The IRA should disband, American Republican congressman Peter King said yesterday.
Mr King has been a strong supporter of Sinn Féin and has addressed the party's ardfheis in recent years. "From the American perspective, and looking at all the progress that has been made, it is hard to see what justification there is today for the continued existence of the IRA," said Mr King.
In an interview on RTÉ's This Week, Mr King added that the IRA's offer to shoot the killers of Robert McCartney showed how "tone deaf" the organisation was.
He said Sinn Féin should agree to a criminality clause, and the "IRA should not be involved in criminal conduct". The process had gone so far that there was no place for any type of illegal activities.
Mr King said that the murder of Robert McCartney had "a real severe impact" on the standing of the IRA in the US. However, he said there was still very strong support for Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin, primarily because Mr Adams had built good relations with political figures.
"He has political capital he can fall back on," said Mr King. "Having said that, there is a growing feeling that the issue of the IRA no longer existing has to be addressed."
Describing the Belfast bank robbery as disgraceful, he added: "If the IRA did do it, and I know the evidence appears to point in that direction, it was totally inexcusable."
Mr King said the failure to reach agreement in restoring devolution last December was very disappointing because so much progress had been made. However, it was important to "keep the eye" on how much progress had been made.
"Northern Ireland is a different place than it was five or six years ago," said Mr King. Probably the worst criticism of the IRA he could make was that it was making the Rev Ian Paisley look good, he said.