The Redemptorist priest who witnessed IRA decommissioning, Fr Alec Reid, has been criticised by unionists for saying he believes IRA denials that it carried out the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast last year.
It follows the controversy caused by Fr Reid on Wednesday night when he compared unionists to Nazis at a public meeting in Belfast. He subsequently apologised for those remarks.
But now unionists are questioning his credibility after his comments in the BBC interview, which was recorded earlier in the week and was shown last night.
As well as his acceptance of IRA denials about the Northern Bank raid, Fr Reid expressed his opposition to so-called punishment attacks by paramilitaries in nationalist neighbourhoods.
He said he knew republicans who wanted an alternative and added that such attacks occurred in the context of there being no police service in nationalist areas.
Unionists have strongly criticised the comments made by the priest who was a leading figure in bringing the IRA into the peace process.
The DUP's Ian Paisley Jnr claimed Fr Reid was in denial about criminality.
