SINN Fein has resurrected the old civil rights demand of "one man, one vote" to bolster its claim to enter all party negotiations as of right, in the light of the Northern election outcome.
At the weekend, Mr Gerry Adams indicated that he holds the Irish Government accountable for ensuring equality of treatment on the basis of the electoral mandate.
He said: "The Taoiseach has a constitutional imperative to uphold the rights of citizens in this part of Ireland. .. He cannot on the one hand commit himself to upholding equality of treatment for all citizens here, and on the other hand colluding with the British to deny those who vote [for] our party the right to have their views represented."
Speaking to the press in Andersonstown, West Belfast, on the morning after the count, Mr Adams said the decommissioning issue could be resolved to the satisfaction of all the parties "if people are prepared to sit down and talk about it as well as all the other issues which also need to be resolved."
The Sinn Fein president said he believed the electorate had voted for talks. "They may have reflected the nature of the polarisation here, and in our view that arises from the very nature of this statelet. But it can all be resolved if we get round the table to seek agreement," he said.
Mr Adams commented: "What we got yesterday was a negotiating mandate, which is what the governments asked people to go to the polls for . . . We want to use the election in a way which is constructive and positive and which leads us all into all party talks where we can be flexible and generous with each other."
He called on the British Prime Minister "to grasp the nettle and to join with Mr Bruton in getting agreement on proper negotiating procedures and agenda and timeframes and so on.
He also urged the unionist leaderships to set aside the 70 years of conflict and division, and all the associated pain, and "to join with the rest of us in seeking agreement."
They should not dismiss his appeal in a knee jerk manner, he added. "It is by coming together and seeking agreement that we will find some accommodation."
Asked about Saturday's disclosure in The Irish Times that the governments are considering a possible review process which would defer crucial decisions on decommissioning pending an assessment in September of progress on all fronts of the talks, Mr Adams said his party had previously envisaged this.
He said: "We actually have suggested, in the course of all our discuss ions, that there need to be periods of review, and indeed perhaps summit meetings or other review mechanisms.
"The decommissioning issue is not a problem for us. We know that all the guns have to be taken out of Irish politics. We have a particular view about how that can be accomplished. Other people have different views. Let's sit down and talk about it and find some way of resolving the issue.
Asserting again that the Taoiseach had a responsibility to uphold the rights of all citizens in the North, Mr Adams acknowledged that it could be "difficult and risky" for him.
But, he said, a sizeable number of people had voted for Sinn Fein, for negotiations and for a peace settlement. "The Taoiseach has to reflect on how he can be part of giving those people their rights and at the same time working with the British to get agendas, " he commented.
The "one person, one vote" demand had triggered 25 years of conflict, he said. "I'm sitting now today, 30 years later, in the middle of Andersonstown, still seeking to get, respect for one person, one vote.
"Then it was against the unionists. Now, unfortunately, unless the Irish Government reflects and takes up a more democratic position, it's a demand which has to be made of the two governments."
Mr Adams said it was impossible to make progress on the basis of inequality. "And it is very necessary to put dialogue up as the primary means of resolving all of these issues."
The "one man, one vote" analogy was repeated by Mr Adams in several media interviews over the weekend, and was also used by Mr Martin McGuinness.