McDowell dismisses rumours of SF-IRA split

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, today dismissed rumours of a split between the leadership of Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA.

He also claimed senior IRA figures from Belfast were now involved in directing crime in Dublin after the capital's brigade was stood down over alleged profiteering.

"Our view in the Irish Government is that there is complete unity of purpose among the top leadership of the Provisional movement," Mr McDowell told RTÉ radio today.

"The impression carefully cultivated by some of the public faces of the Provisional movement that they are somehow persuaders of more recalcitrant and hard-headed individuals that have to be brought along, that's a false impression.

"They all agree on what they are doing and they all agree on keeping the door open to criminality."

Mr McDowell said none of those involved would "for a minute" accept that any of the IRA's activities would constitute a crime.

"But I have to deal with the fact that I know that the IRA were, in the year 2004, involved in a very, very major crime in the Dublin Port area. And I know that the Adjutant of the IRA in Belfast was the person who organised that.

"That came after a period that they stood down their Dublin brigade which had been involved in fundraising for them prior to that and shot some of them in the ankles over the Border in South Armagh because it was alleged that they were taking some of the money for themselves," the Minister said.

As a result, he said, the "top brass" of the Provisional IRA has now become involved in directing crime in Dublin.

"Gerry Adams says that I'm criminalising Sinn Féin, but . . . other Sinn Féin spokesmen have said if the IRA carry out any of these actions, they are not criminal," he continued. "What's the point in being opposed to criminality if everything the IRA does is excluded from that definition?"

Mr McDowell said he would leave a decision on whether or not to name those senior Sinn Féin figures accused of being members of the IRA Army Council to the IMC.

"You have to ask yourself is the advantage of publicly accusing people of membership of the Army Council outweighed by the disadvantage of making it more difficult to deal with those people," he said.

However, he refused to refute a recent claim by the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, that Mr Martin Ferris, Sinn Féin TD for Kerry, was a member of the Army Council.