THE Government is expected to keep open its channels of communication with Sinn Fein, at least in the short term, in spite of intense anger over the IRA outrages bin Adare and Manchester.
However, in a further public hardening of the official attitude to Sinn Fein, a Government spokesman last night posed a number of questions which he challenged the party to answer in a simple way - "not tactical or semantical".
According to senior sources yesterday a "watershed" has been reached in the Government's relationship with Sinn Fein and "it will not be business as usual" from now on. The Government would, however, be loath to close the door completely on Sinn Fein at this stage.
Ministers undertaking a fundamental review of the entire peace process, particularly the Government's relationship with Sinn Fein, are today likely to opt for maintaining "some kind of connection" with the party while any hope of a reinstatement of an IRA ceasefire remains, senior sources said.
The Cabinet meeting will focus mainly on whether Sinn Fein intends to continue to give "political support to the `armed struggle' being waged by the IRA".
"In the past, Mr [Gerry] Adams accused the British government of embracing the rhetoric of peacemaking but avoiding the real challenges", said the spokesman. "The real challenge now for Mr Adams himself is to answer two simple questions: Has he yet gone to the IRA to ask for a cease- fire and, if not, why? Does his party continue to support the armed struggle of the IRA?"
Hinting that the Government would base its future relationship with Sinn Fein on the replies it receives, the spokesman said that it would be "looking at what Sinn Fein and the IRA do and say over the immediate future to see if a clear answer is given to these questions.
"Democratic politicians in other jurisdictions will also be watching how Sinn Fein answers the questions", the spokesman continued. "The Government wants Sinn Fein to answer these questions for themselves. It wants an answer to these questions that is simple, genuine and convincing, not tactical or semantical."
A spokeswoman for the Sinn Fein president said last night that Mr Adams "rejected absolutely" the Taoiseach's assertion that 15 per cent of Northern voters had been deceived by Sinn Fein. "Not only is this an insult to Sinn Fein, it is also an insult to the intelligence of the electorate, that had a range of 23 parties to choose from. Mr Bruton's remarks might be more credible if he had accepted the outcome of that election. The fact that he did not is for him to explain," she added.
The Taoiseach will discuss developments with the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, in a telephone conversation later today.
One senior source said: "The Government made tremendous efforts to ensure that the design of the talks process was refined to maximise Sinn Fein's involvement. The republican movement spurned that opportunity. To see the Government's efforts elicit such an atrocious response hash caused no end of irritation. It is one thing to say we `cannot deliver a ceasefire', but it is quite another to see the kind of things that have happened in the past 10 days."
He pointed out that the Government was trying to establish the precise thinking within the republican movement and said that there was a commonly-held view in political circles that those in favour of restoring the cease- fire had either failed to gain the ascendancy or had been unable to "face down a determined minority".
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, urged caution, saying that all channels should not be closed off to Sinn Fein as long as there was a "glimmer of hope".
However, The leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Mary Harney, urged the Government to cut off links with Sinn Fein, saying that the party would have to secure a renewed IRA ceasefire "or be banished forever to the political wilderness". Political appeasement had failed and it was now time for Sinn Fein to be "frozen out".