Fr Reid ‘believes IRA denials about Belfast bank heist’
The Catholic priest who stirred up a row this week by comparing unionists to Nazis has said he does not believe the IRA carried out last December's Belfast bank heist.
The Irish and British Governments, the PSNI and the Independent Monitoring Commission have all blamed the IRA for the £26.5m (€39m) robbery at the Northern Bank.
The accusation caused further delay to the peace process and put the IRA under intense pressure to declare an end to all its activities.
However, Fr Alex Reid, one of the two clergymen who witnessed the completion of IRA decommissioning, has now said he believes the IRA's denials of involvement.
He has also criticised Justice Minister Michael McDowell for accusing the IRA of trying to subvert the Irish State through criminality.
Fr Reid's comments are likely to be used by the DUP to support its stance that the clergymen who witnessed IRA decommissioning were not independent.
The priest was forced to apologise earlier this week when he compared unionists to Nazis and accused them of treating nationalists like animals.
The comments were made at a public meeting designed to instil confidence in the unionist community about the veracity of IRA disarmament.
