Ahern, McDowell divided on claims of SF’s IRA role

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday attempted to defuse the furore over Michael McDowell’s naming of Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris as IRA Army Council members, by declining to back up the Minister for Justice’s view.

Mr Ahern said he had no “hard evidence” of who sits on the council.

The accusation was seen in Government circles as unhelpful, prompting Mr Ahern to return the focus to ending IRA criminality.

In a joint statement, the three Sinn Féin figures denied being members of the IRA or the Army Council and accused Mr McDowell of abuse of his office. Although Mr Ahern did not clash with Mr McDowell, he drew a distinction between security briefings and material evidence.

“There’s one thing about intelligence briefings, there’s another about hard evidence and I do not have hard evidence,” he said.

Mr McDowell said he was “absolutely confident” of his claim.