Sinn Fein has been mocked for celebrating its paramilitary links in a spoof X Factor video that is on the verge of going viral.

A clip called the Ulster X Factor shows Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and the party's Stormont leader Michelle O'Neill 'auditioning' for the ITV talent show's judges.

Footage of Simon Cowell, Cheryl, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue looking horrified or laughing has been interspersed with clips of Adams and O'Neill referencing the party's IRA links.

Cowell is shown on an X Factor judging panel asking: "What do you do?" before the video cuts to Mr Adams saying: "Fraud, corruption."

Cheryl is seen asking in the audition room: "What do hope to achieve? What do you do?"

Mrs O'Neill is then seen making a speech in which she says: "I have been criticised by unionist and by the media for commemorating IRA volunteers.

"So let me be clear, I am an Irish republican and I will always remember and commemorate our patriot dead."

The clip then cuts to former Boyzone manager Walsh sniggering and Girls Aloud singer Cheryl looking stunned, saying: "OK..."

The footage of Mrs O'Neill featured in the video was taken in April.

At the time she was making a controversial speech commemorating the 1987 deaths of eight IRA men killed by the SAS in Loughgall, Co Armagh, as they tried to blow up the village's police station.

The clip of Mr Adams is likely to have been taken in January when he accused DUP leader Arlene Foster of knowing about fraud and corruption in the RHI 'cash for ash' scandal.

He was speaking at a commemoration for Sean South in Limerick to mark the 60th anniversary of his death in a gun battle with police in 1957.

He and 11 other IRA men launched an attack on an RUC/B Specials barracks in Brookeborough, Co Fermanagh.

The video then shows Cowell and co looking on in shock at marches by republicans waving flags in Belfast to the tune of the Lady Gaga song Poker Face.

Cowell is also seen asking: "Do you think you can win?" before Mr Adams replies "no", and admits his biggest inspiration is the DUP. The video was shared numerous times since it was posted on Facebook yesterday afternoon and watched over 300,000 times.

One Facebook user wrote below the video: 'Sinn Fein (IRA) apply for X Factor. This is brilliant. Watch until the end. I would have to agree with the judges on this one.'

A spokesman for The X Factor said: "We won't be commenting on this."

Belfast Telegraph