Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness has described as "absolute rubbish" claims that he used the cover of the Bloody Sunday march in 1972 to plan a nailbomb attack in Derry city centre.
The claim was made in a statement submitted to the Saville inquiry by a former member of both the Provisional IRA and the INLA.
Mr Paddy Ward claims Mr McGuinness played a central role in a bombing operation which was called off at the last minute because the security forces prevented the civil rights marchers from entering the city centre on the day.
He claims Mr McGuinness arranged for the supply of 16 detonators for the nail-bombs just hours before the march and the he was at an IRA meeting where they were distributed.
But in a statement issued today Mr McGuinness said: "I have persistently refuted these and other allegations regarding IRA activity on the day and particularly those allegations directed towards me personally.
"Whether we are dealing with [journalist] Liam Clarke's version of Paddy Ward's claims or the most recent version from Ward himself they are absolute rubbish.
"I have given extensive co-operation to the Inquiry making a number of submissions in regard to allegations coming from different British government sources and their agents.
"My primary motivation for co-operating with the Inquiry has always been to assist the Bloody Sunday families to uncover the truth about how and why their loved ones were murdered on that day. I will continue in my efforts to assist this quest."
Mr McGuinness said he would deal with the allegations through his legal representatives when Mr Ward appears at the Saville inquiry.
"We will want to know if Mr Ward was a paid agent of any branch of British Intelligence Services? We have also requested a copy of the tapes of Liam Clarke's interviews with Mr Ward that Clarke now claims to have even though he has not submitted them to Saville," he added.
