Responding to comments from the Sinn Fein president when she sought to deny that there was any link between the IRA and the activities of criminal gangs in Dublin TUV East Antrim spokesman Norman Boyd said:
“Mrs McDonald’s comments were not just insulting to the countless victims of IRA violence; they are manifestly wrong in point of fact. Gangland crime was exactly the sort of thing her fellow traveler in the Republican movement specialised in. It was the IRA which carried out the biggest robbery in the history of the British Isles. On other occasions, members of the Garda and post office workers paid with their lives because they “got in the way” of IRA thieves.
“Hijacking was a common feature of the IRA campaign and they were much worse than hijackings performed by any criminal gang as they were more often than not carried out with the express purpose of loading the vehicle with a bomb to destroy both life and property.
“Kidnapping was also something the IRA didn’t shrink from. Nor did they balk at covering up horrific sexual abuse.
“It is indeed correct not to put the IRA in the same category as other criminal gangs – but only because they are much worse.”