McLaughlin says IRA may 'eventually' be removed from equation

The continuation of the peace process and the return of the devolved assembly may mean that the IRA would eventually be "removed from the equation" according to Sinn Féin Chairman Mitchel McLaughlin.

However, the Foyle assembly member said the break up of the IRA would result as the conclusion to the peace process, not as a precondition for its continuance.

He added: "The IRA have made a very significant contribution to the peace process along the way. It is my view that a legitimate objective of the peace process is the elimination, the disappearance, and the removal of all paramilitary activity.

"There is a logic emerging that we will see the IRA being removed from the equation.

"The difficulty is that people will seize on that as an outcome of the peace process and say we want to advance it before we go any further into the process. I think that is a mistake."

Mr McLaughlin's statement comes a week after veteran republican, Martin Meehan, said that the IRA war had been "over for some time".

However, leading Ulster Unionist Michael McGimpsey criticised the Sinn Fein chairman's comments as a "back-to-front analysis" on the way forward for Northern Ireland.

Mr McGimpsey said: "This shows us how far removed Sinn Fein really are from the original Belfast Agreement. To suggest that somehow the IRA could 'eventually' be removed, is typical of the sluggish, begrudging and ambiguous approach to peacemaking demonstrated by the Provisional terrorist movement.

"It is fatuous of Mitchel McLaughlin to now suggest that maybe, perhaps, possibly, even 'eventually' the IRA will now get down to the business of disappearing for good. This is a back-to-front analysis. The IRA, along with their fellow terrorists in the loyalist community should have disappeared a long time ago."

Elsewhere, SDLP assembly member Eugene McMenamin has called on the new Northern Ireland Secretary to challenge the INLA over its ceasefire following the brutal paramilitary-style on the relative of a Sinn Fein activist in Strabane last week.

Mr McMenamin said: "The new secretary of state needs to take urgent action against these barbaric acts and order the disbandment of paramilitary organisations such as the INLA. This type of activity should be condemned by all right-thinking people.

"Since the suspension of devolution, we have been seeing signs that the paramilitaries are only too willing to fill the political vacuum with violence and fear. The sooner we get the Agreement back on track the better."

(GMcG)