Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin has said there is a "world of difference" between party members having convictions for being in the IRA and gangland crime convictions.
It comes as the party continues to distance itself from former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall following the conclusion of the Regency Trial.
Mr Dowdall acted as a witness for the State in the trial investigating the shooting of David Byrne in the hotel in February 2016.
READ MORE - Gerry Hutch found not guilty of Regency Hotel murder as judge delivers verdict
Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch was found not guilty of Mr Byrne’s death after Ms Justice Tara Burns found large parts of his evidence unreliable. Dowdall was jailed for 12 years in 2017 for waterboarding a man.
Sinn Féin has continuously distanced itself from its former councillor, arguing that if they knew Dowdall’s links to crime, he would "never have been a member of Sinn Féin."
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday morning, Mr Ó Broin restated leader Mary Lou McDonald’s claim last year that there is "absolutely no comparison" between gangland crimes and those that were committed by members of the IRA during The Troubles.
Mr Ó Broin said: "I think Jonathan Dowdall is a convicted criminal. On that basis, I wouldn’t have him anywhere about the place.
"People who were involved in the IRA in the course of a conflict have an absolute right to be involved in political activity today.
"There is a world of difference between a political conflict, whatever one’s view of the combatants in that conflict, and how you then move from a conflict to a situation of armed conflict to a situation of peace.
"[There is] a world of a difference between that and organised drug gangs preying on working-class communities.
"There is a world of difference between people who are involved in criminal activity for criminal gain and from people who were involved in a conflict.
"I’m not arguing that every action of every actor in that conflict was right. I’m not saying that every activity of the IRA or any other group was right."
Mr Ó Broin argued that there were people involved in the IRA and armed conflict but that the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement created a pathway for these people to enter politics.
In a lengthy statement on Monday night, Ms McDonald distanced herself from both Dowdall and Hutch.
She said: "In relation to false and deeply offensive comments made about me during the course of this trial, I want to set out the facts.
"I have never met Gerard Hutch. I have never received money or electoral support from Gerard Hutch. The record shows that I have stood resolutely on the side of the community in the fight against criminal gangs, drug dealers and anti-social elements, and I will continue to do so.
"Jonathan Dowdall should never have been a member of Sinn Féin. Had I known what he would become involved in he would not have been a party member for one minute, never mind running for public office – I would not tolerate that."
Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell accused Sinn Féin of wrongly denying that the party knew about an attack on Dowdall's uncle's home in March 2011.
During his interview on Morning Ireland, Mr Ó Broin stated that Dowdall told the party's director of electors about the attack before the 2014 local elections.
Deputy Farrell said: "It is quite clear now that Sinn Féin has known for nine years of a gun attack on Dowdall’s uncle’s house which the party now says their own future politician brought up and discussed with the director of elections.
"This information didn’t just come to the party of out the blue this morning.
"This completely discredits Mary Lou McDonald’s account that nobody else had any idea of what Dowdall was capable of, as she previously claimed.
"Jonathan Dowdall became a Sinn Féin councillor at the 2014 local elections. Now we know before voting day, Dowdall told the party’s director of elections that he had no role in a 2011 gun attack at his uncle’s home.
"Here we are nine years on, being asked to believe that Sinn Féin simply accepted this being brought up out of the blue by Dowdall and did nothing?
"And yet, after all this, Dowdall is still deemed suitable to be a Sinn Féin candidate and they go off and get the posters and canvass cards ready. He soon goes on to waterboard a man while serving as a councillor in Mary Lou McDonald’s constituency.
"What else do they know about Jonathan Dowdall that has not yet become public?"
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