Sinn Féin expects to win three Dáil seats in the upcoming general election and will win or lose more "by a handful of votes", Sinn Fein President Mr Gerry Adams has said.
Launching the party's 37-strong candidate list, Mr Adams said: "I have been very clear that I will be satisfied if we win three seats. That is, and has been, our consistent objective.
"We could win more. And, indeed, we will win, or lose more by handful of votes. If we get three, I will be satisfied. That isn't underplaying our potential. Let's see how the campaign plays out."
Currently, Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin is the party's sole Leinster House representative, though Cllr Martin Ferris and Cllr Seán Crowe have mounted strong challenges for the last seats in Kerry North and Dublin South West.
Asked about Sinn Féin's post-election options, Mr Adams left open the possibility that the party might consider entering coalition if it gets a sufficient mandate in the polls on May 17th.
"There obviously are party-political concerns. Rather than be the vanguard for change in a coalition, SF could be the mudguard of some of the conservative parties, as happened to Labour and the Progressive Democrats in the past," he said.
Laying out a set of uncosted policy demands, such as better housing, healthcare and social welfare, Mr Adams said: "We will go into a coalition if we can get agreement on these issues.
"Sceptical though we may be, if these other parties were prepared to embrace the type of radical approach which is about equality, which is about equity, which is about justice, then our party would have to look at that."
But Sinn Féin would need "very, very firm assurances" that coalition partners were prepared to create "an Ireland of equals" where citizens have proper health, children, education and housing entitlements.
Rounding on the other parties, he said: "The parties who are making all of these promises made the same promises at the last election, and the election before that. And the promises were seen as having been the promises of failure."
In the election, Sinn Féin will be seeking support for the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement, a policy of positive neutrality, the upholding of the Nice Treaty result and rural redevelopment, he said.
Questioned about the Taoiseach's refusal to countenance Sinn Féin as a coalition partner, Mr Adams said Mr Ahern had made it clear that he regards the Good Friday agreement as the Government's "greatest single achievement".
"Essentially, that was the big deal. And no one underestimates the role that Sinn Féin played in doing that deal. So an outgoing Taoiseach, who prides himself as having been part of the big deal which included us as a central component, really isn't credible when he says that he will not look to SF support if that is necessary."
No one believed "for one moment" that Mr Ahern "or any other Taoiseach-to-be" would not come looking for the party's support "if it comes down to it, and if we have that mandate", he told journalists a the party's Dublin headquarters.
Challenged about the allegations of Sinn Féin-backed vigilantism and the IRA's alleged involvement in the Castlereagh raid, Mr Adams said the issues have been "seized upon by political parties in the South and other elements to try and prevent the rise of Sinn Féin".
"Why isn't anyone talking about corruption? Why isn't anyone talking about the real criminality which permeated these parties during the last five years, and the five years before?
"Could it be that those who have seized upon those difficulties in the peace process aren't really trying to throw dirt into the eyes of SF, as much as trying to throw dust into the eyes of the electorate, trying to distract the electorate?"
Asked if the allegations will impact on the party's vote, he replied that voters would decide whom they trust.
"That is what it is about, essentially. We will see on polling day what effect any of this has had, if any at all."
