Fianna Fáil will not enter coalition with Sinn Féin

FIANNA FÁIL will not enter coalition with Sinn Féin after the next election, even if the IRA fulfils its pledge to decommission, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.

Speculation grew yesterday that the IRA would begin destroying its arsenal by the end of the month, with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, chaired by Canadian general John de Chastelain, on standby for verification purposes.

But a rapid conclusion to that process would not be sufficient to convince Mr Ahern to enter government with the IRA’s political wing after the election, due in 2007. Asked if he saw any circumstances in which FF and SF would form a coalition, he replied firmly: “No, I don’t.”

In an address to Ógra Fianna Fáil on Saturday, Mr Ahern had said by the time the Government reached the end of its five-year term in 2007, he wanted “three enduring legacies” to remain: “lasting peace in Northern Ireland, irreversible economic and social progress, and honest and open politics in 21st-century Ireland.”

In an interview with the Today FM radio station yesterday, he indicated Sinn Féin had some way to go on the first and third of those ideals, and an even longer way on the second.

He said SF had opposed the Government on major European issues, including the Nice Treaty. But while he at least knew where SF stood on Europe, “I haven’t got a clue what their economic policy is. They are kind of against inward investment, they are against multi-nationals, and I can tell you all the things they’re against; I’m sure I’ll find out some day what they’re for.”

Meanwhile, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, again expressed his dissatisfaction at the unwillingness of the IRA to provide photographs of the decommissioning process. The testimony of credible witnesses, such as General de Chastelain, would not be sufficient, he told RTÉ radio.

The DUP leader also condemned the recent spate of sectarian attacks on Catholic churches, homes and businesses.