Sinn Fein chiefs accused of top roles in IRA

BELFAST - The Irish Government has directly accused Sinn Fein leaders of sitting on the ruling council of the Irish Republican Army guerrilla group.

The allegation has frequently been made in newspapers and books about the IRA, and hinted at by London and Dublin, but Justice Minister Michael McDowell is the first serving minister to name names.

The attack came as Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams told supporters in Northern Ireland that republicans were not criminals, despite police and the Dublin Government linking them to bank robberies and money laundering.

In a radio interview with Dublin-based Today FM, McDowell said Adams, his deputy Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris, a Sinn Fein member of the Irish Parliament, were members of the IRA's seven-man "Army Council".

"We're talking about a small group of people, including a number of elected representatives, who run the whole movement," he said.

"We are talking about Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, Martin Ferris and others."

All three have always denied the charge, and McGuinness said it was "totally and utterly false".

Throughout the Northern Ireland peace process, which began when the IRA suspended its violent campaign against British rule in the mid-1990s, Sinn Fein has said it is not directly linked to its paramilitary ally and does not speak on its behalf.

Irish Defence Minister Willie O'Dea wrote in the Dublin-based Sunday Independent: "We are no longer prepared to accept the farce that Sinn Fein and the IRA are separate. They are indivisible."

Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern made similar comments, saying Sinn Fein and the IRA were "two sides of one coin".

Sinn Fein leaders have already been accused by Dublin of authorising a 26.5 million ($70 million) bank robbery in Northern Ireland which police say was carried out by the IRA.

The party bitterly rejects the charge, which it says is a politically motivated smear.

Pressure on Sinn Fein increased when police in the Irish Republic seized more than 2.5 million in Dublin and Cork and said they had blown open an IRA money-laundering operation. Of the eight people arrested seven have been released without charge.

Adams yesterday warned members of his party that "criminal" activity would not be tolerated but also warned both the British and the Irish Governments that Sinn Fein remained a political force they had to reckon with.

- REUTERS, HERALD CORRESPONDENT