Reaction

Brief quotes from North and South and from Spain, where Sinn Féin leader Mr Gerry Adams is promoting his book.

Brief quotes from North and South and from Spain, where Sinn Féin leader Mr Gerry Adams is promoting his book.

Last night, the Minister for Defence, Mr O'Dea, said that the scale of the Garda operation carried out over the last 48 hours in search of the Northern Bank funds was "quite sensational".

Speaking in Maynooth, Co Kildare, Mr O'Dea said that while he had not been briefed on the detail of the garda action, "it was obviously part of a long-standing Garda investigation".

"It would be quite inappropriate to comment on the potential political fall out from this until such time as some-one is charged. The investigation is ongoing. Nobody has been charged."

READ MORE

In Barcelona yesterday where he met Catalonian party politician Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams said: "I never comment on speculation".

Mr Adams was speaking in the Catalan city where he was promoting the Spanish-language translation of his latest book, "Hope and History". He later departed for Bilbao, the next stage in his book tour.

The DUP's Ian Paisley Jnr said: "I want to congratulate in all sincerity the garda Siochana in what apears to be an excellent job."

"Hats off to the guards", he added.

He said people should now recognise that "Sinn Fein has chosen the path of crime and criminality - major criminality - rather than the path of politics."