The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, is a liar, and his party constantly tells "clear, unadulterated lies", the Progressive Unionist leader, Mr David Ervine, has said. He was addressing around 100 delegates at his party conference in east Belfast at the weekend.
Mr Ervine criticised the lack of internal democracy and debate within Sinn Féin, but he said loyalist parties and paramilitaries also had a responsibility to make the Belfast Agreement work.
He accused Sinn Féin of hypocritically "masquerading as liberals and talking of human rights". Mr Gerry Adams "constantly propagated the lie" that he was never a member of the Provisional IRA. There were chuckles from the floor when he said that if Mr Adams shaved his beard off that would make him "a bare-faced liar".
He criticised Sinn Féin for expecting the public to believe that three Provisional IRA suspects in Colombia were "David Bellamy-type eco-tourists". The party had not initially even been able to tell the truth about the men's involvement with Sinn Féin, he said.
Sinn Féin's continual lying was part of "their macho style of life", he said. "They cannot say they got it wrong, they cannot admit to internal difficulties. It really is that old male thing".
The PUP leader said there was no internal debate within Sinn Féin and spoke of the "elitist control" of the leadership. Decisions were taken at a senior level and handed down to grass roots in a style similar to the old unionist party. "The button is pressed, the answer is given, it is sent down the ranks and more buttons are pressed," he said.
Sinn Féin refused to engage in meaningful dialogue with the unionist community but was really most scared of internal democracy. "Sinn Féin are not only afraid of everything outside themselves, they are afraid of themselves, too," he said.
Mr Ervine said the PUP, more than any other party, had attempted to treat Sinn Féin fairly, "but Sinn Féin can no longer tell lies and expect to be treated as equals."
Despite the present difficulties, Mr Ervine said, he was still totally committed to the Belfast Agreement. He was certain the current crisis could eventually be overcome because both Sinn Féin and the DUP were realists.
The DUP was being "reinvented around the feet" of the Rev Ian Paisley by Mr Peter Robinson, Mr Nigel Dodds and Mr Gregory Campbell, he said.