Have they taken leave of their senses?

It's starting to look like the republican movement in Ireland has taken leave of its senses.

First, they try to get away with a huge £20 million robbery. Then some IRA members brutally (and I do mean brutally) murder a member of the nationalist community and try to cover their tracks: destroying video evidence, cleaning the murder scene, intimidating a pub full of witnesses, and arranging a special riot to stop the police from carrying out searches.

After the customary denials, Sinn Féin admit that the robbery was wrong, and the murder was a crime that maybe should be solved - preferably without actually talking to the police.

And then, in a move which shows exactly why the IRA must disband, the IRA presented its solution to the murder - more killing. They offered to shoot the men responsible!

Today Sinn Féin (who used to be known as the IRA's "political wing", but these days are said to have "an insight" into the thinking of the IRA) had the nerve to blame the police investigation rather than the crime for the blame that republicans are facing.

Finally (finally? We can only hope!) they capped it all by warning the family of murdered Robert McCartney to "be careful", and stay out of politics. They dressed it up with concern about what it would do to the integrity of their campaign for justice, but it was clear that the party which had two candidates, an ex-councillor, and a busload of supporters from Derry in the bar at the time of the murder does not want to come up against them in a vote.

Until recently these were the guys running the Department of Health and Public Safety.

What would Victor Meldrew have said?