Sinn Fein have been strongly criticised in the Republic of Ireland for selling an IRA branded T-shirt on their online shop.

The t-shirt features masked men pictured in the letters 'IRA' with the words "Undefeated Army" underneath.

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It is described as "a tribute to the men and woman who led the struggle against British occupation of Ireland."

Fine Gael Senator Joe O'Reilly told Tuesday morning's Newstalk Breakfast show that 'this approach to politics is no longer acceptable'.

He said: "I think a political party has to abandon this kind of thing, and I think it's important it stops.

"There's a cohort of young males who have not experienced The Troubles, who have not been part of a generation that knew violence - and this has the potential to influence them, it has the potential to put them on that road.

"I don't think there's a justification for that kind of thing in the present context at the present time."

DUP MP Gregory Campbell said, "For all Sinn Fein's talk about rights and respect, they continue to celebrate the human rights abusers of the IRA and show no respect to the victims of terrorism. Republicans appear unwilling to stop wallowing in the squalid terrorism which blighted Northern Ireland for so long.

For all the marketing of those such as Michelle O'Neill and Mary Lou McDonald as some kind of "fresh faces" in Sinn Fein it is clear that they simply front up the same organisation which continues to celebrate those who went out to murder their neighbours in the name of a so called united ireland."

A spokesperson from the SDLP said: "Any political party which continues to frame our past in the context of 'defeat' and 'victory' fails to understand the nature of our peace agreement and cannot legitimately advance the urgent process of reconciliation needed on this island.

"Anyone who does this, and also seeks to make financial gain from doing so, causes further pain and trauma to the many victims and survivors who have suffered as a result of paramilitary and state murder and violence."

Belfast Telegraph