Having spoken in Ballymena on Tuesday night on the need for Sinn Fein/IRA to give up criminality as well as its weapons, DUP MEP Jim Allister QC on Wednesday night in the European Parliament in Brussels, continued his attack on Sinn Fein's links to organised crime.

During a debate on crime and security, Mr Allister said, "I wish to focus on organised crime and draw the lessons which Northern Ireland presents.

Following the ceasefires in Northern Ireland we have seen a marked diversion of terrorist muscle and effort, both loyalist and republican, into organised crime.

The Provisional IRA is now a key player in this field.  Organised crime has become the main source of income and wealth for Sinn Fein/IRA.

IRA Army Council member, Slab Murphy, is a leading crime boss in Ireland, presiding over a border empire built on fuel smuggling.  The IRA stands exposed by the Justice Minister in Dublin, on foot of an undercover operation, as deeply implicated in organised crime centred on Dublin Port, under the direction of a former IRA prisoner.  Serial hijacking of huge consignments of cigarettes are acknowledged to be the work of the IRA, the latest just a few weeks ago.

The inescapable truth is that Sinn Fein, which masquerades as democratic and which has two shameless members in this House, is largely funded by organised criminal activity.  Little wonder they are the richest party in Ireland.

Loyalist terrorists also have made organised crime their forte, particularly in the despicable drugs trade.  They too stand exposed as the grubby gangsters that they are.

My call in this house is that across Europe organised crime should be relentlessly pursued.

There must be no hiding place or by ball for any crime boss, whether he be a Sinn Fein /IRA leader or a Mafia godfather or some other parasite feeding off society.

I, therefore, encourage and welcome organised crime-busting measures throughout Europe."

Click here to view the full speech made by Jim Allister