The only barrier to progress in implementing the Belfast Agreement was the continuing "addiction" of provisional republicans to crime, the Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny told a meeting of the SDLP in south Belfast last night.
Mr Kenny, who during his visit met members of the McCartney family whose brother Robert was allegedly murdered by IRA members, also launched a fierce broadside against the Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams.
"Gerry Adams has made a number of statements recently attacking Fine Gael and my party's record of support for the peace process. I reject these assertions completely. Furthermore, I would remind Gerry Adams that our support for devolution and power sharing stretches back over 30 years to the Sunningdale Agreement secured by Liam Cosgrave in 1973," Mr Kenny said.
"Given our record of achievement, all done through democratic means, we will take no criticism from a movement responsible for the deaths of over 2,000 Irish people," said Mr Kenny.
Mr Kenny, who was greeted by the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, and its deputy leader, Dr Alisdair McDonnell, in Belfast last night, said he supported the SDLP's call for the reactivation of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation.
"Sinn Féin must now complete its journey to democracy but, to do so, it must consign paramilitarism and criminality firmly to history," he added.
