Number 10: Guarded welcome

Downing Street has welcomed Sinn Fein moves against members suspected of being involved in a Belfast murder.

Number 10 said on Monday that the party's conference at the weekend had been positive for the Northern Ireland peace process as republicans faced up to accusations that the IRA's continuing criminality was holding up devolution.

The British and Irish governments have called for a complete end to IRA illegality before the suspended Stormont assembly can be restored and Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams used the gathering to speak out against the murder last month of party supporter Robert McCartney.

"What we saw at the weekend at Sinn Fein's conference was that they are at last beginning to addresses the concerns raised by the British and Irish governments and that is a positive thing," the prime minister's official spokesman said.

"But the bottom line remains that all criminality connected to the party needs to cease before we can move forward."

Pressure

Sinn Fein is due to exert greater pressure on the IRA to reveal the identity of those who killed a Belfast man during a pub brawl.

The brutal murder of McCartney overshadowed the party's weekend conference - which saw Adams warn that he would have no truck with gangland criminality.

Addressing an audience which included McCartney's five sisters, Adams said the IRA would have to face justice.

"Those responsible for the brutal killing of Robert McCartney should admit to what they did in a court of law," he said.

"I am not letting this issue go until those who have sullied the name of the republican cause are made to account for their actions."

Sinn Fein fears that the murder, along with the December Northern Bank robbery, has undermined its progress and could damage its general election prospects.

The party has become the largest pro-unification force in the province, although voters have mounted a strong backlash since December.

Suspension

Adams confirmed last week that seven members of Sinn Fein had been suspended for alleged involvement in McCartney's murder.

Despite growing pessimism about the possibility of a return to power sharing, the closing session of the Sinn Fein conference saw senior republican Mitchell McLaughlin appeal for action.

"Seven years after the endorsement of that agreement by the vast majority of the population north and south we still await its implementation," he said.
 
"On three separate occasions during a period of 22 months we have concluded negotiations with the two governments around a political package which, had it been adopted, would have ended the political stalemate and opened the door to a future based on partnership, inclusivity, equality and justice."

Privately, however, Sinn Fein's senior officials accept that the possibility of an early return to government has been seriously undermined by the public's backlash against recent IRA activity.

MPs are set to vote shortly on whether to strip the party of its state funding and remove its access rights from the palace of Westminster.