Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness today accused Irish political leaders of seeking to discredit his party regardless of the damage caused to the peace process.
Mr McGuinness said that the established Dublin parties, including Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's Fianna Fail, were running scared of Sinn Féin electoral success in the Irish Republic and were making "a huge mistake" in trying to undermine its reputation.
Speaking at a press conference in Westminster, he said that progress in the peace process was "unlikely" ahead of the British general election expected on May 5th.
But he claimed to detect a readiness on the part of Democratic Unionist Party leader the Rev Ian Paisley to seek a resolution to the current crisis, and urged him to sit down with the Sinn Féin leadership to discuss the way forward.
Mr Ahern and Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell have alleged that senior members of Sinn Féin had prior knowledge of the £26 million Northern Bank robbery in Belfast last December, which Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde has blamed on the IRA.
The House of Commons will shortly vote on whether to suspend the allowances of Sinn Féin's four MPs at Westminster.
A report from the Independent Monitoring Commission said that the bank heist was carried out by the IRA and sanctioned by senior party members.
PA