SINN FÉIN yesterday lost a legal bid to overturn financial sanctions imposed on it by the British Government because of IRA activity.

A Court in Northern Ireland has heard the claim that the alleged abduction of republican dissident Bobby Tohill in February was not connected to any paramilitary group.

THE dissident republican at the centre of an alleged IRA kidnap plot yesterday stormed out of a courtroom where he faced a threat-to-kill charge.

The dissident republican at the centre of an alleged IRA kidnap plot today stormed out of a courtroom where he faced a threat-to-kill charge.

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness ended a two-and-a-half-day visit to South Africa by paying tribute to the role of the African National Congress government in encouraging parties in Northern Ireland.

The IRA’s continued paramilitary violence will cost Sinn Féin £120,000 (€180,200), it was confirmed tonight.

Gerry Adams’s ‘no activities’ line is back to haunt him, says Political Editor Harry McGee.

LEADING members of Sinn Féin are operating at the highest echelons of the IRA, according to an international group monitoring peace in the North.

VIOLENCE IN the North has surged since the Good Friday Agreement, a report claimed yesterday.

Terrorist violence in Northern Ireland has surged since the Good Friday peace deal was signed six years ago, a scathing new report claimed today.

The British government will reveal today if it would impose financial punishments on Sinn Féin for alleged IRA ceasefire breaches.

A tough new assessment of alleged IRA ceasefire breaches could pile intense pressure on paramilitaries to halt the violence, Northern Ireland’s chief constable claimed today.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell

The Irish and British governments were tonight studying a new commission’s first assessment of paramilitary ceasefires in Northern Ireland.

Talks on the future of the Good Friday Agreement have descended into a farce, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams claimed today.

The Irish and British governments would be making a mistake if they think they can operate a form of political apartheid against Sinn Féin, they were warned today.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair were due to launch a fresh bid today to breath new life into efforts to restore Northern Ireland’s Assembly.

The political process in Northern Ireland will remain deadlocked if the British government fails to honour pledges on issues such as equality, human rights and justice, Sinn Féin vice president Pat Doherty warned today.

A senior US politician warned today that excluding Sinn Féin from the Good Friday Agreement review was not the way forward.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams jetted off to the US today as pressure mounted on republicans to end all paramilitary activity.

Sinn Féin must remain under pressure over its links to the IRA, a senior Democratic Unionist insisted today.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are due to hold talks in Dublin today as pressure mounts on them to impose sanctions against Sinn Féin over alleged IRA activity.

The Government is contemplating freezing Sinn Féin out of the political process in Northern Ireland, Gerry Adams claimed tonight.

A FOUR-MEMBER independent commission set up to monitor paramilitary activity said yesterday it is considering issuing a report specifically on the attempted abduction of dissident republican Bobby Tohill in Belfast.

The body established to oversee paramilitary ceasefires in the North has revealed that it is considering issuing an ad hoc report about the Provisional IRA’s alleged involvement in an abduction attempt in Belfast.

IN withdrawing the Ulster Unionist Party from the review of the Belfast Agreement in protest at the alleged IRA attack on Bobby Tohill in Belfast recently, it appears David Trimble has embraced the political ecumenism called for in the Good Friday Agreement.

CONTINUING republican violence is holding up the Northern peace process, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern warned yesterday.

LOYALIST and republican paramilitaries carried out more than 100 punishment beatings and shootings in the last year, the North’s Chief Constable Hugh Orde claimed yesterday.

The IRA has carried out more than 50 punishment beatings and shootings in the last year, Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde claimed today.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was meeting the British Prime Minister today in a bid to get Sinn Féin thrown out of the talks seeking to restore devolution to Northern Ireland.

The Ulster Unionist Party today pulled out of talks in Belfast seeking to restore devolved government to Northern Ireland.

The future of paramilitarism in Northern Ireland was today under the spotlight at talks on the future of the Good Friday Agreement as republicans continued to face demands for the standing down of the IRA.

The Democratic Unionists embarked today on a fresh effort to persuade other Northern Ireland parties to freeze Sinn Féin out of a future devolved government.

Political Editor Harry McGee on the first shots in an election campaign.

SINN FÉIN President Gerry Adams warned the British and Irish Governments this weekend that the IRA will carry out no further decommissioning until they honour their obligations under the Good Friday Agreement.

Sinn Féin does not have to pass any “special tests” to prove its commitment to peace, the party’s president Gerry Adams said today.

The British and Irish governments need to take risks to win peace in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams claimed tonight.

All shades of unionism in Northern Ireland appear to have “a blind spot” about their role in the conflict that broke out there, it was claimed today.

Sinn Féin is up to the task of getting rid of all armed groups in Northern Ireland as part of a collective effort, the party’s chief negotiator Martin McGuinness insisted today.

Sinn Féin today warned that Northern Ireland’s peace process would collapse if the UK government gave in to demands to expel it from talks to restore devolution.

Sinn Féin is coming under increased pressure to get off the fence, says Political Editor Harry McGee.

SINN FÉIN TD Martin Ferris yesterday accused the Government of demonising his party as he says they are afraid of the gains the party will make in the upcoming local elections.

The Democratic Unionists’ refusal to engage with Sinn Féin in talks on the future of the Good Friday Agreement shows a lack of conviction in their own position, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said tonight.