Meeting Adams: What bertie said about the meeting

"The fall-out from the Northern Bank raid is that trust and confidence in the process are now at a very low level. The sooner we can deal with these issues straight up with the republican movement, the better.

In my meetings yesterday, I outlined that in detail. I avoided doing so over the past few weeks as I wanted to do it in person, which I thought was the right and proper way, since I have been involved in the peace process for many years".

"I do not know the make-up of the present army council. I had some heated exchanges about that yesterday. I will not go over that ground again. I do not know the whereabouts of any arms dumps".

"What offended me, and the reason I have taken a tough line on this, was the idea that a comprehensive agreement could be negotiated on the basis of trust and confidence while this kind of criminality went on. It is not a question of the size of the bank raid...

What I find really offensive, and again I say it here in the House with members of Sinn Féin present because I did not go around speaking with a megaphone over Christmas, is that there was an ability to turn off all punishment beatings while negotiations were in progress but as soon as the negotiations failed there was a string of them – they are again a nightly occurrence. I will give Sinn Féin full marks for discipline, but not for anything else".

"I reiterate what I said to the parties yesterday. I am not in favour of the politics of exclusion because that would create vacuums that would not help. We have a commitment to implement the Good Friday Agreement and we are determined to continue going down that road".

"There is no possibility of being able to go to the other parties – I would not do so anyway – unless we can achieve something major in that area. As I said yesterday, that does not rest with me; it is an issue which rests with the Sinn Féin leadership and the opposite side of the coin, the Provisional IRA".