The Sinn Féin leadership was involved in angry recriminations with Provisional IRA members in Co Tyrone last week over allegations that "mainstream republicans" were intimidating members of Cookstown District Policing Partnership (DPP), well-placed sources have told The Irish Times.Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor, reports.
While most of the recent intimidation of DPP members has been the work of the "Real IRA", some Provisional republicans in Co Tyrone were also involved in trying to force Catholic members of the 15-member Cookstown DPP to leave the body, the sources said.
Almost two weeks ago nationalist members of Cookstown DPP were warned by the PSNI that they were under threat from "mainstream republicans". Ms Teresa Rooney, an independent nationalist member, resigned because of the threat.
The Sinn Féin leadership of Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness were angered at the Cookstown incident and intervened to ensure a clampdown on the "minor activists" who were involved, the sources said.
A Sinn Féin spokesman yesterday described the reports about Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness intervening in Cookstown as "rubbish" and suggested that the allegation was coming from people intent on "scuppering" the current intensive negotiations aimed at restoring devolution.
However, normally reliable sources told The Irish Times that Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness, with the support of the Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Ms Michelle Gildernew, were infuriated at the Cookstown incident and insisted it must end.
The word went down from the leadership to Sinn Féin in Co Tyrone that intimidation must stop, one source said. "The republican leadership at local level got the word out to the local hawks, who are pretty minor figures, that they better stop their carry-on."
These claims support comments from the PSNI Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde, last week that he had intelligence that some people connected to the Provisional IRA had been "engaged in some low-level activity", although he was careful not to finger the IRA leadership.
He stressed that the main threat was from the "Real IRA", as was evidenced by serious intimidation threats elsewhere in Tyrone and in Fermanagh, Derry and Down.
The extent of the Sinn Féin repudiation of the intimidation, and a denial of any IRA involvement in it by senior figures such as Mr McGuinness, Mr Pat Doherty, Ms Gildernew and Mr Gerry Kelly indicate a strong Provisional leadership opposition to the incidents and an awareness that it could cause Sinn Féin embarrassment at this sensitive period of the negotiations.
It also explains why, despite Sinn Féin's denials, the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, called on the IRA to issue a statement saying it was not involved.