SINN FEIN REACTION: The Madrid bombings were condemned yesterday by the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, whose party has maintained close links for decades with Batasuna, the political wing of Eta.
Noting that the attacks had caused great loss of life, Mr Adams said the bombings were an appalling act. "It is wrong and those involved should stop," he said. "Like everyone else I have been horrified by the images of this morning's atrocity and my thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families and those who have been injured."
The links between Sinn Féin and Batasuna go back more than 20 years. Two years ago, the Spanish government banned Batasuna, citing its terrorist links.
Evidence of the continuing ties between Sinn Féin and Batasuna was most recently seen in Dublin a fortnight ago, when a representative from the Eta party attended the Sinn Féin ardfheis.
Equally, the links between the IRA and Eta go back to the early years of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Eta was reported in the early 1970s to have provided the IRA with handguns. In turn, the IRA passed on car-bomb technology to the Basque movement in the 1980s.
Eta is also believed to have provided logistical support for IRA operations against British interests in Germany and The Netherlands. There has also been a regular dialogue between Sinn Féin and Batasuna, with Sinn Féin seen to exercise a major influence on the thinking of the Basque radicals in the late-1990s.
An Eta truce in 1998 was modelled on the IRA's involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process. With Mr Adams calling on Basque separatists to pursue dialogue and a "democratic solution" at that time, Basque leaders described the Irish initiative as a "model" for them. However, the truce collapsed after 14 months in late 1999.
