SF slammed over IRA convictions comments

The SDLP and the Ulster Unionist Party have criticised Sinn Féin's call for all past convictions for IRA activity to be struck from the record.

Around 15,000 people have been convicted for IRA activities in the past 35 years.

Sinn Féin said some of these people were finding it hard to get work because of these convictions and it called for them to be struck from the record to help the reintegration of former paramilitary prisoners.

SDLP spokesman Alban McGuinness described the call as absurd and hypocritical as it would mean IRA men being treated more favourably than police officers, British soldiers and others accused of human rights abuses.

UUP spokesman Billy Armstrong, meanwhile, said the Sinn Féin proposal was completely unacceptable in any shape, form or fashion.