Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said last night that disaffected and dissident republican groups did not have community support for their opposition to his party's policy on policing in Northern Ireland.
Speaking in Derry's Millennium Forum, the last public meeting organised by Sinn Féin before Sunday's ardfheis at which the party will probably decide to take an unprecedented step for Irish republicanism and recognise policing in the North, Mr Adams repeated his offer to meet his republican opponents to discuss the issue.
"The groups who are not in a cessation, I have asked to meet with them on their terms. If they have confidence in their position, they can come and argue their position with me. You can only have unity on the basis of broad agreement," he said.
"I think that part of the maturity that is part of this debate is that we can agree to disagree and we can agree about our ultimate and primary objective," he added.
Referring to the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, Republican Sinn Féin and the IRSP, Mr Adams was loudly applauded when he added, "By the way, in my opinion there is only one real IRA."
There were dissenting voices at last night's meeting, which was attended by about 1,500 people. One man asked did the Sinn Féin leadership really believe if the youth of Derry would support the PSNI. A woman said the Sinn Féin leadership should concentrate on making sure the party did not break "into bits and pieces".
Gerry Kelly, Sinn Féin's policing and justice spokesman, told the audience that now was the time for republicans to become involved in policing.