Trimble to consider 'Sinn Fein sanctions'

Castlereagh is the PSNI's Belfast headquarters

Ulster Unionists will not impose sanctions on Sinn Fein until more information is gathered on the seizure of IRA intelligence files, party leader David Trimble has said.

However, he said if the IRA was responsible for last month's break-in at the Castlereagh police complex it will be viewed as a breach of its ceasefire.

IRA intelligence files containing the names of senior Conservative politicians and British army bases were discovered during raids by police.

They are investigating the theft of sensitive security force documents from Special Branch offices at Castlereagh.

Mr Trimble said a measured assessment of events was needed to be made before the Ulster Unionists would consider sanctions against Sinn Fein.

David Trimble: "This would be a breach of the ceasefire"

"We are certainly at what might become a defining moment in the peace process," he said.

"What we need to hear from the police is precisely what is it about what they found that they regard as being sinister and what does it point towards.

"We need to operate on a basis of clarity not rumour."

The Northern Ireland first minister said he wanted to hear from the government about its own investigation into the security breach at Castlereagh.

"If it is the case that the IRA was responsible for the raid on Castlereagh, then they have broken their ceasefire and the Secretary of State John Reid must act," he said.

The Ulster Unionist Party ruling executive agreed a motion on Friday evening pledging "further action" on the find.

The chief culprits in the present controversy are the failed and faceless manipulators in the Special Branch and British Intelligence services

Gerry Adams
Sinn Fein

The party's assembly members met on Saturday to discuss the matter.

Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said: "The IRA cannot have it both ways.

"If they think the Ulster Unionist Party is going to sit back and ignore their activities they can think again."

Security sources have told the BBC they believe the files show that the IRA had been involved in gathering intelligence on the people named in the past few weeks.

Intelligence gathering

It is understood none of the Special Branch files stolen from Castlereagh were found in the raids in republican areas.

But the police have maintained that IRA involvement in the security breach at Castlereagh is one of the main lines of inquiry they are pursuing.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said there were "sustained efforts to create an entirely contrived crisis in the peace process".

Speaking in Tralee in the Republic of Ireland on Saturday, he said the British and Irish governments needed to be circumspect about their response "to the current flurry of media speculation".

"The chief culprits in the present controversy are the failed and faceless manipulators in the Special Branch and British Intelligence services," he said.

Acting chief constable Colin Cramphorn said he had no information to suggest that the IRA intended to resume violence.