Senior republican figures with links to Sinn Féin have an "ongoing" involvement in crime, the Minister for Justice has claimed, writes Paul Cullen.
Mr McDowell said yesterday he had intelligence that senior republican figures were involved in "serious and ongoing" crime in Dublin Port. Crime in the port had been organised by senior figures in the Provisional movement in the past "and very recently as well", he said.
Sinn Féin members from Northern Ireland had been involved in organising criminal heists in the port.
When some of the people used for this activity were found to be "freelancing" they were brought north of the Border and subjected to punishment beatings. More recently, "more subtle tactics" had been employed.
However, he declined to give more specific information and challenged the media to investigate Sinn Féin links to these activities.
While it was true that as Minister for Justice he was aware of some things that were not in the public realm, it wasn't for him to "lead the charge" and reveal his intelligence. "That's not the way the world works." Mr McDowell said the media had been "overwhelmed" by Sinn Féin's "very professional propaganda" and had "given up" on quizzing the party on its policies and involvement with paramilitarism.
"I've never seen an economic analysis of Sinn Féin policies. Most people don't know what they stand for at all. Why is it that as a party they have links with FARC in Colombia, and the Castro regime in Cuba? Why are those the economic models that attract them, and how does that play into what they would actually do in Ireland? We just don't hear anybody asking them that."
Mr McDowell said a movement that combined violence with the ballot box was "analogous" to the Nazis. The IRA army council, which contained Sinn Féin figures, dictated the strategy of the republican movement.
He pointed out that present and former members of the established parties were challenged "day in, day out" on the the issue of corruption.
"By the same token, people who are senior figures in the Provisional movement \ who are involved in criminality, beatings and extortion should be challenged.We have reached the point now where there can be no further fudge.Their Lá has arrived now, and they have to decide whether to go the democratic way or the paramilitary way." This, he said, was a decision for the entire Provisional movement.
"Sinn Féin is not a republican party; its values, methods and aspirations are not republican. I believe I am a much more authentic republican," he said.
The British and Irish governments had "leaned over backwards" to help Sinn Féin leave paramilitarism behind. "But the real question is, do they want to do this. I believe they don't."