The alleged involvement of men who were recently members of the IRA in yesterday's hijacking of a drinks lorry raises very serious questions about the organisation's pledge to end criminality, Fine Gael and Labour said last night.
One of the men detained by gardaí in connection with the seizure of the articulated lorry outside Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, was released under licence seven years ago under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. The man had been serving a six-year sentence for possession of explosives. One of the other two men arrested following the €300,000 heist is a known former member of the IRA, security sources have said.
A Sinn Féin spokesman said last night that the Meath hijack was "a criminal matter that should be investigated by the gardaí, and prosecuted in the courts. It should not be turned into a wider issue. Hijacking is theft and it should be pursued by the gardaí," said the spokesman, who rejected criticism levelled by the main Opposition parties.
Labour TD Brendan Howlin said it was always known that some members of the IRA would continue to remain involved in crime despite the IRA's declaration that it had ended its campaign of violence.
"There was always a view that we would be faced with that situation in the end-game, if that is what we are in. If that is so, then we can deal with that," he told The Irish Times.
However, Mr Howlin said it would be much more worrying if an IRA unit acting with the express authority of the IRA command had been involved in the hijacking as part of the organisation's search for funds.
"We will have to wait and see if that is the case. People are innocent until proven guilty, but we will watch this situation with the gravest concern until we know for sure.
"However, if they were acting as an "attached" unit of the IRA then this is a much more sinister situation that will present the greatest challenges," said Mr Howlin, who was appointed Labour's justice spokesman last week.
Fine Gael TD Jim O'Keeffe said the hijacking held the "most serious implications" for the peace process and for hopes that the Northern Ireland political institutions could be brought back to life.
"I am very concerned about this robbery, but I am even more concerned about its alleged background. The political situation is such, and the lack of trust between the parties is such, that this creates difficulties that could well be done without," he said.
The Criminal Assets Bureau and the Northern Ireland division of the Assets Recovery Agency have recently targeted paramilitary-controlled diesel laundering operations on both sides of the Border. Last July, the IRA army council instructed "all IRA units" to dump arms and "to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means".
