Sinn Féin to make choice

BRITAIN’S imposition of financial sanctions on Sinn Féin, in rebuke for its alleged involvement in the Northern Bank robbery, sets an example which the Irish Government should take on board.

Serious consideration should be given to Labour leader Pat Rabbitte’s call for the introduction of a charter requiring all political parties to sign a pledge of fealty to the State and loyalty to its institutions, including the Garda Siochána.

Otherwise, as Mr Rabbitte suggests, funding should be withdrawn from any party that refuses to deliver on this fundamental pledge.

The proposal makes a lot sense. The vast majority of taxpayers would be outraged at the idea of subsidising a party whose money is funding nefarious activities, north and south.

A cynic might argue, however, that Britain’s financial sanctions on Sinn Féin are unlikely to hurt a party with coffers awash with cash from the bank raid.

Depriving Sinn Féin’s four MPs of Westminster allowances would cost the party around £500,000. From April, it will also forfeit its block grant at Stormont for a further 12 months.

To an average political organisation, the repercussions of such a loss would be highly significant. But it is a drop in the ocean to those who are inextricably interwoven with the IRA, which pulled off the €36 million robbery, the biggest heist on these islands.

As yet, it is unclear how much of this vast horde has been recovered by gardaí in their successful blitz on IRA money laundering operations in the Republic where £3 million has been uncovered in recent days.

What is crystal clear, however, is the fact that Sinn Féin’s political standing has suffered major damage because of its alleged involvement with the robbery.

Popular perceptions of the party’s stated commitment to democratic politics have been shattered amid a

blizzard of allegations from both the Irish and British Governments and the gardaí and the PSNI, that senior officials of the party knew all about the Bank raid when recent peace negotiations were ongoing.

The sinister hypocrisy of that scenario infuriated the public. It is precisely because of alleged Sinn Féin involvement in the IRA robbery that the Independent Monitoring Commission recommended that financial sanctions be imposed on the party.

By rejecting calls from unionists and Tories to exclude Sinn Féin from the political process, Britain has wisely held the line with the Irish Government’s determination to keep Sinn Féin in the loop.

Notwithstanding the robbery, during which two families were terrorised, and the republican money laundering operation, there is merit in ensuring that Sinn Féin is not portrayed as victims of the current political crisis.

Hence the importance of ending divisions between the Taoiseach and Justice Minister Michael McDowell over the vexed question whether or not the leaders of Sinn Féin are on the IRA Army Council.

The essential issue is to make Sinn Féin focus on the stark choice of politics or criminality. It cannot have it both ways. For that reason, Labour’s proposed democratic charter warrants serious consideration.

While it can be difficult at times to accurately interpret the hidden meaning behind Sinn Féin statements, it is encouraging to hear of its determination to take hard decisions in order to move the peace process forward.

No doubt the hardest decision would result in Sinn Féin biting the political bullet and ending republican involvement in criminality once and for all.