Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern were united yesterday in their condemnation of the IRA's offer to shoot members of its organisation involved in the murder of Robert McCartney.

The prime minister said the IRA statement defied description.

"It was quite an extraordinary thing to say. It cannot be in any shape or form justified," he added.

The Irish prime minister told the parliament in Dublin that he had to read the IRA's statement twice to grasp its full import.

"Sometimes you hear these things and it's hearsay but then you actually see it in a written form," he said.

"We all want to see justice to be done but their response [the IRA's] to that was to eliminate three or four people. It's horrific."

Meanwhile, the House of Commons will today debate a government motion calling for a suspension of parliamentary allowances for Sinn Féin's four MPs, which is worth about £500,000 to the party.