Reports of Blair meeting IRA army council rejected by both sides
Sunday, 8 August 1999 15:05Downing Street and Sinn Féin have dismissed a report in today's Independent on Sunday newspaper that Tony Blair had a face-to-face meeting with members of the IRA Army Council last month. The paper also says that the IRA leaders made a direct offer to the British Prime Minister that they would decommission all their weapons by May 2,000.
Sinn Féin has said that the story is absolutely and categorically not true. A spokesman for Tony Blair said that all his contacts with the Republican movement have been through Sinn Féin. The Ulster Unionists and the Progressive Unionists have also dismissed the idea that the IRA made any offer of total decommissioning.
A Downing Street spokesman said earlier that Mr. Blair had met with leading representatives of all pro-agreement parities who have members elected to the Assembly. He said that the details of those discussions are confidential and that their outcome is well known.
