SF the 'mafia party' claims Bruton

The notion that the IRA could be "wished away or made to disappear with a magic wand waved by Sinn Féin" was "absurd", the party's leader in the Dáil, Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF), said during a hostile debate on paramilitary activity.

Former taoiseach Mr John Bruton had accused Sinn Féin of being the "mafia party in this House" and if people wanted mafia politics they should "vote for Sinn Féin". And he was "deeply disappointed at the characteristically spineless Government amendment".

The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said it was the Government's duty and his in particular "to tell the truth about the profoundly corrosive activities of the Provisional movement and the dangers they represent".

He had been "accused of trying to criminalise parts of the republican movement.

"The truth is that what criminalises them is the fact that they commit crime. And at times they do not even deny that," said Mr McDowell

Mr Ó Caoláin condemned Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party for joining the "anti-Sinn Féin crusade" of Mr McDowell, in their "fundamentally flawed" motion calling for an end to all forms of paramilitarism.

He said the party would not be "distracted" by this. "We will not take party political point scoring dressed up as solemn homilies on our commitment to democracy." The Cavan-Monaghan TD said that "both governments and all political parties who have been party to the Good Friday agreement are supposed to be involved in a process of conflict resolution".

"The British state has yet to acknowledge even a share of responsibility for the conflict, including the deaths of hundreds of people at its hands since 1969. It has yet to dismantle its military apparatus in our country. This alone exposes as absurd the notion that the IRA can be wished away or made to disappear with a magic wand wave by Sinn Féin."

To persistent heckles, Mr Bruton said Sinn Féin represented a "mafia which are shooting the knees off people, which are engaging in crime, which are robbing the revenue of this country by putting in false certificates to get cheques from the revenue" and paid to the IRA.