The Minister for Justice may have breached her ministerial code of conduct and abused her position to cast “blatant smears” on Sinn Féin, the party has claimed.
As the political attacks between Sinn Féin and the Government sharpened, the party also insisted that a new assessment of the status of the Provisional IRA will prove the organisation no longer exists.
In a statement that was markedly tougher than her initial comments on the IRA in recent days, Minister Frances Fitzgerald accused Sinn Féin of being responsible for an "inevitable legacy" of the most serious crime left behind by the Provisional IRA.
“It is fair to ask Sinn Féin how they intend to address a legacy they are responsible for,” she said.
Mr Fitzgerald also asked if Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, who is on holiday, would "apologise for the dreadful legacy of crime and lawlessness left in the wake of the brutal campaign which PIRA waged, and say what steps he takes to ensure there is no place in Sinn Féin for people who engage in serious crime?"
She added: “What steps does Sinn Féin take to ensure that they do not benefit in any way from the proceeds of crime?
Honour legacy?
“Will he apologise for the fact that people who PIRA trained to kill may be continuing to do so in whatever capacity? And will he explain what parts of smuggling and money laundering ever honoured the legacy of 1916, which his party wish to hijack?”
The Minister’s comments followed equally strong remarks from Tánaiste Joan Burton. Coalition sources said the pair were in contact with each other in recent days, but insisted their statements were not co-ordinated.
Sinn Féin welcomed Ms Fitzgerald’s move to ask Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan to “liaise closely with the PSNI and carry out a fresh assessment of the status of PIRA in the light of any new evidence” that emerges during the investigation into the recent killing of Kevin McGuigan.
Sinn Féin Laois-Offaly TD Brian Stanley said the party has no problem with such an assessment.
“We welcome that,” he said. “It will show that the army was stood down 10 years ago, that it doesn’t exist. That the mainstream of republicanism became involved totally in the republican process, and that’s where it’s going, and that’s what people are busy doing within Sinn Féin.”
However, Mr Stanley accused the Minister of abusing her position to “cast blatant smears”.
Open books
“Sinn Féin does not benefit from any form of criminality,” he stated. “Unlike other parties, our accounts are available publicly and are fully legally compliant. The Minister must either back up her assertions or retract them.
“We believe that the Minister may have breached the code of conduct for office holders and we are currently looking into this.”
The TD also criticised Ms Burton for stating that the IRA was still linked to “murdering and racketeering” and that Sinn Féin cannot deny all knowledge of its criminality or existence. “She’d be better off dealing with the crisis on her own doorstep: the crisis in housing, health and water charges,” Mr Stanley said.
“We have addressed this issue,” he said.
“The public out there know there were two ceasefires. They also know the IRA decommissioned its weapons. They will also be aware that the IRA stood down.
“There may be some other groups out there masquerading as some kind of IRA or some other type of organisation, such as the Real IRA, so-called Real IRA or the Continuity IRA, or whatever they like to call themselves,” he added.
“But what I would say to those people, as an elected representative of Sinn Féin, is that they should disband, they should go away. They have no contribution they have to make to society.”
