Editing Sinn Féin (section)

== Past links with Republican paramilitaries ==
Sinn Féin is the largest [[Irish republican]] political party, and was historically associated with the [[Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)|Irish Republican Army]], while also having been associated with the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] in the party's modern incarnation. The Irish government alleged that senior members of Sinn Féin have held posts on the [[IRA Army Council]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/uk-news/these-men-run-ira-says-dublin-2479484 |title=These men run IRA, says Dublin |date=21 February 2005 |newspaper=[[The Scotsman]] |location=Edinburgh |access-date=24 January 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124200631/https://www.scotsman.com/news/uk-news/these-men-run-ira-says-dublin-2479484 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/mcguinness-and-adams-on-ira-army-council-says-dublin-484292.html |title=Irish government allegations about IRA army council |last=McKittrick |first=David |author-link=David McKittrick |date=21 February 2005 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |location=London |access-date=20 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100511080137/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/mcguinness-and-adams-on-ira-army-council-says-dublin-484292.html |archive-date=11 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, the SF leadership has denied these claims.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/conflict/gasf.html |publisher=[[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] (PBS) |place=Arlington, Virginia |access-date=30 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000709104042/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/conflict/gasf.html |archive-date=9 July 2000 |date=1998 |url-status=live |quote=The relationship between Sinn Fein and the IRA, historically, has been symbiotic. It is impossible to separate them. In more recent years, Sinn Fein has said, "We are not the IRA, they are a totally separate organization." In the minds of the vast majority of people in Ireland, whether they are Unionist or Nationalist, Sinn Fein is the political wing of the IRA, and it has played that role quite hotly down the years.}}</ref>

A republican document of the early 1980s stated: "Both Sinn Féin and the IRA play different but converging roles in the war of national liberation. The Irish Republican Army wages an armed campaign... Sinn Féin maintains the propaganda war and is the public and political voice of the movement".{{sfn|O'Brien|1995|page=128}} Robert White states at that time Sinn Féin was the junior partner in the relationship with the IRA, and they were separate organisations despite there being some overlapping membership.{{sfn|White|2017|page=201}}

Because of the party's links to the Provisional IRA, the [[United States Department of State|U.S. Department of State]] barred its members along with IRA volunteers from entering the U.S. since the early 1970s in accordance with the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952|Immigration and Nationality Act]] on the grounds that they were associated with the IRA waging war against a legitimate government.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/28/archives/suspected-leaders-of-ira-in-belfast-denied-us-visas.html|title=Suspected Leaders Of I.R.A. in Belfast Denied U.S. Visas|date=April 28, 1975|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Greening of the White House: The Inside Story of how America Tried to Bring Peace to Ireland|first=Conor|last=O'Clery|page=9|date=1996|publisher=[[Gill (publisher)|Gill & Macmillan]]|isbn=9-7807-1712-4916|quote=[Gerry Adams] had been barred along with other Sinn Féin leaders from entering the United States since the early 1970s because of his association with the IRA.}}</ref>

