The Progressive Democrat party in the Republic of Ireland have 4-5 seats out of 166 and have been in Government for the last 5 years. A number of independent Deputies have also been supporting the Government for that time - in return for a major say in the amount and nature of Government expenditure in their constituency.

While its entirely possible that Sinn Fein could have 4-5 seats in the next Dail, its unlikely that any of the major parties (Fianna Fail, Fine Gael or Labour) would be willing to have them share power - but it could depend on how the numbers stack up and it looks like it will be very tight. At this stage I expect the next Irish Government to be a Fianna Fail-Labour coalition, but I've often been wrong before.

It is seen by some as hypocritical for the major Irish parties to be ruling out Sinn Fein membership of a coalition government while at the same time urging Mr Trimble to keep them in the NI executive. However the non Sinn Fein politicians draw a distinction between the executive and the sovereign government of the republic. The big distinction here is that the NI executive does not have control over security and military issues. While Sinn Fein claim they recognise the Irish (state) army to be the only legitimate army in the 26 counties, they clearly still have links to another private "army" which is an illegal organisation both in Ireland and the UK.

I welcome the fact that the IRA is still on ceasefire and the major input that the Republican movement has had into the Peace process. They also deserve huge credit for the amount of decommissioning that has already taken place - although the lukewarm Unionist reaction to this goes to prove what we all knew - that it was always a red (orange) herring from the start.

I would personally still be a bit dubious about Sinn Fein being part of an Irish Government before the disbandment of the Provisional IRA (they haven't gone away you know). But its certainly not beyond the bounds of possibilty - and 4 or 5 seats could well be enough if the numbers are right.