FINE Gael has withdrawn an invitation to Sinn Fein to send a representative to its ardfheis which begins this evening in Dublin.
Sinn Fein's vice president, Mr Pat Doherty, yesterday described the Fine Gael decision as "going back to the same old politics of isolation".
Sinn Fein's general secretary, Ms Lucilita Bhreatnach, yesterday received a faxed letter from Fine Gael's general secretary, Mr Jim Miley, saying that, because there had been no resumption of the IRA ceasefire, he had "with great regret" to withdraw his invitation to attend tomorrow's conference..
Mr Miley had written to Sinn Fein on February 8th the day before the Canary Wharf bombing inviting a representative of Sinn Fein to attend the party's 69th annual ardfheis.
"However, since then, the situation has changed dramatically with the calling off of the ceasefire on February 9th and the resumption of violence. I left the ardfheis invitation open for as long as possible in the hope that there would be a resumption of the ceasefire," Mr Miley said.
But Mr Doherty said last night that the invitation had been "confirmed" last week and he had been the delegate.
Mr Miley told journalists at a briefing on Wednesday that all the political parties, including Sinn Fein, had been invited to the ardfheis for today's session. He made no mention of withdrawing the invitation.
On Wednesday evening, however, Government Press Secretary Mr Shane Kenny said he was unaware of the invitation. Sinn Fein representatives' presence could cause Fine Gael embarrassment given the ban on Ministerial meetings with them.