The Minister for Justice said today he is convinced the leadership of the Provisional movement is in "absolute control" and that the military and political parts of the movement are one and the same.
Mr McDowell was speaking on RTÉ Radio One this morning after the arrest of seven people, including two with reported Sinn Féin links, in connection with an alleged IRA money-laundering operation.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell
"I'm not going to say I told you so, but I've said very clearly in the past that the Provisional movement is a crime organisation that engages in criminality. There was a time when I had to be more circumspect, I think I used the term that 'I know what I know' and I've been told to put up and shut up on occasion," he said.
"They were trying to get away with and they thought they had got away with it in the past - keeping paramilitarism and keeping criminality going on the one hand and pretending to be engaging in ordinary politics on the other," Mr McDowell said.
"There was a time when there was constructive ambiguity, but all ambiguity is now is destructive," he said.
The Minister also said that the leadership of the Provisional movement remains in total control.
"There is no division among them. It's total and absolute control and it controls both their military and political side. . . . The notion that prominent figures in suits will go to people in masks and try to persuade them of things . . . that simply is not the case."
"The leadership of the Provisional movement is in total control of what the reaction is on the political side and the letter writing by P O'Neill in the first place," he said.
The Minister also denied there was a political agenda behind the constant focusing on elements of criminal activity associated with republicans.
"This is a massive lie put out by leading Sinn Féin spokesmen that when I say this is happening that I want to affect their electoral support. It's a complete lie."
More than £2 million sterling has been seized following raids on a house in Co Cork. Neither gardaí nor police in Belfast could confirm that any of the money was part of the £26.5 million stolen from the Northern Bank just before Christmas.
Sinn Féin has consistently denied any IRA involvement in the bank raid.