The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, has denied that his request for a meeting with the British Prime Minister amounts to a precondition for his party's return to talks and said he was "quite relaxed" about the timing of the meeting.
Mr Adams said Sinn Fein did not believe in preconditions. He refused to say "in absolute terms" that it would decline to return to talks if the meeting was not granted before March 9th, when the party's period of suspension ends.
"I don't think there is any possibility of us not having a meeting with Mr Blair," he added. The Sinn Fein leader, who made the comments in Belfast yesterday, appeared to shift from the position outlined by Mr Martin McGuinness on Monday night.
Mr McGuinness said then that Sinn Fein would not return to talks to be put out again on the word of the RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan.
He said a meeting with Mr Blair was crucial and that Ulster Unionists needed to speak to republicans. Mr McGuinness's comments prompted calls from the SDLP for Sinn Fein not to set preconditions.
Mr Adams said yesterday that he would be able to answer questions on Sinn Fein's return when he was told when the meeting would take place.
He was still waiting for a response from Mr Blair. "We'll do that meeting and when that happens, then we'll decide what we're going to do next". ein president also appeared pessimistic about the possibility of a settlement being reached by May. The Mr Adams said "real question" was what type of settlement the two governments were trying to put forward, and this would answer the question as to whether it was possible by May.
Any settlement would have to remove the cause of conflict, Mr Adams said, adding: "Can that be done before May? Can arrangements be made to release all the prisoners, can the equality agenda be put forward? These are all questions which help to inform as to when this will be achieved."