Police and politicians are blaming the Provisional IRA for the Northern Bank robbery as part of an effort to "marginalise and demonise Sinn Féin", one of the party's TDs has claimed.
Kerry deputy Mr Martin Ferris said people were coming to him "in a joking manner and saying 'Have you got some sterling'?"
However, he believed that "deep down people know there's another agenda out there and that agenda is to marginalise and demonise Sinn Féin."
Mr Ferris said he accepted the word of the IRA as delivered to Mr Martin McGuinness that the republican organisation was not responsible.
However, most people "assumed" what the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British government was saying was true.
Mr Ferris was speaking on Radio Kerry where he said it was very difficult for Sinn Féin to advance the peace process in the face of consistent resistance by the "securocrats" who feared Sinn Féin's electoral gains.
"We had brought the IRA, pre-Christmas, to a situation where they were prepared to put all their arms beyond use, where they were prepared to do nothing that was inconsistent with a comprehensive agreement and that has been massive," Mr Ferris said.
The harder Sinn Féin tried, the more stumbling blocks were put up by securocrats and the desire had been to humiliate republicans.
"I will not be part of the humiliation of republicans," he said.