Probe into Sinn Féin crime ‘link’ urged

THE Criminal Assets Bureau should be asked to investigate claims linking Sinn Féin to organised crime, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said yesterday.

In a detailed response to his party's social affairs spokesman Michael Ring, who earlier this week said Fine Gael should not rule out a coalition arrangement with Sinn Féin in the future, he said he would have "no truck with Sinn Féin as long as they have a private army."

He said that Justice Minister Michael McDowell's remarks that senior figures in Sinn Féin were engaging in organised crime to fund the republican movement amounted to serious allegations that should be investigated by the CAB.

Since it was established in 1996, the CAB has not secured any order or judgment at least not in the public domain against any paramilitary organisation on ceasefire.

Speaking on RTÉ radio's This Week programme, Mr Kenny said that a possible arrangement with Sinn Féin in the future could be considered only if it were to get rid of its arsenal; if it were to encourage Catholics to join the PSNI; and could establish it had no links, in any form, with punishment beatings, organised crime or illegal activities. Contacted yesterday, Mr Ring said he fully agreed with Mr Kenny's views that Sinn Féin could not have any part in any coalition as long as they had a military wing.

But in a clash of opinion with the party's justice spokesman John Deasy who said that an agreement with Sinn Féin would not occur in his lifetime, Mr Ring said he would "never say never." Clearly unhappy with Mr Deasy's intervention, he said: "I never pretend to speak for the Fine Gael party. Neither should John Deasy. I am not taking lectures from John Deasy about how Fine Gael should be run.

"When John Deasy can bring in a second Fine Gael TD for Waterford, then he can tell us who we go into government with." Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Kenny rejected views that the party was 'beyond repair" and that his leadership was to blame. Reiterating his opinion that it has been reinvigorated since he became leader, he said he was confident the party could take control of a number of county councils after the local elections and retain its four seats in the European Parliament.

He said he would recommend opposing President Mary McAleese if she decides to seek a nomination for a second term as a non-party candidate.