Burton says IRA report ‘shocking’ but not surprising

Tánaiste Joan Burton has described a report into paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland, published on Tuesday by Secretary of State Teresa Villiers, as "profoundly shocking" but not surprising.

She said Sinn Féin had an enormous responsibility to commit to the end of paramilitary activity.

Ms Burton said: "I was coming home last night and I saw very big billboards on behalf of Sinn Féin, the kind of billboards smaller parties find difficult to fund at election time never mind at a time when an election is not imminent.

“The slogan was ‘Better off with Sinn Féin’. Can I just say Ireland would be better off if paramilitarism with Sinn Féin and with the IRA was brought to an end?”

Ms Burton said the description of paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland in the report and the finding that the IRA and its leadership structure continues to exist, albeit in a reduced form, was "deeply shocking".

She said: “We don’t need the kind of paramilitary activity, violence and racketeering implied in the report and those political organisations which are associated with or speak with authority in terms of particular paramilitary organisations they certainly have an enormous responsibility to go the extra mile to end the connection and to defuse paramilitarism in the south.”