SINN Fein cannot hold the Northern Ireland peace process "to ransom" by not coming into it, the British Prime Minister has said.
"They can't sit there and say `we're not going to let anyone else talk about a lasting settlement in Northern Ireland because we won't'. If they don't face up to their responsibility, we as the British government have got to face up to ours and take that process forward," Mr Tony Blair said yesterday.
But in a comment on Saturday on the Belfast bombing which injured three people, he said: "The longer we go on with these acts of terrorism, the less prospect there is of doing what everyone in Northern Ireland wants to happen, which is to get a lasting political settlement based on democratic and nonviolent means.
Asked by The Irish Times alter the G7 summit here if there was not some conflict in these statements, Mr Blair replied: "If acts of violence are being engaged in, of course Sinn Fein can't become part of that process. That does not mean that the process cannot go on. I would prefer it to go on with them. Whether it does go on with them is in their hands."
Mr Blair added that he and president Clinton, who discussed the situation at a 35 minute meeting, agreed the hall is in Sinn Fein's court".
Mr Clinton had said: "We all have to decide. Everybody has decisions to make in life. Their decision is are they going to be part of this peace process or not? And so I hope the answer will be `Yes'."
US journalists asked how Mr Blair thought Mr Clinton could help the peace process. They wondered if the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, would get a US visa.
That was a question for the US, said Mr Blair, "but I would have thought there's very little prospect of that happening while Sinn Fein continues to play with violence".
Earlier Mr Blair was asked what he could do to persuade Sinn Fein there would not always be another last chance.
It was not a question of persuading it, he said. "They know what the position is and we have made every effort to make sure that we build an inclusive talks process.
Mr Blair would not be drawn on whether he and the President had agreed on how soon the party could enter talks if a ceasefire were called. "All the way through, the question is whether the ceasefire, if they call one, is clear and unequivocal. Now that is the test.
Would he ask President Clinton to sever all contact with Sinn Fein? "That is not for me to say. But I think what is important is that he knows that we have tried every single thing that we can in order to make this process work and to get Sinn Fein in. And I think the change of feeling here in the US is because people have seen the British government go that extra way to try and make sure the process is inclusive of Sinn Fein, that there is a strong recognition here, as there is back in the UK, that that process can't wait upon Sinn Fein."
The bilateral meeting between the two leaders was devoted to Northern Ireland.
Earlier, Mr Blair's press secretary insisted there had been "no understanding" reached between Sinn Fein and British government officials about the conditions for entry into peace talks. "When I say there was no understanding, we had made the position clear and I think an understanding, requires two sides to he heard. The press secretary said this had happened not long before the Lurgan shootings".
Asked if Mr Blair's statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday would take things further, he said: "Well, it needn't, is the answer. By which I mean that there is a very good reason why the House of Commons should be brought up to date with what has happened and that is in a sense what he will do. But as I say he is determined to find ways of taking the process forward if we can."
Mark Brennock adds:
Fianna Fail's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Ray Burke, indicated yesterday that his party might support an effort to advance the political process without Sinn Fein. He also repeated that his party would meet Sinn Fein only to discuss an unequivocal ceasefire.
"We want an unequivocal ceasefire, we want progress, we want to see Sinn Fein involved," he said. "But there comes a time when if they are not going to come into the talks, the process will have to move on.