 In December that year he said that there were 200 IRA "sleepers" in high places in the Republic of Ireland.In November 2007 he again used parliamentary privilege to name senior IRA members who he said were responsible for the murder of south Armagh man Paul Quinn in October.In June 2013, following investigations by undercover reporters from the Sunday Times, The Telegraph, and the BBC, in which he was filmed agreeing to arrange for questions to be raised in Parliament in exchange for a monthly retainer of £2,000, Laird relinquished the Ulster Unionist Party whip and referred himself to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards.