IN spite of the IRA killing of two RUC officers in Lurgan, the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, has left open the possibility of a meeting with the Sinn Fein leadership before he becomes Taoiseach provided it concerns a new IRA ceasefire.
Under considerable pressure not to proceed with a proposed meeting with the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, Mr Ahern said yesterday that the discussions would be "meaningless" unless they involved the unequivocal restoration of the IRA ceasefire.
Shortly after the general election Mr Ahern said he intended to have discussions with Mr Adams prior to the meeting of the new Dail on June 26th.
However, the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, strongly urged Mr Ahern not to meet Sinn Fein, describing such a prospect as "terrible" after what had taken place in Lurgan.
Senior sources in Fianna Fail said a meeting between Mr Ahern and Mr Adams had been rendered "virtually impossible" in the wake of the murders.
Mr Ahern is due to discuss the latest developments with the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, in Dublin today. Asked if he intended to go ahead with talks with Sinn Fein in the wake of the IRA attack in Lurgan, Mr Ahern said he would "have to hear things" before he would even consider such a meeting.
While no meeting had been arranged, the prospect had been made "more difficult" by what happened yesterday. Responding to queries as to whether the killings had "slammed the door" on the possibility of such a meeting, Mr Ahern replied "no".
"If people want to talk about the restoration of the ceasefire, of course we have to continue to try to move that forward but that does not seem to be the signal," he added.
"As far as I am concerned, there is a fundamental issue of trust and that trust must be resolved by the republican movement. They cannot give conflicting signals. If the signal is that they want to move forward on the peace process, then they must give a restoration of the ceasefire. Otherwise we are talking about killing people," he said.
His feeling all day was that "people" for one reason or another had decided to continue killing.
"If that is the feeling of people, there is no point in talking to me," Mr Ahern said.
"No democratic Irish Government, present or future, is going to be swayed or intimidated by acts of terrorism. Nor, on the other hand, will we be deflected from the continuing determined search for peace by those that want to wreck it," Mr Ahern said.
Condemning the double killing, the Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said it was "a vile and despicable act of violence which will shock and horrify all decent people".
"Coming as they do as we enter the high-tension period of the marching season, these murders are clearly designed to frustrate efforts to find a political solution to the problems of Northern Ireland, to stir up communal tension and provoke violent reaction," he added.
There could be no equivocation about what happened in Lurgan and anyone who wanted to be regarded as a genuine democrat must condemn the act without qualification "and disassociate themselves from those responsible", Mr De Rossa said.