The [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] stated in 2005 that "we had always said all the way through we believed that Sinn Féin and the IRA were inextricably linked and that had obvious implications at leadership level".<ref>{{cite web |work=10 Downing Street online |title=Press Briefing: 3.45pm Monday 21 February 2005 |url=http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page7148.asp |access-date=30 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526035745/http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page7148.asp |archive-date=26 May 2008 |date=21 February 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Northern Bank robbery]] of £26.5&nbsp;million in Belfast in December 2004 further delayed a political deal in Northern Ireland. The IRA were widely blamed for the robbery,<ref>{{cite news |first=Owen |last=Bowcott |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jan/07/northernireland.northernireland |title=Bank raid allegations put peace at risk |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=7 January 2005 |access-date=20 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930220042/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jan/07/northernireland.northernireland |archive-date=30 September 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> although Sinn Féin denied this and stated that party officials had not known of the robbery nor sanctioned it.<ref>{{cite news |first=Lee |last=Glendinning |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/oct/09/northernbankrobbery.background |title=Northern Bank robbery: The crime that nearly ended the peace process |date=9 October 2008 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |access-date=20 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930220248/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/oct/09/northernbankrobbery.background |archive-date=30 September 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Because of the timing of the robbery, it is considered that the plans for the robbery must have been laid whilst Sinn Féin was engaged in talks about a possible peace settlement. This undermined confidence among [[Unionism (Ireland)|unionists]] about the sincerity of republicans towards reaching agreement. In the aftermath of the row over the robbery, a further controversy erupted when, on [[RTÉ]]'s ''[[Questions and Answers (TV series)|Questions and Answers]]'' programme, the chairman of Sinn Féin, [[Mitchel McLaughlin]], insisted that the IRA's controversial killing of a mother of ten young children, [[Jean McConville]], in the early 1970s though "wrong", was not a crime, as it had taken place in the context of the political conflict. Politicians from the Republic, along with the Irish media, strongly attacked McLaughlin's comments.<ref>{{cite news |title=Resignation call rejected |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4186887.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=19 January 2005 |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824155121/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4186887.stm |archive-date=24 August 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=177&iArticleID=39755 |title=Fallout from bank raid |first=Katie |last=Mingey |date=24 January 2005 |newspaper=[[The Irish Emigrant]] |place=Galway |id=Issue No. 938 |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051202101227/http://www.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=177&iArticleID=39755 |archive-date=2 December 2005}}</ref>

On 10 February 2005, the government-appointed [[Independent Monitoring Commission]] reported that it firmly supported the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland|PSNI]] and [[Garda Síochána]] assessments that the IRA was responsible for the Northern Bank robbery and that certain senior members of Sinn Féin were also senior members of the IRA and would have had knowledge of and given approval to the carrying out of the robbery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fourth report of the Independent Monitoring Commission |url=http://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/documents/uploads/HC%20308.pdf |publisher=[[Independent Monitoring Commission]] |date=10 February 2005 |access-date=28 March 2007 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614121443/https://www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/documents/uploads/HC%20308.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2007}}</ref> Sinn Féin has argued that the IMC is not independent, and that the inclusion of former [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland|Alliance Party]] leader [[John Alderdice]] and a British security head was proof of this.<ref>{{cite web |title=IMC should be scrapped |first=Conor |last=Murphy |author-link=Conor Murphy |url=http://www.sinnfein.ie/gaelic/news/detail/13261 |publisher=Sinn Féin |date=27 February 2006 |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230827/http://www.sinnfein.ie/gaelic/news/detail/13261 |archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref> The IMC recommended further financial sanctions against Sinn Féin members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The British government responded by saying it would ask MPs to vote to withdraw the parliamentary allowances of the four Sinn Féin MPs elected in 2001.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sinn Féin facing raid sanctions |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4285723.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=22 February 2005 |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831015740/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4285723.stm |archive-date=31 August 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Gerry Adams responded to the IMC report by challenging the Irish government to have him arrested for IRA membership—a crime in both jurisdictions—and for [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0210/northpolitics.html |title=Adams challenges Ahern to have him arrested |date=10 February 2005 |work=[[RTÉ News]] |location=Dublin |language=en-ie |access-date=27 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321151627/http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0210/northpolitics.html |archive-date=21 March 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 20 February 2005, [[Minister for Justice (Ireland)|Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform]] [[Michael McDowell (politician)|Michael McDowell]] publicly accused three of the Sinn Féin leadership, Gerry Adams, [[Martin McGuinness]] and [[Martin Ferris]] (TD for [[Kerry North (Dáil constituency)|Kerry North]]) of being on the seven-man IRA Army Council; they later denied this.<ref>{{cite news |title=McDowell: These men are leaders of the IRA |first1=Tom |last1=Brady |first2=Senan |last2=Molony |author2-link=Senan Molony |url=http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=39&si=1344760&issue_id=12116 |date=21 February 2005 |newspaper=[[Irish Independent]] |location=Dublin |issn=0021-1222 |language=en |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216093704/http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=39&si=1344760&issue_id=12116 |archive-date=16 February 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Dublin: Sinn Féin chiefs in IRA |first=Peter |last=Taggart |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/02/20/nireland.sinn.fein/ |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=21 February 2005 |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050311134201/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/02/20/nireland.sinn.fein/ |archive-date=11 March 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 27 February 2005, a demonstration against the murder of [[Robert McCartney (murder victim)|Robert McCartney]] on 30 January 2005 was held in east Belfast. [[Alex Maskey]], a former Sinn Féin [[Lord Mayor of Belfast]], was told by relatives of McCartney to "hand over the 12" IRA members involved.<ref>{{cite news |title=Give up killers, people's protest tells IRA |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article416360.ece |first=David |last=Sharrock |date=28 February 2005 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |location=London |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20100417153557/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article416360.ece |archive-date=17 April 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The McCartney family, although formerly Sinn Féin voters themselves, urged witnesses to the crime to contact the PSNI.<ref>{{cite news |title=How pub brawl turned into republican crisis |first=Angelique |last=Chrisafis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,1426976,00.html |date=28 February 2005 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |access-date=29 March 2007 |archive-date=4 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004111417/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/feb/28/northernireland.northernireland |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=IRA expels three over McCartney murder |first=Angelique |last=Chrisafis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,1425969,00.html |date=26 February 2005 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |access-date=29 March 2007 |archive-date=4 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004111407/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/feb/26/northernireland.northernireland |url-status=live }}</ref> Three IRA men were expelled from the organisation, and a man was charged with McCartney's murder.<ref>{{cite news |title=IRA expels three after killing |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4299599.stm |date=26 February 2005 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=29 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051122131629/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4299599.stm |archive-date=22 November 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Two remanded in McCartney killing |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4609435.stm |date=4 June 2005 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=29 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115140709/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4609435.stm |archive-date=15 January 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Irish [[Taoiseach]] [[Bertie Ahern]] subsequently called Sinn Féin and the IRA "both sides of the same coin".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2138000.ece  |title=Sinn Féin must prove it supports the rule of law |date=9 January 2007 |newspaper=[[Belfast Telegraph]] |issn=0307-5664 |location=Belfast |language=en |access-date=28 March 2007|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070128153322/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2138000.ece |archive-date=28 January 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In February 2005 [[Dáil Éireann]] passed a motion condemning the party's alleged involvement in illegal activity. The [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush Administration]] did not invite Sinn Féin or any other Northern Irish political party to the annual [[St Patrick's Day]] celebrations at the [[White House]], choosing instead to invite the family of Robert McCartney.{{sfn|Frampton|2009|page=164}} Senator [[Ted Kennedy]], a regular sponsor of Gerry Adams' visits to the US during the peace process, also refused to meet Adams and hosted the McCartney family instead.{{sfn|Frampton|2009|page=164}}

