Sinn Fein responds angrily to BBC's IRA claim

SINN FEIN has reacted angrily to allegations in a BBC Spotlight programme broadcast last night which claimed that six of the party's elected representatives were members of the IRA.

The party's chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, described the programme, parts of which were later re-broadcast on News-night throughout the UK, as "a scandalous piece of tabloid journalism", and questioned its timing.

"When one strips away the public past of those named, what is left are anonymous sources and no evidence," he said in a statement, adding that "the timing of this documentary raises serious questions about the political agenda of the BBC."