SF remains committed to peace process - McLaughlin

Chief Constable Hugh Orde told members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board yesterday that he believed the IRA was responsible for stealing £26.5m (€38m) in the Northern Bank raid before Christmas.

His statement led unionists to call on the British government to exclude Sinn Féin and press ahead with efforts to restore devolution without them.

But Mr McLaughlin claimed the process had been in difficulty since the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party refused to sign up to a deal in December and had merely been worsened by Mr Orde’s statement.

“There is no doubt that there are those within the Northern Ireland Office who are seeking to exploit this difficulty to bring about the exclusion of Sinn Féin and ensure that the comprehensive deal will not be achieved,” he said.

“The IRA has made clear that it did not carry out this robbery.

“Hugh Orde went to the media yesterday, not on the basis of facts or evidence, but on the basis of reports from securocrats who have been working to undermine the peace process for years now.

“The objective of all of this is to subvert efforts to build on what has been achieved and to halt the process of change.

“Sinn Féin’s priority is to advance the peace process and to defend the rights of those who vote for us.

“We remain in contact with both governments and remain determined to continue to advance the agenda for change.

“The governments know how much was achieved before Christmas and that the priority must be to get the comprehensive deal across the line.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy is due to make a statement to parliament next week, when there will also be a debate on power-sharing in the North.

But both the British and Irish governments have admitted this latest controversy is a massive body blow to efforts to revive devolution.

Mr Murphy has conceded that there was virtually no chance of a return of power-sharing in the next six months.

“It is very difficult to see where we go in the immediate future,” he said.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described Mr Orde’s finding as a “serious setback” and said republicans would have to bring involvement in paramilitary and criminal activity to a definitive end.

Last month Mr Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair believed they had come agonisingly close to achieving a comprehensive agreement to revive the Stormont Assembly and end paramilitarism forever.

During those talks, the DUP and Sinn Féin – traditionally sworn enemies – were considering going into a power-sharing executive.

But the deal collapsed after the IRA rejected DUP demands for photographic evidence of weapons decommissioning.

Mr Orde’s statement means the IRA may have been planning last month’s bank heist while Sinn Féin negotiators were discussing with Mr Blair and Mr Ahern an end of paramilitary republicanism.

The DUP is due to meet Mr Blair next week when it will call on the British government to form a devolved administration without republicans.

Deputy leader Peter Robinson called for the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) to produce an early report on the Northern Bank raid.

He said if the IMC concluded the IRA was behind the robbery, it could recommend Sinn Féin be excluded from any government in Northern Ireland for 12 months.

“Why should the whole of democratic society be held back because one party is so tied to criminality and terrorism that it isn’t prepared to move forward,” he said.

“Let the rest of us go forward without them. And the challenge therefore goes down to people like Mark Durkan and the SDLP.

“Are they prepared to leave go the hand of Sinn Féin and recognise that they aren’t the kind of people that can be in government?

“Is Mark Durkan thinking that it is possible for him to be in government with bank robbers and terrorists ?”