The Northern Ireland authorities should release as much information as possible to help the public understand why the IRA is being blamed for the £26.5 million Northern Bank heist, former SDLP leader Mr John Hume claimed today.
While unionists continued to demand sanctions against Sinn Féin over the December 20th robbery in Belfast, Mr Hume said he believed the Taoiseach Mr Ahern's accusation that the IRA was responsible.
Mr John Hume
The Foyle MP, who stands down from Westminster at the next British General Election, said: "The Northern Bank armed robbery has caused enormous damage to the peace process and to the Good Friday Agreement.
"Sinn Féin has denied that the IRA was responsible for this robbery. However, their denials have not always been true in the past.
"Also, it is not just (Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable) Hugh Orde who has blamed the IRA for the robbery - the Taoiseach has been totally clear on this, based on the Irish Government's own intelligence.
"I believe the Taoiseach. He has worked enormously hard for the peace process and I do not think that he would have said what he did without clear information in front of him."
Last Friday, Mr Hugh Orde confirmed that his investigators believed the IRA carried out the raid during which the family of one bank official was held hostage and two homes in west Belfast and Loughinisland, Co Down, were taken over.
The bank has begun to recall all its notes in a bid to minimise its losses.
However, the revelation that the IRA carried out the robbery has blown away any hopes of an historic deal before the British election to restore a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland involving the Reverend Ian Paisley's DUP and Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness has furiously denied Mr Orde's claim that the IRA carried out the raid and has accused elements within unionism and the British security services of trying to undermine political progress.
PA