Sinn Féin rejects robbery allegations

Sinn Féin have reacted angrily to yesterday's House of Commons statement by Secretary of State Paul Murphy that Provisional IRA involvement in December's Northern Bank robbery was "deeply damaging" to the peace process.

Mr Murphy was speaking following confirmation by Chief Constable Hugh Orde that he believed the Provisional IRA were responsible for the £26.5 million robbery. The IRA is understood to have denied responsibility.

Sinn Féin Chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin said: “Sinn Féin will stand over our record in the peace process.

“Sinn Féin’s participation in this process and in any government is based entirely on our substantial electoral mandate and nothing else. We are the largest nationalist party in the six counties and the third largest party on this island. In contrast Paul Murphy has no mandate from the Irish people and we will not tolerate attempts by him to sanction or demonise the Sinn Féin electorate."

Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Maginnis called on the Government and the PSNI to circulate to every household and business in Northern Ireland any available information on those bank notes stolen from the Northern Bank.

Responding to the statement made in the House of Lords by Baroness Amos, Lord Maginnis said: “We know that Northern Bank notes are distinctive. We know that many of them can be traced. But are we not being led to believe that the whole £26 million is traceable? We have not been told what notes from other banks, including used notes and notes from the Bank of England, form part of that £26 million and whether it will be easy for the criminals to disperse that money. So we need some information on that if we are fully to understand how these criminals, even at this late stage, can be thwarted in benefiting from the money that they have stolen.”

Information on the serial numbers of the Northern Bank notes known to have been taken in the robbery are available online from the PSNI website.

(GB)