Criminal material about Republican brought up in street (9)
I believe the answer is:
larcenist
'criminal' is the definition.
(larcenist is a kind of criminal)
'material about republican brought up in street' is the wordplay.
'material' becomes 'lace' (lace is a kind of material).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'brought up' says the letters should be written backwards (down clues only).
'street' becomes 'st'.
'in' reversed gives 'ni'.
'lace' placed around 'r' is 'larce'.
'larce'+'ni'+'st'='LARCENIST'
(Other definitions for larcenist that I've seen before include "Person who takes" , "One criminal" , "Dishonest person" , "nicker" , "Thief" .)