Sinn Fein comes under fire

Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, has come under fire over his plans to raise funds for victims of the World Trade Centre attacks.

The West Belfast MP and former IRA prisoner is due to be a guest speaker at a dinner in New York. The event is normally held every year to boost the republican party’s coffers.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks it was decided, however, that all cash raised this year should be given to victims’ loved ones.

Hardline Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson branded it a ‘‘cynical exercise’’ in the face of the current climate of abhorrence to all forms of terrorism.

‘‘It’s somewhat hypocritical when you consider that Gerry Adams and co have done nothing for the widows and orphans of atrocities in Northern Ireland,’’ he said.

‘‘Sinn Fein is trying to distance itself from international terrorism, but it won’t wash.’’

The annual fundraiser is set to take place in the New York Sheridan on November 1.

Sinn Fein can normally expect to clear around 200,000 (£140,000) from these evenings, with much of that financial backing coming from the construction industry.

But a party spokesman said it was felt appropriate to give all money this year to relatives of those who died in last month’s carnage.

‘‘This is a proposal that came from those who in New York are normally part of our fundraising effort,’’ he explained.

‘‘It wasn’t part of some clever ploy by Sinn Fein in Ireland to win kudos on the back of what happened on September 11.

‘‘And anyone who presumes it’s a consequence of this notion of pressure on us is just a very sad individual.’’