Independent ceasefire monitor speculation grows

Speculation is mounting that the government is to set up an independent monitor on paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland.

The move was further strengthened after Ulster Unionist leader's meeting with the Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday, in which Mr Trimble confirmed that a proposal for the monitor was brought up with the PM.

The UUP leader, who is facing another difficult Ulster Unionist Council meeting in eight days time, also said that he had urged the government to get on top of what has been widely recognised as paramilitary-orchestrated violence at interface areas of Belfast.

However the idea for a monitor has come under attack from Sinn Fein as well as the Provisional IRA. In an interview with republican newspaper An Phoblacht, a spokesperson for the terrorist group opposed the idea.

The First Minister met with US special envoy to Northern Ireland Richard Haass earlier this morning.

On the prospects for the appointment of a ceasefire monitor, Mr Haass said he believed that an auditor for the ceasefires could have a positive input to public debate and had the potential to do "more good than harm."

Mr Trimble said the meeting, which dealt with a wide-range of issues, had been "very positive".

He added: "We are glad to see that even in times of international crisis that Mr Haass is keeping in close contact with the situation. A lot of the discussion focused on the recent violence we have had in Belfast."

Mr Haass also said that paramilitaries must be removed from society, adding that Northern Ireland was in a transition which was not yet complete.

Whilst acknowledging that the IRA had made positive steps with two acts of decommissioning, Mr Haass added: "At the same time there are question marks and there are problems and not limited to the IRA but to loyalists as well. At the end of the day there can be no place for paramilitaries in modern society."

(MB/GMcG)