The Mitchell review would not have succeeded if the bugging device discovered in the Sinn Fein car used during meetings with the IRA during the 10-week negotiations had been discovered earlier, according to the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams.
The silver Ford Mondeo, owned by an unnamed party supporter and used by Mr Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness during the talks, was put on show for the media yesterday at the party's headquarters in west Belfast. Mr Adams demonstrated how the electronic tracking device, colour-coded to the car, slotted inside the door panel with concealed wiring linked to a battery in the engine, an aerial in the roof and listening equipment inside the car.
He said the device provided further evidence of the work of the "shadowy figures" of British military intelligence in Northern Ireland and strongly rejected claims that Sinn Fein had planted the device or had delayed publicising the incident.
Mr Adams said he would seek an urgent discussion with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, to determine who had sanctioned the device. He would also stress that the Taoiseach had already expressed his serious concerns to the party about the incident.
"If that had come to public attention, or Sinn Fein's attention during that review, the review would not have succeeded. We would have a far different dispensation today than the one which most people are enjoying," he said. "You can rest assured the IRA would not have been very pleased. "The stupidity of it is that the securocrats, who have been running this show for a very long time, appear to have been allowed to run the show even during the very sensitive part of the Mitchell review." A party source declined to state when the device was discovered, saying only "in recent days during a routine search". Mr Adams said the matter was brought to his attention within the past two days.
The party delayed publishing its programme for government at a press conference on Wednesday to announced the find.
The DUP MLA for Newry and Armagh, Mr Paul Berry, yesterday claimed that republicans could have been behind the device. "The ghost of Michael Collins may indeed yet haunt Mr Adams as it could very well turn out that his own comrades were responsible for the bugging," said Mr Berry.