SINN FEIN’S chief negotiating officer has given warning against any move by the IRA to allow the return to Northern Ireland of hundreds of men and women exiled by the terrorist group.

In an interview with The Times, Martin McGuinness refused to offer firm commitments about the fate of more than a thousand people, most from nationalist communities, who were sent into exile by the IRA during the 30-year Troubles.

His refusal comes despite Unionist demands for the IRA to start a formal process of allowing back those it has forced to leave the Province and to link that to a proposed amnesty for several dozen republican terrorists on the run.

The amnesty is part of a package of concessions being put together by the Government aimed at persuading the IRA to make a public commitment renouncing violence for good. That in turn is expected to pave the way for a revival of the Stormont Assembly, which was suspended last October after the exposure of an alleged IRA spy ring at the Northern Ireland Office.

Mr McGuinness agreed that the plight of IRA exiles was a “difficulty that needs to be considered by all of us”, but he added: “That said, I would be concerned at the prospect of people coming back into communities and there being a community reaction.”

Mr McGuinness’s comments will alarm human rights groups, which have sought to expose the republican movement’s hypocrisy in championing rights for selected victims of British and loyalist violence while failing to help the many unacknowledged victims of the IRA. Henry Robinson, a human rights activist, said: “It’s now obvious that the exiles issue barely even features on Martin McGuinness’s or Sinn Fein’s agenda. It is blatantly unjust that republicans continue to hold this power of exclusion over their fellow countrymen.”

Mr McGuinness was speaking on the fringes of Sinn Fein’s annual conference in Dublin, which was broadcast live on Irish state television for the first time. For Sinn Fein, arguably the most important issues in the latest talks with Britain centre on policing — its demands include running down the Special Branch and doing away with plastic bullets — and the devolution of justice powers to Stormont.

In recent weeks, Mr McGuinness has appalled many Unionists by raising the prospect that a Sinn Fein minister might one day control policing in Northern Ireland. Obtaining a clear commitment from Britain to devolve policing is seen as central to paving the way for republicans to take their seats on the Province’s policing board, a move that would be regarded by many as tantamount to declaring an end to the IRA.

Mr McGuinness predicted that the policing and justice powers could be devolved in a “very short period”. He said: “I think there appears to be a consensus around the need to transfer powers and to have that happen within the lifetime of the next Assembly.”

Speaking at the conference, Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, gave the clearest hint yet that the party may sign up to the policing board. He said: “If I am asked, ‘can I see a time when it would be appropriate for Sinn Fein to join the policing board and participate fully in the policing arrangements on a democratic basis’, the answer is yes.”

Mr McGuinness dismissed fears of an imminent IRA split. “It’s not a thought that consumes me with concern,” he said. He also suggested that the notion of IRA disbandment, demanded after the exposure of the alleged IRA spy ring, was no longer being called for even by the majority of Unionists.

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