Blair tells IRA it must stand down for agreement to work

Prime Minister Tony Blair has sounded a warning to republicans that the IRA must disband before the peace process can continue.

In a speech to business leaders at the Belfast Harbour Commission yesterday, a tough-talking Mr Blair ditched his diplomatic rhetoric, and offered what he called his "frank view".

According to the Prime Minister the agreement cannot go forward with the IRA "half in, half out" of the agreement. He pledged to implement the agreement in full should the IRA completely disband.

Mr Blair said: "Whatever guarantees we need to give that we will implement the Agreement, we will. Whatever commitment to the end we all want to see, of a normalised Northern Ireland, I will make. But we cannot carry on with the IRA half in, half out of this process. Not just because it isn’t right any more. It won’t work anymore."

He added: "Remove the threat of violence and the peace process is on an unstoppable path. That threat, no matter how damped down, is no longer reinforcing the political, it is actually destroying it."

He went on to say that the days of the republican movement using violence for a "tactical purpose" and "negotiating leverage" were over.

"The very thing republicans used to think gave them negotiating leverage, doesn’t do it anymore. It no longer acts to remove Unionist intransigence, but to sustain it; it no longer pushes the British government forward, but delays us. It doesn’t any longer justify David Trimble’s engagement; it thwarts it."

Mr Blair told the audience that the IRA is now the "best card" those whom republicans call 'rejectionist' unionists, have in their hand. He added that IRA violence "embarrasses the British and Irish Governments, it makes it harder for us to respond to nationalist concerns".

Mr Blair then hit out at "the malignant whisperings" of those opposed to the process, who only saw its "faults, never aiding its strengths". He also dismissed dissident and loyalist paramilitaries as "evil".

The speech, which had been criticised as light on action and heavy in rhetoric, contained a further pledge that the government would stop treating paramilitary activity as politically motivated and separate to 'ordinary' crime.

"For all of us: [we want] an end to tolerance of paramilitary activity in any form. A decision that from here on in, a criminal act is a criminal act. One law for all, applied equally to all."

He concluded his speech saying: "It’s time for acts of completion. We will do our best to carry on implementing the Agreement in any event."

(GMcG)