Adams: Sinn Fein committed to peace

Sinn Fein does not have to pass any "special tests" to prove its commitment to peace, the party's president Gerry Adams said.

Prime Minister Tony Blair this week told Sinn Fein it had to realise that unless it was prepared to commit exclusively to peaceful means it could not be part of the government of Northern Ireland.

But Mr Adams said the Prime Minister was in no position to lecture Sinn Fein.

Mr Adams said: "We don't have to pass any special tests.

"We signed up to an agreement, we did it by choice, not because we were coerced or repressed."

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble last week demanded Sinn Fein was kicked out of the talks after the attempted kidnapping of a dissident republican. He said he would walk away from the talks unless the Government took action.

Mr Adams said that would serve no purpose and Sinn Fein could not be marginalised as it was the largest pro-agreement party in Northern Ireland.

"I think all this knee-jerking is really down to macho posturing between the two main branches of unionism," he told Sky News.

The IRA has denied it was behind the attempted abduction. Mr Adams said there was no evidence it was involved. And he said the "brawl in a pub" must be put in perspective.

"If you want a crisis in a peace process, what's happening in the Middle East is a crisis, what happened here was a brawl in a pub. We need to get real about all of this."

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