Sinn Fein was accused today of taking its eye off the ball in defending the interests of nationalists and supporters of the Good Friday Agreement in talks to revive power sharing at Stormont.
SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan hit out at Sinn Fein's handling of the negotiations involving the British and Irish governments and the Reverend Ian Paisley's DUP in recent weeks, accusing them of being more preoccupied with the image of the IRA than with what was good for the Agreement.
The Foyle Assembly member, who is due to meet the Taoiseach in Dublin tomorrow, also criticised both governments for excluding some pro Good Friday Agreement parties from having access to the latest political proposals to revive the power sharing government.
"The package needs to be shared with those who originally negotiated the Agreement and not just between two parties if it is going to have credibility," he argued.
"We know the reason why the SDLP has not been given full sight - not because we cannot be trusted to leak them but because we cannot be relied upon to not speak the truth.
"If there are flaws or problems, we will point it out in an attempt to rectify them.
"That is what we did before the Leeds Castle talks, during them and after them.
"One of our concerns right now is that a large part of the negotiations in recent weeks have focussed on the terms of decommissioning and it appears Sinn Fein has concentrated a lot of their efforts on protecting the self image of the IRA.
"We do not think they have spent as much time on protecting the interests of the nationalist people and pro-Agreement supporters generally."
Sinn Fein and Democratic Unionist negotiators have been considering proposals aimed at removing the gun for ever from politics in Northern Ireland and delivering people devolved government. Both parties have claimed the package of proposals have advanced efforts to bring back the Assembly and other political institutions.
However they have also both said they need more clarity if they are going to support a deal within the next ten days.
Mr Ahern said yesterday he believed there was a very real prospect of the whole island of Ireland having an historic peaceful Christmas.
However the SDLP, which has only been briefed on the document, has expressed concerns about some proposals including the replacement of the joint election in the Assembly of the First and Deputy First Ministers with a vote for the entire executive.
Mr Durkan said it was clear in recent days that Sinn Fein had conceded this change. "I do not think they have negotiated strongly at all in terms of the institutional aspects of the Good Friday Agreement," the former Deputy First Minister said.
"The DUP are in a position where they are able to establish a veto not only over how a nationalist minister exercises power but a veto over the very appointment of certain nationalists as ministers."
Mr Durkan also said the interests of the Agreement and nationalists needed to be defended over cross border cooperation, with the DUP needing to be pressed on further developing areas of cooperation and agreeing new areas.
PA