Orde declines to comment on IRA arms

The PSNI Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, has resisted demands to reveal whether intelligence from his force provoked a major new row over alleged IRA weapons retention.

A row about whether the IRA had fully decommissioned its arsenal broke out yesterday after the Independent Monitoring Commission said there were credible reports that some weapons had not been put beyond use.

Mr Orde was under pressure to declare to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which he faced today, if the assessment came from his officers.

Mr Orde refused to confirm what exactly his force had provided the IMC with before it published its controversial report yesterday.

'We have discharged our duties as we are required to do properly in respect of both organisations (the IMC and the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning),' he said.

He added: 'We have given full briefings of our intelligence and information to them.'

Mr Orde stressed that others had also contributed.

The Irish and British governments had hoped the IMC report would provide confidence-building material before Monday's talks with Northern Ireland's parties.

Govt split on report says Kenny

Meanwhile, the Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, claimed in the Dáil this morning that the Government was split over the IMC report.

Deputy Kenny said there was 'clearly a divergence' between the Ministers for Justice and for Foreign Affairs over whether the report cleared the way for political talks.

He said intelligence gathering was now being used for political purposes.

In response, the Tánaiste, Mary Harney, said there were issues in relation to criminality, and she hoped that by the time of the next report in April there would be substantial progress, because there was no room in politics for such activities.

Later, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh introduced a bill into the Dáil calling for the repeal of the legislation setting up the Independent Monitoring Commission.