The PSNI raid on the Sinn Féin offices in October 2002 was not only justified but also necessary to protect democracy, according to the DUP's policing spokesman Mr Ian Paisley jnr.
Mr Paisley welcomed the weekend findings of the Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, that the PSNI searches of the Sinn Féin offices at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, were effectively justified. He also launched another attack on the Ulster Unionist Party.
The raid was part of the police investigation into the so-called Stormontgate case in which the IRA allegedly was operating a spy ring concentrated on Castle Buildings, Stormont.
Sinn Féin MLA Mr Conor Murphy and some Sinn Féin staff complained to the Ombudsman about how PSNI officers raided the party offices.
Stormontgate brought down the Northern Executive and Assembly and - chiefly in terms of rehousing prison officers, whose personal details allegedly ended up in the hands of the IRA - is estimated to cost a minimum of £30 million.
The Ulster Unionist Party has said the overall cost could be £100 million.
Mrs O'Loan in her report found that the raid was not politically motivated, as Sinn Féin claimed, although she criticised officers for the heavy-handed scale and manner of the search.
Mr Murphy rejected her findings and insisted the raid was politically motivated.
"It is the view of Sinn Féin and indeed the vast majority of nationalists that the stage-managed raids on the Sinn Féin offices in Stormont were politically motivated and part of a wider anti-peace process agenda operating within the PSNI.
"Just because Nuala O'Loan has failed to uncover evidence to support this does not mean that this widely held belief is flawed," he repeated yesterday.
Mr Paisley said yesterday that the raid was absolutely necessary not only in restoring law and order but also democracy.
"Even though they were caught red-handed in possession of the personal information of prison officers, police officers and politicians, Sinn Féin still to this day deny their part in Stormontgate," he claimed.
He said the case illustrated why the UUP should never have entered into the power-sharing executive with Sinn Féin. "They were not fit for government then, they are not fit for government now and they will never be fit for government again until they deal with their illegally held arms, their criminal enterprises and this sort of paramilitary activity," said Mr Paisley.
"The UUP have attempted to play the hard-done-by party over the whole Stormontgate affair. The fact of the matter is they brought it all upon themselves.
"They helped place unrepentant and unreconstructed terrorist representatives in the heart of Northern Ireland's government whenever the whole world could see they did not measure up to basic democratic standards. They can complain about the rising cost of the ramifications of the Stormont spy-ring but they must also accept their culpability."
Former UUP minister Sir Reg Empey said that in reality the issue of the raid was a sideshow. The crucial issue was that the IRA allegedly was operating a spy ring and complaints from Sinn Féin about the raid could not mask that fact.
A UUP spokesman added that Mr Paisley's criticism of his party did not stand up because the DUP by accepting ministries in the last executive effectively was sharing power with Sinn Féin, even if the ministers would not actually sit in the Executive.
The SDLP policing spokesman Mr Alex Attwood, also welcoming the report, said it justified the party's view at the time that the nature of the raid was heavy-handed.
He said Sinn Féin's response to the report was no surprise. "Sinn Féin continue to want to hide from the intelligence-gathering activities of republicans and its contribution to the collapse of the institutions," Mr Attwood added.
"The report is also a further vindication of the independence and power of the Police Ombudsman's office. It's another good day for the investigation of complaints against the police," he said.
