betty Boothroyd, before Christmas to pursue the issue.