THE preparation of military operations by the IRA made the fulfilment of the ground rules of Sinn Fein's participation in the multi party talks more difficult, the Taoiseach said.

He was replying to the PD leader, Ms Mary Harney, who said the significant Donegal arms find at the weekend showed that the IRA was not interested at the moment in a ceasefire.

Earlier, the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said the only alternative to violence was dialogue. He asked how they could hope to persuade people to give up violence for good if it was clear that others were reserving the right to bar and block the path to dialogue.

Mr Bruton said there was a clear statement in the ground rules paper, in paragraphs 8 and 9, which determined eligibility to participate in the talks. So long as they were complied with, there would be no bar regarding the participation of any party in the talks.

Mr Bruton said paragraph 8 stated that for parties to participate in the talks they must establish a commitment to exclusively peaceful method and have shown that they abided by the democratic process. Paragraph 9 referred to, in the case of Sinn Fein, the necessity for an IRA ceasefire.

Mr Ahern said that from a number of statements made by the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, and the British Prime Minister, the position seemed to be that the British government, would be looking for a period of time before Sinn Fein could take its place in the talks, if there was an IRA ceasefire.