Pressure On DUP As IMC Says IRA "No Longer Operates"

Although NI First Minister and DUP Leader Peter Robinson has said he will "not meet republican demands for the devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont until the IRA is finally at an end", a report today insists that the IRA's governing 'army council' "no longer operates" and "serves no function".

The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report will therefore put pressure on the politician and his party colleagues to 'do a deal' ahead of an expected DUP and Sinn Fein meeting for talks on Thursday.

The IMC reports that the IRA has now relinquished the leadership and structures it used during the troubles.

In a report given to the British and Irish governments, the IMC says it does not expect an announcement from the IRA that the army council will disband.

"We are aware of the questions posed about the public disbandment of (Provisional Irish Republican Army's) PIRA's leadership structures," the report said.

"We believe that PIRA has chosen another method of bringing what it describes as its armed struggle to a final close.

"Under PIRA's own rules the army council was the body that directed its military campaign.

"Now that that campaign is well and truly over, the army council by deliberate choice is no longer operational or functional.

"This situation has been brought about by a conscious decision to let it fall into disuse rather than through any other mechanism."

The report concluded: "The mechanism which they have chosen to bring the armed conflict to a complete end has been the standing down of the structures which engaged in the armed campaign and the conscious decision to allow the army council to fall into disuse.

Meanwhile, the man who may well be the very last NIO Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward said the report was ground breaking: "By taking these steps PIRA has completely relinquished the leadership and other structures appropriate to a time of armed conflict."

"The IMC makes clear that the army council is now redundant," he said.

"I urge people to read the report very carefully.

"As the IMC made clear, 'the leadership structures have definitely ceased to function in the way they did during the time of conflict'. Today's report confirms this has happened."

However, unionists have continually said political progress is being blocked by the IRA's failure to completely disband, with the DUP Leaders opinion broadly shared across all the unionist political representatives.

Their consensus is that - as Peter Robinson said in the past - they "require the removal of the IRA's army council and we've always made that clear".

(BMcC)