The Irish justice minister, Michael McDowell, yesterday  accused Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness  of being members of the IRA's ruling army council.

The Irish government also accused Sinn Fein member of the Irish parliament Martin Ferris of being involved with the terrorist wing of the republican movement.

There have been suggestions that the three men were involved at the top of the IRA, but McDowell is the first to make the direct accusation.

He told Dublin's Today FM: "We're talking about a small group of people, including a number of elected representatives, who run the whole [republican] movement."