McDowell urged to justify U-turn over IRA crime

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell was called on yesterday to provide more detail on the reasons for a dramatic turnaround in his view regarding the IRA’s involvement in crime.

Mr McDowell said over the weekend that IRA criminal activity had ended in the Republic and there had been no major IRA robberies since the summer.

The comments were in contrast to trenchant views which he expressed earlier in the year regarding the level of IRA involvement in crime in the South. Opposition politicians yesterday called on the minister to elaborate on his comments, which were reported in yesterday’s Sunday Business Post.