Gerry Adams: "Blair knows Sinn Fein position"

British Officials Offered Sinn Fein Seat at Negotiations

News of the offer emerged on Saturday, as the Prime Minister prepared for a meeting with President Clinton on the future of the Northern Ireland peace process.

Blair: ball is in Sinn Fein's court

However, the proposal was wrecked just three days after it was made, when IRA gunmen killed two RUC officers in Lurgan. Speaking in Denver, Mr Blair said that every effort had been made to include Sinn Fein. "The ball is in their court," he said.

Earlier on Saturday, nationalist political leaders in Northern Ireland warned that Mr Blair's bid to get them on board the "peace train" had given them nothing with which to persuade the IRA to declare a new ceasefire.

Gerry Adams, the President of the IRA's political wing Sinn Fein, said that the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons remained the main stumbling block. "Mr Blair knows the Sinn Fein position," Mr Adams said. "Absolute clarity is required, especially on this issue of decommissioning."

A Sinn Fein spokesman said: "For us to have a strong argument with the IRA, we have to show there will be credible talks on offer. People saw the last negotiations were not credible because of decommissioning."

The British government's position has received strong support from figures likely to be included in the next Irish government, led by Bertie Ahern. Ray Burke, tipped to be the next Irish Foreign Minister, said meetings would only be held with Sinn Fein if the subject was an IRA ceasefire. Mr Burke called the killing of two RUC officers in Lurgan on Monday "an appalling atrocity".

And Dermot Ahern, who is expected to play a leading role for Dublin in the Northern Ireland negotiations, said that Sinn Fein and the IRA had "a sort of twin-track approach". He explained: "On the one hand they allow talks to continue, and they organise or orchestrate a shooting like that in Lurgan. I don't see the logic of that."

Speaking on Irish radio, Mr Ahern said that "the tiny possibility" of achieving a new IRA ceasefire should be investigated. But he added that "people must realise that it is getting all the more difficult for constitutional politicians to address these issues."