IRA must clarify its intentions says Blair

The IRA must clarify its future intentions and rule out any ambiguity about its role in the Northern Ireland peace process, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today.

Sinn Fein has insisted the existing IRA offer goes further than ever before but Mr Blair said key questions needed to be answered.

“The truth is, so far as we are concerned, and the Irish government is concerned, and the US government, they are not clear and unambiguous, they are uncertain,” Mr Blair said today at a news conference in Downing Street.

Mr Blair also said that the parties to the Northern Ireland political process were "frustratingly close" to an agreement but had yet to finalise a deal because there is uncertainty over the commitments given by the IRA.

Two weeks ago, the Irish and British governments were due to publish a document outlining their views of what was needed to fully implement the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. However, the two governments shelved the document after deciding that the commitments given by the IRA in a recent statement were not strong enough to restore unionist confidence in the power-sharing executive, which collapsed last October amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at the heart of the Stormont government.

Referring to what he called "fundamental questions", Tony Blair said today more clarity was needed on three issues.

These consist of whether the IRA will cease all activities inconsistent with the Good Friday Agreement; the decommissioning of "all arms"; and whether the full implementation of the agreement will mean "final closure" to the Northern Ireland conflict.

Responding to Mr Blair’s statement Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said he endorsed the questions Mr Blair had put to the IRA and that it was now "crunch time" for the republican movement.

Mr Trimble said that the UUP would not go back into government unless the IRA gave positive answers to the prime minister's questions - which "could not be dodged forever".

The SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, said that the governments were "right to seek clarity from the IRA".

He added: "The Irish people want to have the clarity that the governments are seeking and they want to have the certainty of the agreement's implementation that the joint declaration can offer. While collective ambiguity has been part of the currency of this process up to now, the public want collective certainty in circulation from here on."

On Tuesday, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said a political deal was still possible to break the deadlock.

He said there was no lack of clarity in the IRA statement on its future intentions given to the British and Irish governments.

Mr Adams said a breakthrough was achievable if the two governments released their proposals.

(AMcE)