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Article: Counting the cost; Ireland and Sinn Fein.(In the aftermath of the Belfast bank raid, Sinn Fein loses credibility)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 19, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Adams: how dare they call me a criminal?
A bank robbery comes at a high political price
TWO months ago it seemed entirely plausible to predict that Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army's political arm, might be a partner in government in both Belfast and Dublin before the decade was out. Only last October the Irish foreign minister, Dermot Ahern, said that Sinn Fein's participation in the Dublin government was just a matter of time--always assuming it dropped its paramilitary connection, and the IRA disarmed and then disbanded. Then, in December, Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party came close to a deal to share power in a restored executive in ...