Sinn Féin is ready for government after the general election but will not take any decision on support for a potential coalition until after May 24th, the party's president Gerry Adams said today.
Publishing Sinn Féin's election manifesto in Dublin, Mr Adams said his party was ready for government, "north and south".
Mr Adams said the party did not want to be in government "for the sake of it".
"We don't want to see Sinn Féin bums on Ministerial seats just for the craic," he said.
The party president also declined to predict how many seats Sinn Féin might take in the Dáil in the May 24th general election. The party currently holds five seats.
"We are not in the business of predicting any of that," he said. "We do hope, but we cannot take for granted, that our outgoing TDs will hold onto their seats and we fight every seat to win."
Mr Adams said Sinn Féin was not advising its voters on transfers to other parties and candidates, although he said some candidates may have made "local arrangements". He asked people voting for other parties to transfer to Sinn Fein, however.
"Our objective between now and the 24 this very clear - is to get the biggest possible Sinn Féin vote and is to get a mandate for government for us," he said.
After that, the party would take a decision at leadership level in terms of support for any potential government, he said.
Sinn Féin's manifesto proposes the acceleration of "all-Ireland economic integration, pending re-unification". It proposes a single currency for the island of Ireland, a single labour market and a harmonised tax regime.
"There is only one real alternative in this general election: Sinn Féin. We are ready for government, north and south. We have a vision and a plan for a prosperous country in which wealth is shared and where the promise of equal rights and equal opportunities is fulfilled for each and every person who lives on our island," Mr Adams said.
On health, the party said it sought the transition to a public health system where care would be provided free and on the basis of need, funded from "general, fair and progressive taxation". It would immediately end tax breaks for private hospitals and invest all health funding in the public system.
On infrastructure, the party said its priorities in government would be increased investment in an all-Ireland public transport network and a rejection of privatisation of public services.
It would abolish road tolls and the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to finance road construction. It would also reverse the break-up of Aer Rianta and return Aer Lingus and Irish Ferries to public ownership or establish new companies in public ownership.
Sinn Féin TD and Dáil leader Caoimghín Ó Caoláin said the party had no intention of getting involved in "disingenuous auction politics".
"Government and Opposition parties who are claiming that they will deliver the public services that people are crying out for, while at the same time offering to slash the tax take, are being highly irresponsible," he said.
"Even allowing for economic growth at the current rate, this simply does not add up. Sinn FÉin has no intention of getting involved in this disingenuous auction politics."
The party, however, ruled out increasing taxes, in an apparent reversal of its pre-Budget proposal to impose a 50 per cent higher tax rate on those earning in in excess of €100,000 per year.
Mr Ó Caoláin said that proposal would mean asking higher earners to pay just €28 extra a week on an income of €2,000 a week. But on the question of increasing the rate, he said the party was "ruling it out at this time".
He said that if it was the case that public services were going to come under any threat with regard to resources in the future, Sinn Féin would protect the weakest in society first.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said the party believed the current tax take was "sufficient" to properly fund essential services and that it did not propose to increase that tax take. It would, however, seek to reform the tax system and to abolish tax loopholes for tax exiles and millionaires.
Mr Adams said the party would "not spend one red cent" in the privatisation of health services.