So tainted and devalued has this process been seen to
become, that suddenly the old certainties of conflict
and bitter silence seem not so bad in comparison.
Editorial from the Andersonstown News last week.
#160;
Sinn Féin is out but Sinn Féin is not down.
Gerry Adams after Sinn Féin was suspended from the
talks. Friday 20 February.
#160;
If they think they can throw us out and then expect us
to come back meekly when they decide, they have another
think coming.
Senior member of Sinn Féin on the party's suspension.
Sunday Business Post, 22 February.
#160;
The reality is that we have not decided to return to
the talks... We may not go back, yes, that's a
possibility... Because the talks have lost credibility
over the events of recent weeks.
Martin McGuinness on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Saturday 21 February.
#160;
I believe there's a broad spectrum of people who would
be interested in seeing a return of the IRA campaign
and within all of that I have not ruled out and do not
rule out elements within the securocrat.military
agenda, which has exploded bombs in the past.
Martin McGuinness again on the same programme.
#160;
The party [Sinn Féin] has demonstrated how essential it
is to the process. No Sinn Féin meant no progress...
The TV images of Sinn Féin's youthful looking,
carefully gender balanced, delegations made the SDLP's
appearances seem like a collection of aging, unmade
beds.
Tim Pat Coogan, Ireland On Sunday, 22 February.
#160;
It does show that in critical situations there is no
substitute for the United Nations and its Secretary
General acting as the impartial objective referee.
A British UN official after the USA and Britain failed
to satisfy their blood-lust in the Gulf by bombing
Iraq.
#160;
We are not prepared to accept insults from the British
government. We are not prepared to accept a refusal by
the unionist leadership to negotiate with us. We are
not prepared to accept their attempts to treat us as
second-class citizens. We are not prepared to accept a
condition that we go back to the talks where the power
to throw us out remains in the hands of the chief
constable of the RUC, Ronnie Flanagan.
Martin McGuinness at a Sinn Féin rally on Monday 23
February.
#160;
Maybe Ireland has been united already and they forgot
to tell us... If that's the case it suits me. I am an
Irishwoman and proud of it. If the bureaucrats have
united the country I'm delighted - but surely someone
should tell Gerry about it.
Fermanagh Sinn Féin Councillor Geraldine Cassidy
speaking on behlf of a young mother in Fermangh, who
received a letter from the DHSS regarding her cliam
saying ``you cannot get Family Credit... You are not in
Great Britain on the date you made your claim. Great
Britain is England, Scotland and Wales''. Irish News
Monday 23 February.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)