British government moves to fine Sinn Fein over alleged paramilitary activity by the IRA are to be challenged in the courts, the party said today.
Sinn Fein Assembly member Ms Bairbre de Brun confirmed the move and also condemned the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) whose report last month prompted the fines.
The West Belfast MLA said: "The IMC was established by the British and Irish governments last year.
"It is clearly in contravention of the Good Friday Agreement. The role of the IMC was to facilitate the exclusion of Sinn Fein, to soft pedal on unionist violence and to ignore totally the behaviour of the British government, the party most in breach of the Agreement.
"The IMC is not independent, that much is obvious from its remit, its membership and the fact that it bases its decisions on reports from the PSNI, the British Army and the securocrats."
Last month the IMC said it had evidence that the IRA and loyalist paramilitary groups remained active and were involved in a variety of illegal activities.
IMC members warned Sinn Fein that they could reveal the identities of senior members of the party in leadership roles within the IRA.
Republicans have been angered by the establishment by the British and Irish governments of the commission and were furious when on the back of the first IMC report, the Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy imposed fines on Sinn Fein and the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party.