GERRY Adams has said he told Theresa May that she is in breach of the Good Friday Agreement in their first face-to-face meeting since the election.
The Sinn Féin president met the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street along with other senior figures in the party on Thursday, June 15.
"We have just finished a meeting with the British Prime Minister and her Secretary of State, and we told her very directly that she was in breach of the Good Friday agreement," said Mr Adams after the meeting.
He confirmed they had also discussed the possibility of a referendum on Irish unity.
Sinn Féin will oppose any deal between the Government and the DUP which undermines the peace deal, Mr Adams warned.
“They have turned a blind eye to the disruptive actions of the DUP over a long time,” he said.
“Both the Government and the DUP have refused to implement key agreements on language and equality rights and dealing with the legacy of the past.
“The DUP are opposed to rights that are enjoyed across Britain and in the rest of Ireland, especially in respect of LGBT citizens and marriage equality.”
British Prime Minister playing fast and loose with Good Friday Agreement in bid to cling to power – @GerryAdamsSF https://t.co/hdxXAzCb7B pic.twitter.com/ZKCxLEb5zx
— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) June 15, 2017
Michelle O'Neill, Sinn Féin’s leader in the North, said: "We were very clear with the Prime Minister that any deal with herself and the DUP cannot undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
"We made it very clear that any package on restoring power-sharing that is delivered, there has to be a strong financial package to allow us to deliver good public services when we get the Executive up and running again."
The remarks come amid mounting criticism of Mrs May’s potential deal with the DUP to form a majority government.
The proposed deal’s most vocal critics include former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major, who said it could put the peace process at risk.
“I am concerned about the deal, I am wary about it, I am dubious about it, both for peace process reasons but also for other reasons as well," he told BBC Radio 4's the World at One.
He added: “A fundamental part of that peace process is that the UK Government needs to be impartial between all the competing interests in Northern Ireland.
"The danger is that however much any government tries, they will not be seen to be impartial if they are locked into a parliamentary deal, at Westminster, with one of the Northern Ireland parties.
“The last thing anybody wishes to see is one or other of the communities so aggrieved that the hard men, who are still there lurking in the corners of the community, decide that they wish to return to some form of violence.”
