Sinn Féin respond to Árd Fheis bomb claim

Sinn Féin have responded to claims by the UVF that they left a bomb in the Mansion House during the party's 1981 Árd Fheis.

A security alert is underway at following warnings that an unexploded device planted by loyalists 25 years ago may still be in the building.

“Firstly we have no way of establishing at this stage whether or not this claim is true," said Dublin City Sinn Féin councillor Christy Burke.

“Obviously the first thing which needs to happen is for a thorough search to take place in the Mansion House to ensure that the building is safe.

“However, this claim does raise very serious questions which require answers.

“We need to establish if any other buildings had similar devices planted in them and the Irish Government need to demand answers from the British government about their involvement with the UVF at this time.

“The culture of concealment and cover-up at the heart of the British government policy of collusion needs to be ended. Very few people believe that the UVF acting alone were capable of carrying out these types of attacks in Dublin.

“If this story is proven then it will become another page in the collusion story which still needs to be exposed.”