The British government has to account for its policy of collusion with unionist paramilitaries and murder gangs, Sinn Féin vice-president Mary Lou McDonald has said.

“The British government narrative has varied from absolute denial of collusion to partial acknowledgement,” she added.

“Now, the final step is full acceptance and truth.”

Speaking at the party's Wolfe Tone commemoration in Bodenstown, Co Kildare, she said the British state must acknowledge its involvement in directing unionist murder gangs.

“The evidence is incontrovertible. The British and its military forces actively colluded with unionist paramilitaries to cause the deaths of many hundreds of people in the conflict. That evidence was highlighted again in the past week,” she added.

She said that while republicans had long sought to highlight collusion during the conflict, establishment politicians and the media, especially in the Republic, had chosen to ignore it.

“It was dismissed as republican propaganda. And yet, you only have to survey the course of Irish history to see the legacy the local forces being used as arms of the British state and as counter insurgency forces, be it the orange gangs in the 1790s, the UVF in 1920, or the UDA in 1972,” Ms McDonald added.

She said the truth was now being exposed and it was time for the British government to open its files and provide the disclosure, the truth and the justice the survivors and the bereaved deserved.

“It is time also for the Dublin Government and for An Taoiseach Enda Kenny to step up to the mark and make sure that the British finally and belatedly do the right thing,” she added.

Ms McDonald said Tone’s legacy had shaped modern politics.

“So, too, do the experiences and suffering of all our people, green and orange, over the most recent years of conflict,” she added.

“Republicans are committed to a process of reconciliation that is inclusive and brings closure to victims, their families and survivors.”

She said Sinn Féin was ready to have the difficult conversations, speak truthfully of the past and listen to others.

Ms McDonald said the next general election was a historic opportunity to reshape Irish politics.

"Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil have failed generations of Irish people," she added. "They have left a legacy of low standards in government, shattered hopes and dreams."

Sinn Féin, she said, would deliver for all citizens and provide the principled leadership this country has been lacking.

She said her party was for a real and fair economic recovery and wanted to see it built in the secure foundation of sustainable economic growth, north and south, with decent jobs, a living wage and an end to inequality and the blight of cronyism and golden circles.