Sinn Fein 'the engine behind peace process'

Sinn Fein has been the engine of the Northern Ireland peace process and is standing at the General Election on that record, party president Gerry Adams claimed today.

Mr Adams, who was in West Belfast for a last minute canvass with the party’s Westminster candidates, hit back at claims from Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble that Sinn Fein wanted the Good Friday Agreement to fail.

He said: "Let our record stand.

"Sinn Fein has been the engine of this process. The Good Friday Agreement is a product of the peace process. Sinn Fein were the people who went in and negotiated with all the other parties and if the Good Friday Agreement is anything, it is a compromise between all of the parties.

"We are the one party which has taken risks. We are in the coalface of this, arguing, debating, trying to move the process forward.

"We have met the challenges and I think you will see that on Thursday when people come out to vote for Sinn Fein."

Mr Adams, whose party is targeting seats in West Tyrone, Fermanagh and South Tyrone and North Belfast, predicted his party would make significant gains in the election and the local government election, which is taking place on the same day.

He said, depending on the overall turnout, Sinn Fein would increase its vote by at least 10% and would increase by about a third its number of local councillors throughout Northern Ireland.

Mr Adams appealed to republicans to turn out at the polling booth on Thursday throughout Northern Ireland and play their part in the growth of Sinn Fein.

"I would appeal to people west of the Bann and east of the Bann to make history, with this party and to send a very, very clear message to rejectionists of all sorts that we want a future and a future of equals."

The Sinn Fein president accompanied Stormont Health Minister Bairbre de Brun, vice president Pat Doherty, and Assembly Members Mitchel McLaughlin, Michelle Gildernew, Gerry Kelly and Conor Murphy on a tour around the nationalist district of Andersonstown.