SF has worked hard to be part of solution, says Rabbitte

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte made an unexpectedly generous gesture to the leadership of Sinn Fein last night, when he said he had always accepted it had “worked hard, and often courageously, to become part of the solution”.

However, Mr Rabbitte also tempered his praise for the Sinn Fein leadership with trenchant criticism of the IRA which he said was responsible for a great deal of the violence that still exists in Northern Ireland.

He was speaking during a private members motion on continuing paramilitarism brought jointly by Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.