There is no reason why a powersharing government with the DUP cannot be achieved by March 26th so that British direct rule ministers can be sent home, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said yesterday at the launch of his party's Assembly election manifesto.
Mr Adams repeated that the Sinn Féin preference was for "plan A" on March 26th - the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness leading the Northern executive - but "if the DUP refuse to accept the outcome of this election", then the British and Irish governments must press ahead with "plan B", a greater role for Dublin in the affairs of Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin won 24 seats in the 2003 Assembly elections and is hoping to increase that by up to four seats. It is running 37 candidates, competing in all 18 constituencies.
Its primary targets are for first-time seats in Lagan Valley and South Antrim, although it also believes gains are possible in West Tyrone and West Belfast. It is also aiming to protect a first-time seat won in South Belfast in 2003 and a third seat gained at the expense of the SDLP in Newry and Armagh.
The Sinn Féin campaign is peaking in the final stages of the election. Not only did the party launch its manifesto yesterday but this weekend it is holding its annual formal ardfheis - as distinct from the special policing ardfheis at the end of January - which will gain the party significant publicity, including RTÉ's broadcasting of Mr Adams's keynote address on Saturday.
In the modern W5 building in the Belfast's Odyssey complex yesterday, Mr Adams made it clear that Sinn Féin had major electoral ambitions in both the North and the Republic.
"As an all-Ireland party, Sinn Féin is fighting two elections at this time, the undeclared one in the South, where this party is an increasingly viable option for voters looking for positive change, and this one in the North," he said at the launch.
Mr Adams said the clear public impetus in the North was for powersharing by the St Andrews deadline. "On the doorsteps there is a clear demand that locally elected politicians face up to our responsibilities. People of all political persuasions want to see the British direct rule ministers sent home. There is no reason why this should not happen by March 26th.
"If the DUP refuse to accept the outcome of this election, then Sinn Féin is committed to ensuring that the agenda for positive change continues. That is what Irish republicanism is about."
Mr Adams said the special ardfheis endorsement of the PSNI was "proof once again of how Sinn Féin delivers openly, democratically, in the national interest and in a way that opens up the possibility for more progress".
While anti-St Andrews Agreement republicans were standing against Sinn Féin, Mr Adams said he believed that the vast majority of republicans, as well as a growing number of people from other backgrounds including unionist, endorsed the Sinn Féin strategy.
The manifesto sets out 10 Sinn Féin commitments relating to issues such as poverty, health, education, housing, rural affairs, the environment and the economy.
These commitments include a demand for a £10 billion peace dividend over the next 10 years, which would be demonstrably additional to the British government's normal annual multi-billion pound subvention of Northern Ireland.
"We were the first party to put this on the agenda and we will work with the other parties to achieve it," Mr Adams continued. "We expect to meet with the British chancellor [Gordon Brown] in the coming weeks."
The manifesto also sets out Sinn Féin priorities for policing over the next five years.
