The reality is that the people that we represent are no longer going to be second-class citizens in their own country.

Along with that ongoing process Sinn Fein took a decision to establish a peace commission which had the responsibility to travel around the country to receive submissions from the general public, also our opponents.

The British government says that for Sinn Fein to be involved in talks the guns must be left at the door.

Well I think it has always been a mistake to reduce the peace process in Ireland to a decommissioning process.

The fact is that a car used by Gerry Adams and myself during the course of the Mitchell review was bugged by elements within British military intelligence.

Sinn Fein is the fastest growing party on the island of Ireland.

If the British government is prepared to say that the Unionists will not have a veto over British government policy and that guns, vetoes and injustices will all be left outside the door, then there is no good reason why talks cannot take place in an appropriate atmosphere.