IRA punishment beatings ‘stopped during election time’

LOYALIST and republican paramilitaries have carried out 1,700 punishment attacks in the North since 1998, PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde revealed yesterday.

And he claimed that the rising number of IRA shootings and beatings are also tightly controlled and halted during crucial election periods.

Mr Orde's assessment backed a ceasefire watchdog's recent dossier which highlighted the Provisionals' ability to switch off the violence during Sinn Féin's ballot box battles.