Three elected SF members ‘IRA chiefs’

THREE Sinn Féin elected representatives are also members of the IRA Army Council, Justice Minister Michael McDowell has claimed.

Mr McDowell did not name the three when speaking during a debate with Sinn Féin general secretary Robbie Smyth at Trinity College Dublin on Tuesday night.

The justice minister also made reference to party president Gerry Adams and reputed senior IRA member Brian Keenan, describing them both as people with a Marxist philosophy.

The debate, organised by TCD’s Young PD grouping, centred on Sinn Féin’s economic policies and asked whether they would destroy the country.

But, according to witnesses who attended the debate, the discussion ranged beyond purely economic policies.

The Progressive Democrats yesterday confirmed the minister said he believed three members of the IRA Army Council were also elected public representatives.

According to those who attended the debate, Mr McDowell also referred to the recent Leeds Castle talks between the various parties involved in hammering out an agreement on the North’s institutions.

He claimed Sinn Féin asked Fianna Fáil to say what the party must do to get into government with them.

This has been flatly denied by Sinn Féin, who publicly argue that it will not be bound by conditions laid down by other parties.

Mr Smyth claimed that at the meeting the minister failed to stick to the economic issues at the centre of the debate.