Sinn Fein's Mr Martin Ferris has reacted angrily to claims by his constituency rival, Mr Dick Spring of Labour, about alleged links between Sinn Féin and drug-dealing in other parts of Ireland.
"I find it very hard to take the Sinn Féin line on drugs. They're up to their necks in peddling drugs in other parts of the island and on the other hand they're pretending they're going to save the country from drugs," Mr Spring told yesterday's Irish Examiner.
Mr Ferris said he was confident the "blatant lies" being peddled by Opposition parties to scare people from voting Sinn Féin would fail. "Dick Spring's comments over the weekend about Sinn Féin were nothing more than a hysterical rant from an absentee TD who is under pressure to hold on to his seat."
Mr Spring appeared to have "lost the plot altogether", he added.