IRA poses no security threat

[IRiSHMaFIA]

BELFAST (Reuters) - The IRA is no longer a security threat in Northern Ireland, a ceasefire watchdog said on Wednesday in a report Britain and Ireland hope will lay the basis for restoring self-rule in the province.

"We do not believe that IRA is now engaged in terrorism," the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) said.

The IMC issued its positive assessment of the IRA's commitment to end decades of violence, made last year, in a six-monthly report on paramilitary activity and a week ahead of talks on restoring regional government in Northern Ireland.

"We remain of the view which we expressed in our report six months ago, namely that the IRA leadership has committed itself to following the political path," the IMC said. "In the period since then we have seen further evidence to support this."

Northern Ireland's 30-year conflict between mainly Catholic Irish nationalists and pro-British Protestants, in which 3,600 people were killed, largely came to an end with the U.S.-brokered Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

A local assembly was established under that deal. Catholics and Protestants were to run the province's affairs but the assembly has been on ice since 2002.

Continued IRA violence has been one of the main barriers to its restoration.

The province's main pro-British grouping, the Democratic Unionist Party, has yet to be convinced the IRA has given up violence for good and, until it is satisfied of this, it refuses to govern alongside the IRA's political ally, Sinn Fein.

PAISLEY RESPONSE

DUP leader Ian Paisley gave the report a cautious welcome.

"The assessment by the IMC that the Provisional IRA is progressively abandoning its terrorist structures shows that the pressure being brought to bear on republicans by the unequivocal policies of the DUP is working," he said in a statement.

However, he said Sinn Fein still needed to show they supported the police and rule of law in the province.

The IMC said the IRA had disbanded "military" structures, including departments responsible for procurement, engineering and training, but noted some individual IRA members were still involved in serious criminal activity for personal gain.

The British and Irish governments, who host talks next week on the assembly, have set a November 24 deadline for devolution. If a deal is not done by then, members' salaries will be stopped and efforts to breathe life into local government halted.

The governments welcomed the latest IMC report.

"While we accept that individual parties will, quite rightly, make their own assessment, we believe this report does lay the basis for the final settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland," the British government said in a statement.

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said: "The context for political engagement has never been better."

The report intensifies pressure on the DUP to agree a deal on power-sharing and on republicans to formally support a police force they have for years rejected as sectarian.

"We now have the opportunity to restore the institutions and get devolution back. The DUP must accept restoration -- now and without any preconditions," the moderate nationalist SDLP party said.

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Excuse me but I need to rant here.

I'm both happy and sad that the IRA has stepped back and disarmed.

I'm happy because a large part of the IRA was total corruption and akin to the italian mafia where they got their hands into all sorts of things that had nothing to do with fighting for the basic human rights us catholics both longed for and deserved from our own country.

I'm sad because it's not like the IRA were the only terrorists in the north, and although things have got a lot better over the last few years, it's still not as rosey as some would choose to paint it. There are still areas that catholics can't step foot in, and if they did they'd be in for the beating of their lives. Sure it's the same for prods but atleast they've the police force to support them.

Nationalists have no voice in government and c*nts like Ian Paisley and his DUP thugs will never let go of the past and give an ounce of trust.

If he won't work alongside Sinn Fein then how far have we really come?

It's frustration times 10 as far as I'm concerned, and this fat arsed old bastard will never make the slightest attempt at working with Sinn Fein, but rather slag them off as terrorists with a hidden agenda.

I can't see Sinn Fein fully supporting the police because there is no trust and for damn good reason. The police are massed with total corruption and a deep prejudice towards nationalists and that will never change.

One thing that totally frustrated me is a comment they made on CNN today. As Tony Blair stood on the platform announcing the IRA was no longer a threat, the anchors at CNN said this will be the one positive thing that Tony Blair will be remembered for. They're basically insinuating he had something to do with it.....and he didn't!

They also mentioned this will be his legacy, and it will take away mistakes of getting involved in the Iraq war. I DON'T BLOODYWELL THINK SO! He's a lapdog for Bush and had sweet fanny adams to do with the IRA disbanding. That was a decision they made soley on their own as the war on terror made it far more difficult to operate.

He deserves as much credit as that whore Thatcher did, although Blair is far more a lady than she ever was and a bit prettier too!

Okay...rant over although I could have gone on for ages

[faceless]

[IRiSHMaFIA]

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[fritz]

I? m from the old school .Make that Island a nation once again.