'No comparison' between Provisional IRA and gangland criminals, claims Mary Lou McDonald

Sinn Féin leader also again says the party would have had nothing to do with Jonathan Dowdall if they had known about his links to gangland crime

Mary Lou McDonald said former councillor Jonathan Dowdall 'wouldn't have been within a roar of me or within Sinn Féin' if she had 'even an inkling' that he was involved in any form of criminality. Picture: Damien Storan/PA

There is no comparison between the Provisional IRA and gangland criminals, the leader of Sinn Féin has said.

Mary Lou McDonald said that a discussion on having members of the party who have convictions for their role in The Troubles was "one discussion", but gangland crime was another.

“As somebody who represents the north inner city from Dublin, and who has seen and sees at first hand the damage, the corrosive damage that so-called gangland has caused to communities, there is absolutely no comparison."

Ms McDonald was speaking after saying at the party's ard fheis on Saturday that she was "shocked" that former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall was involved in criminality.

Mr Dowdall has recently been put behind bars for facilitating one of the most high-profile gangland murders in the country, at the Regency Hotel.

Speaking on Newstalk, she said, however, that Mr Dowdall and members of the Provisional IRA were not comparable.

“The things that happened in the course of a very long political conflict — which, thank God, is now long over, we’ve had 25 years of peace — there is no comparison between that and the kind of challenge, and it is an ongoing challenge, to our society between this and the so-called gangland crime epidemic poses.

“I say that as somebody who represents fine communities, the best of people, for whom this is a daily scourge.” Ms McDonald said that she was not aware of Mr Dowdall's criminal activity until he was arrested for a separate offence.

“The first I knew of any of this was when he had been arrested for a different offence. And I was very, very shocked by that,” Ms McDonald said.

“Prior to that, he had been a person running a very successful business, with very high-level contracts, employing a lot of people. And certainly, there wouldn’t have been any indication for me or for anybody else that he would be involved in this type of activity.

“Had I had even an inkling that he was involved in any form of criminality, much less than what he was now accused of, he wouldn't have been within a roar of me or within Sinn Féin."