Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is under significant pressure to retract his support for convict Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy from across the political divide.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has warned it is “no longer credible” for republican figures to claim the Provisional IRA does not exist, saying it is “long past time” the paramilitary group ceased to “carry any degree of threat” to communities.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

A Garda assessment has found there is no evidence of the IRA Army Council meeting or functioning within the Republic of Ireland.

Maíria Cahill has denounced claims that she co-operated with an IRA "kangaroo court" investigation into her abuse.

In the Morning I’ll Be Gone

DAMNED if does, damned if he doesn’t.

MICHAEL NOONAN is expected to return to the Fine Gael frontbench as finance spokesman when party leader Enda Kenny announces his new shadow cabinet today.

A ROW broke out during Enda Kenny’s visit to the North after the Fine Gael leader said Sinn Féin has not completed its “journey to democratic politics”.

The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, is due in Edinburgh today to attend a meeting of the British and Irish Council.

The bank official charged with the £26.5m (€33m) Northern Bank robbery in Belfast made last minute changes to the rota of staff who had a key to the vault to put himself on duty on the day, the opening day of his trial was told today.

Evidence contained in an independent report on IRA activity is as good as it gets in terms of proving the organisation’s campaign of violence is over, the North’s top police officer said today.

THE IRA has effectively disbanded as a paramilitary force with the army council no longer functional, peace process watchdogs declared yesterday.

The IRA's ruling Army Council which once directed its campaign of violence is no longer operational, a major report revealed today.

The continued existence of the IRA’s ruling army council poses a major block to political progress in the North, unionists warned today.

The Irish and British governments were today handed a security assessment on the IRA’s ruling Army Council.

A national sports stadium for the North on the site of the old Maze prison today looked to be dead and buried – at least for the foreseeable future.

Sinn Féin tonight called for urgent talks with the Democratic Unionists to resolve the political crisis that has engulfed the North's powersharing institutions.

If the Northern Executive fails to meet next month there will be serious consequences for the future governance of the region, First Minister Peter Robinson warned today.

THERE can scarcely be a more overworked cliché about the North than Churchill’s words during the House of Commons debate in 1922 on the Irish Free State Bill.

The Irish and British Governments have asked the Independent Monitoring Commission to prepare a special report assessing how far the Provisional IRA has gone towards winding up its activities.

The North's First Minister, Ian Paisley, has given his last speech as leader of the DUP.

Ian Paisley’s tenure laid the groundwork for the devolution of policing and justice to the North, the outgoing Democratic Unionist leader said tonight.

Stormont's power sharing executive will not pick up the tab for inquiries into some of the North's most controversial murders, First Minister Ian Paisley warned the British government today.

TONY BLAIR redrafted an IRA statement at the prime minister’s country residence Chequers in the presence of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in 2003, a senior aide to the former British prime minister has revealed.

Sinn Féin is accusing the DUP of adopting an illogical position on the devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont.

The Democratic Unionist Party was tonight urged by Gerry Adams to calm down after a Northern Ireland Assembly committee failed to reach agreement on a date for the transfer of policing and justice powers to Stormont.

The Democratic Unionist leadership must hold firm against hard-line elements within its own party, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said today.

The North's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said today he would have killed every single British soldier in Derry in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday if he had been able to.

The time is right for the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams insisted today.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams will be in Dublin today to hold talks with his party on the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Belfast.

ONE would need a sense of humour fully to appreciate Republican Sinn Féin’s critique of the EU Reform Treaty as expressed by its vice-president Des Dalton (Letters, January 22).

PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde has told a Northern Assembly committee that he believes there is no reason why policing and justice powers should not be devolved to Stormont by May.

The North's most senior policeman Hugh Orde will brief an Assembly committee today on the proposed transfer of policing and justice powers.

Sinn Féin calls for co-operation with the PSNI in their investigation into the brutal murder of a man lured over the Irish border are a measure of the progress that has been made, Dermot Ahern claimed today.

The murder of a man nine days ago has cast more doubt over Sinn Féin's suitability to be in government, it was claimed today.

European Union chiefs were today urged to put pressure on Sinn Féin to disband the IRA Army Council.

The Democratic Unionists will block any bid to have an Irish Language Act passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Rev Ian Paisley insisted today.

FIANNA FÁIL launched its latest plan to tackle gangland crime yesterday, but the opposition immediately scorned the strategy, saying the party’s record in government had been “dismal”.

Northern Ireland MEP Jim Allister tonight embarked on a political career outside the Democratic Unionists after he quit the Rev Ian Paisley’s party over its power sharing pact with Sinn Féin.

SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams yesterday defended alleged former IRA chief of staff Thomas "Slab" Murphy, whose farm is at the centre of a probe into a multi-million-euro smuggling operation.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams today stood by alleged former IRA chief Thomas “Slab” Murphy.

KERRY NORTH Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris yesterday repeated his denial that he had been a member of the IRA Army Council.