ALL but one of the 17 Sinn Fein members elected to the Northern Ireland forum are expected at Stormont today to demand entry to the proposed all party negotiations.
They will be led by party's president, Mr Gerry Adams, and its senior negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness. However, failing a last minute restoration of the IRA ceasefire, they will be denied admission to the first plenary session of the talks.
Those elected, with the exception of Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, who is in the US, will argue that they are being prohibited from "speaking for peace" and that the 116,377 people who voted for Sinn Fein on May 30th are being disenfranchised.
Sinn Fein will present its elected members to the media as a symbol of democracy denied, Mr McGuinness signalled.
"If the British government locks Sinn Fein out of negotiations, it is the equivalent of 100 British MPs being denied access to the British Houses of Parliament, or 40 million Americans being told by the American president that their views don't count", he said.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) mismanaged events last March, when Sinn Fein was similarly denied access to "proximity talks" at the gates of Castle Buildings, Stormont thus presenting the party with a publicity coup.
The NIO, it is understood, was yesterday devising, a contingency plan to try to minimise the propaganda opportunity for Sinn Fein. The party, it is suggested, may be allowed into Castle Buildings. There, out of sight of the world's media, it could be barred from entering the talks.
Sinn Fein, unlike the unionists, has expressed satisfaction with the appointment of the former US senator, Mr George Mitchell, as independent chairman of the talks. "We welcome the appointment of Senator Mitchell and his colleagues", the party stated.
Following an ardchomhairle meeting in Dublin at the weekend, the party also welcomed the "potentially positive nature of the procedural arrangements for the talks. "These could provide a useful framework to settle procedural and agenda matters in real 41 party talks", it stated.
Mr McGuinness, who repeated his denial that he was a member of the IRA, told the BBC Breakfast with Frost television programme: "The responsibility for achieving the ceasefire on this occasion lies with the British government. It does not lie with Sinn Fein. We are not going to take on again that burden which we took on at the beginning of 1994."
Mr Adams, in an article in today's Irish News, says that he and the rest of the Sinn Fein leadership want to create the conditions where the peace process could be restored. But the British government had a key role to play.
He adds: "It is my conviction that we will have a peace settlement. It is my conviction also that this will grow from real all party talks and that Sinn Fein will be part of that process. The two governments can best demonstrate real political will and a real determination to build a proper peace process by accepting, and respecting, the democratic outcome of last week's election."
Meanwhile, the party was noncommittal about a report that the Sinn Fein organisation in Cork had written to every party cumann opposing Mr Adams's expressed willingness to endorse the Mitchell principles. The Cork organisation also urged a special ardfheis to discuss the matter, accord ing to a report in yesterday's Sunday Tribune.
Last night, the Cork Comhairle Ceanntair of Sinn Fein issued a statement rejecting the "allegations" in the Sunday Tribune that the membership and part organisation in Cork city were challenging the party leadership. "We further take this opportunity to restate our confidence in the party leadership and our support for the ongoing peace strategy", it stated.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, said that he still hoped there would be a restoration of the IRA ceasefire. He understood that the IRA was still considering last week's statement by the Irish and British governments and he hoped that the IRA would respond positively.