On 10 March 2005, the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] in London passed without significant opposition a motion, introduced by the British government, to withdraw the allowances of the four Sinn Féin MPs for one year, in response to the Northern Bank Robbery. This measure cost the party approximately £400,000. However, the debate prior to the vote mainly surrounded the more recent events connected with the murder of Robert McCartney. Conservatives and unionists put down amendments to have the Sinn Féin MPs evicted from their offices at the House of Commons but these were defeated.<ref>{{cite web |title=SF stripped of Commons allowances |url=http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2005/03/10/story193115.asp |publisher=BreakingNews.ie |date=10 March 2005 |access-date=30 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929085237/http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/2005/0310/ireland/kfsnmhkfkfoj/ |archive-date=29 September 2012}}</ref>

In March 2005, [[Mitchell Reiss]], the [[United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland]], condemned the party's links to the IRA, saying "it is hard to understand how a European country in the year 2005 can have a private army associated with a political party".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7169846 |title=Sinn Féin chief says IRA may cease to exist |date=12 March 2005 |access-date=27 April 2006 |publisher=[[NBC News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113055816/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7169846/ |archive-date=13 November 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The October 2015 [[Assessment on Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland]] concluded that the Provisional IRA still existed "in a much reduced form", and that some IRA members believed its Army Council oversaw both the IRA and Sinn Féin, although it believed that the leadership "remains committed to the peace process and its aim of achieving a united Ireland by political means".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assessment-on-paramilitary-groups-in-northern-ireland |title=Assessment on paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland |date=20 October 2015 |publisher=[[Northern Ireland Office]] |access-date=28 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128185055/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assessment-on-paramilitary-groups-in-northern-ireland |archive-date=28 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>