Mr Ruairi O Bradaigh, president of Republican Sinn Fein, has pledged that his party will oppose any referendums held next year which seek to uphold partition and "British rule in Ireland". The British and Irish governments are planning to put any settlement emerging from the Stormont talks to the electorate on both sides of the Border next summer.
Mr O Bradaigh told delegates at the RSF ardfheis in Dublin that a partitionist settlement could be the only outcome from the current negotiations and that his party would mount a strong campaign against it.
"We must exert every effort in this regard. We must counter it tooth and nail. But let it be clear that regardless of the results we shall not accept any settlement which seeks to legitimise English rule in Ireland under whatever guise."
Mr O Bradaigh said it was possible that although it was taking part in the talks, Provisional Sinn Fein could oppose their outcome, but then agree to work the settlement if it was passed in referendums. This would not be a principled, consistent position, he said.
"If you sup with the devil, you need a long spoon. You are either for Britain or against Britain. You can't play it both ways." He claimed the Stormont talks were about updating partition by co-opting a new section of Northern nationalists.
"English rule in Ireland is modernising itself these days, trying to make itself more acceptable internationally by involving as large a section as possible of the nationalist population of the six occupied counties in its workings.
"What is available is Sunningdale number two - a reformed power-sharing Stormont with cross-Border committees and possibly a new British-controlled police force."
No genuine republican could sign up to these proposals, he said, as it would make the job of revolutionary nationalists much more difficult. It was easier to kick down "an old rotten door than a modern, steelreinforced one".
Mr O Bradaigh said nothing had changed in the North and that loyalists were still killing Catholics under a `no claim, no blame' policy. "Are the participants in the bogus `peace' process prepared to turn a blind eye to all this and acquiesce in an acceptable level of violence?" he asked.
Even as the talks proceeded, two republicans who escaped from the Maze Prison in 1983 had been arrested and were facing extradition: "So much for Dublin's good faith and that of London in seeking to have them handed over."
Mr O Bradaigh said a deal emerging from the Stormont talks which some might sell as an interim settlement and a "stepping-stone" to Irish unity was unacceptable.
"The stepping-stone becomes comfortable, becomes an end in itself and not a means to an end. It fossilises into a cosy constituency where political careers are safe.
"As has happened in the 26 counties, those working any new interim settlement north of the Border will defend and protect British rule rather than work to bring it to an end."
Mr O Bradaigh predicted Provisional Sinn Fein MPs elected to Westminster would eventually take their seats. They had sought their privileges in the House of Commons and initiated proceedings to have the oath of allegiance to the crown, on entry to Westminster, removed.
They would not take such action unless they intended to eventually attend Westminster, he said. He stated that Provisional Sinn Fein had no right to continue to use that name.
"As they gradually turn a section of what was a revolutionary national liberation movement into a constitutional and reformist political party, they should relinquish the historic title of Sinn Fein, as did the Workers' Party/Democratic Left," he said.