The Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams has denied claims by the PSNI that the IRA was involved in the recent violence in east Belfast.
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Mr Gerry Adams: "There is no evidence to stand up any allegation of IRA involvement and indeed the Deputy Chief Constable stayed well away from that assertion."
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Speaking following a meeting with the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, Mr David Ervine, Mr Adams said republicans did not have a plan to create tension in interface areas.
"There is no evidence to stand up any allegation of IRA involvement and indeed the Deputy Chief Constable stayed well away from that assertion."
Mr Ervine, whose party is closely linked with the UVF loyalist paramilitary group, said Mr Adams had assured him he wanted to see an end to the violence.
"I think the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. They were very clear and unequivocal about their desire that it should stop.
"It is in everybody’s interests to stop the awfulness before it spreads and degenerates," he said.
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The PUP leader said he would talk to loyalist paramilitaries, reminding them of the importance of "no first strike".
"If anybody thinks that this doesn’t have the capacity to derail our hopes for the future, then they are living in cloud-cuckoo-land," he added.