Taoiseach meets Adams to discuss violence

The Taoiseach has appealed to both communities and particularly to their public representatives to make every effort to reduce the sectarianism which led to renewed ugly scenes of violence in Ardoyne.

Mr Ahern met the Sinn Féin leader, Mr Gerry Adams, for over an hour at his constituency office in Drumcondra, Dublin, yesterday. Besides the Holy Cross school crisis, it is believed they also discussed increasing discord between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin in the context of the forthcoming general election in the Republic.

Mr Adams told reporters it was shaping up to be a "very negative campaign" and the main political parties seemed to "share a fear about the rise of Sinn Féin". The intervention of various representatives had been "very subversive". They were "running scared" and attempting to frighten off the electorate from voting for Sinn Féin.

A Government spokesman commented only about the North after the meeting. He said that, while Mr Ahern noted the overall security situation was improving, the latest violence was a cause for serious concern. And he believed it was essential that children "should not once again become the innocent victims of local tensions".

Mr Adams called on the loyalist community to make it "very, very clear" there would be no re-emergence of the blockade against Holy Cross primary school. He said that to be a Catholic living in north Belfast at this time "is a very dangerous thing".

The Sinn Féin leader said overnight events occurred against the "almost invisible" background of a bombing campaign that continued right through Christmas. The violence was "a quite deliberate attempt by the UDA to provoke the situation which has now occurred overnight".

He said it was essential that loyalists make it clear the school blockade would not be renewed, if there was to be any chance of resolving the crisis. "That is a very, very clear and public signal that's required."

He called for the urgent implementation of the community forum.

"North Belfast is a unionist constituency. The nationalists are a minority. There have been over 300 blast-bomb attacks in recent months. Two young men have been killed in the manufacture of those bombs, but to my knowledge no one has been charged. There has been no strategy to impact what is clearly a well- orchestrated and organised campaign."

Mr Adams said both he and Mr Gerry Kelly MLA had been in talks with loyalists and the dialogue was ongoing to de-escalate the situation.

Asked about the reports of Sinn Féin involvement in vigilantism in Kerry, he said it was not true. "Sinn Féin is a campaigning party. We're not involved in illegal activities. We're not involved in vigilantism. We don't either encourage it or in any way condone it. We accept entirely and absolutely the role of the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces in this State."

Asked how many seats he believed his party would win in the general election, he said: "I think we'll have more TDs after the election than we do now."