Bid to strip Sinn Fein of EU cash

The European Parliament is studying a request to strip Sinn Fein of EU allowances as punishment for alleged links to crime, officials…

The European Parliament is studying a request to strip Sinn Fein of EU allowances as punishment for alleged links to crime, officials said on today.

The move piles more pressure on the party, which has two seats in the EU assembly and has been under fire from Ireland, Britain and its political opponents in Belfast over alleged crimes by its Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrilla ally.

Dublin and London blame the IRA for a £26.5 million bank robbery in Belfast. It denies the allegation.

The EU assembly's legal service is studying a request from about 10 British right-wing deputies to strip Sinn Fein of its expenses payments, said Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson. "I've received requests ... to take the same action as the Westminster parliament in withdrawing financial support from Sinn Fein through their expenses ... because of events ... like the Northern Bank (raid)," he said.

READ MORE

Mr Nicholson heads a cross-party body which looks after MEPs' financial and administrative needs in the assembly.

He said he has sent the request for financial penalties against Sinn Fein to the legal service to find out if there were grounds for action.

But a parliament official said it was unlikely the EU assembly would have the power to fine elected politicians. "This is not Westminster," he said.

The British government has already begun moves to strip Sinn Fein members of their Westminster allowances.