The British government is under renewed pressure from unionists to exclude Sinn Fein from taking up executive posts in the new Northern Ireland Assembly after police linked the IRA to the murder of a man in Belfast at the weekend.
In a statement released yesterday, the RUC said: "Detectives investigating the murder of Mr Kearney are pursuing a line of inquiry that suggests it was carried out by the Provisional IRA."
According to republican sources in north Belfast, it appears that Mr Kearney was killed at the behest of a senior IRA figure from Belfast. It is known Mr Kearney was in a brawl with the IRA man, who was linked to the Shankill Road bombing in October 1993 when 10 people were killed.
Eight IRA men went to Mr Kearney's flat in the New Lodge area last Sunday and took over the entire block in what the Ulster Unionist negotiator, Mr Reg Empey, yesterday described as a "military-style" operation.
Mr Kearney (33) was cradling his two-week-old baby girl in the flat when an armed gang dragged him out and flung him into a lift before shooting him in both legs. Mr Kearney bled to death.
Mr Empey pointed out yesterday that both the British and Irish governments had previously made the point that Sinn Fein and the IRA were "inextricably linked" when, acting on advice from the RUC, Sinn Fein was suspended from the Stormont talks after the IRA shot dead two men - a drug dealer and a loyalist paramilitary - in Belfast in February.
Mr Empey said he was conscious that excluding Sinn Fein from consideration in the forming of a government in Northern Ireland could endanger the entire political process but it was "essential that all parties must be committed to peaceful and non-violent means."
He said the RUC statement "puts Sinn Fein in a very difficult position". "They have to be committed to peaceful and non-violent means and it is abundantly clear they are not committed to that," he said.
The Rev Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, said the fact that the RUC believed the IRA was behind the killing meant that the Secretary of State, Dr Mo Mowlam, should now ban Sinn Fein leaders from the Assembly, which is to reconvene on September 14th.
"She has got to decide whether she is going to allow these Sinn Fein men to take their seats. She should say that it's clear that the IRA-Sinn Fein are inextricably linked and they are still engaging in acts of violence. Therefore they can't go forward and take their seats in the Executive." The Ulster Unionist deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, said: "Sinn Fein cannot on the one hand say `we are in favour of peace and are against violence' when the IRA are going out killing people, and expect to be able to serve in the new Executive."
He said: "It would be very wrong, and it would certainly be contrary to democratic principles that an organisation could serve in the government of a country and at the same time be out killing people on the ground."
There was no official Government response to the RUC statement.
However, in contrast to the unionist calls for action against Sinn Fein, the North's Deputy First Minister and the SDLP Deputy Leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, said he would prefer to wait for the outcome of the investigation into Mr Kearney's murder before making any demands about Sinn Fein. "In these circumstances it would be inappropriate to make any further calls pending the outcome of the RUC inquiry."
Unionist MPs said they intend putting Dr Mowlam "on the spot" over the issue when she returns to Northern Ireland next week.
The Belfast Agreement, which was signed by Sinn Fein, commits all parties to "exclusively peaceful and democratic means" of furthering political goals, and a condition of holding office in the Executive is a specific non-violence pledge.
The DUP Assembly member, Mr Nigel Dodds, said: "The people of Northern Ireland were told very clearly by Mr Trimble and Mr Blair before voting in the referendum, that Sinn Fein would not benefit if they did not abide by the decommissioning and other provisions."
The Ulster Unionist Lagan Valley MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, who broke with his party leader, Mr Trimble, in opposing the Belfast Agreement, said the most immediate consequence to the RUC statement was the decision Dr Mowlam would have to take next week.
The Secretary of State has to lay an Order setting out the organisations which, under the terms of the Sentences Act, will be eligible to have their members in prison benefit from the early-release programmes.
Mr Donaldson said the murder of Mr Kearney "will be the first test of the Government's commitment in the undertakings they gave in the debate when they said there would be no fudge between democracy and terror."
Sinn Fein insisted that the IRA ceasefire remained intact and said republicans were entitled to ministerial positions. "We are continuing to pursue our peace strategy regardless of what the RUC do or say," said Mr Alex Maskey, Assembly member for West Belfast.
He added: "As far as we are concerned, the IRA remains strongly committed to its peace strategy also and we have no evidence to suggest otherwise. Sinn Fein is answerable to nobody, only those who elected us." The UK Unionist MP, Mr Robert McCartney, said the statement was a repetition of a previous episode involving murders by the UFF and the IRA.