Irish and British govts welcome IMC report

The Irish and British governments have welcomed a report from the International Monitoring Commission on paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland.

The report said the IRA leadership is committed to following a political path and has maintained a firm stance against the involvement of members in criminality.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, said the report was of the utmost importance and significance.

While British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sinn Féin and the IRA were following the political path and the commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means.

He said the door was now open to a final settlement in Northern Ireland.

Following talks with Northern Secretary Peter Hain, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said the two governments and the parties in Northern Ireland were surely moving towards ultimate agreement.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny expressed his hope that the political parties in Northern Ireland would accept the IMC findings and enter the forthcoming negotiations in Scotland in a constructive way.

He also called for both governments to intensify their efforts to encourage loyalist groups to pursue their objectives through democratic means.

The DUP leader, Ian Paisley, claimed that the IMC's assessment that the IRA is abandoning its terrorist structures showed that the DUP's unequivocal policies and pressure were working.

Dr Paisley said if Sinn Féin wished to be treated on the same basis as everyone else, it should support the police, the courts and the rule of law.

He added that there can and will be no toleration for those who are half in and half out of the democratic club.

IMC findings

The IMC says that three years ago the Provisional IRA was the most sophisticated and well-equipped of the paramilitary groups, but is now firmly set on a political strategy eschewing terrorism and other forms of crime. In this process, it says, there has been a loss of paramilitary capability.

The Commission remains of the view that the Provisional IRA's leadership has committed itself to following the political path.

It says it does not believe the PIRA is now engaged in terrorism, undertaking terrorist type training, recruiting. It has no evidence of the organisation targeting procurement or engineering activity.

The IMC said there were two assaults by PIRA members in early August, without any leadership sanction, and some individual members of PIRA remain involved in serious criminal activity for personal gain, including smuggling and money and fuel laundering. The Commission thinks it is likely that some members will pursue their own criminal careers.

The Provisional movement, it says, has taken further steps to run down its terrorist capability. It has disbanded military structures responsible for procurement, engineering and training and has stood down volunteers and stopped allowances.

It says the leadership has maintained a firm stance against the involvement of members in criminality, although this does not mean that criminal activity by all members has stopped.

The Commission believes the leadership does not consider a return to terrorism as in any way a viable option.

The IMC does, however, believe the Real IRA remains active and dangerous.

It further says that progress has been made by people within the leadership of the UDA who want to reduce that organisation's involvement in crime, and there appears to have been some reduction in drug dealing.

The IMC: Background

The four-member Independent Monitoring Commission was set up by the two governments in early 2004. 

Its most controversial work involves offering an assessment of what paramilitary groups, including the IRA, are up to.

This report, the 12th by the IMC, is the most sensitive to date because it is sure to influence the tone of negotiations between the governments and the Northern Ireland parties in Scotland next week.