A top republican questioned about the Northern Bank robbery is to lodge an official complaint with the Police Ombudsman’s Office after being released without charge, it emerged tonight.

The priest who witnessed IRA decommissioning provoked fury after he compared the unionist community to Nazis for their treatment of Catholics in the North.

TERRORISTS brought grief to London, nature’s forces terrorised New Orleans, while Eddie Hobbs threw the Government into panic over Rip Off Ireland.

The Democratic Unionist Party is due to meet the head of the decommissioning body today to discuss the completion of IRA disarmament.

THE Irish and British Governments yesterday powerfully backed the international decommissioning body’s determination that the IRA has fully destroyed its vast arsenal of weapons, describing it as a landmark shift of deep historical significance.

It would appear that Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness may not have done the IRA’s final act of decommissioning justice in heralding it as merely “historic”.

OPPOSITION parties yesterday roundly welcomed confirmation of the IRA’s final decommissioning and called on loyalist paramilitary groups to follow suit.

IN his opening remarks, Gen de Chastelain said it was vital that the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning told it “only as we saw it. We do not believe it is for us to editorialise.”

FOR three weeks in September, General John de Chastelain and his two colleagues on the international decommissioning body were driven around in a van with blacked-out windows to secret places where vast quantities of IRA arms awaited them.

The act of decommissioning by the IRA has finally taken the gun out of Irish politics, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.

Democratic Unionist Party leader the Reverend Ian Paisley said there had been no transparent verification of IRA decommissioning in today's announcement.

Head of the international decommissioning commission General John de Chastelain has said that no one on the commission could force anyone to believe their announcement that the IRA had puts its weapons beyond use.

The IRA's decommissioned arms included ammunition, rifles, machine guns, mortars, missiles, handguns, explosives and explosive substances, General John de Chastelain has said.

General John de Chastelain has said the IRA has disarmed "the totality of its arsenal".

General John de Chastelain and the other witnesses to the IRA's disarmaent have arrived at the press conference to make statements on the decommissioning.

Details of the IRA’s final act of disarmament are being studied by the Irish and British governments today.

FIANNA FÁIL will not enter coalition with Sinn Féin after the next election, even if the IRA fulfils its pledge to decommission, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.

The head of the decommissioning body is expected to arrive in Ireland today, fuelling speculation that the Provisional IRA is on the verge of completing the destruction of its arsenal.

AN early act of decommissioning by the IRA, possibly this weekend, could pave the way for talks aimed at restoring devolution in the North beginning as early as September.

SPECULATION is mounting that the IRA will finally make a statement on its future, perhaps as soon as Thursday of this week.

There is speculation the IRA could issue a statement on its future intentions before the end of the month.

Loyalist paramilitary group, the UDA, has held talks with the decommissioning monitor, John de Chastelain.

ARCHBISHOP Sean Brady has said it was reasonable for republicans to regard DUP demands for photographic proof as humiliating.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed today how agonisingly close he came to striking the political deal of a lifetime in Northern Ireland.

Hopes of an historic agreement in Northern Ireland dipped tonight after the republican leadership resisted demands by the Rev Ian Paisley to allow a weapons handover to be photographed.

The Republican movement is holding up progress in the search for a new peace process deal, Democratic Unionist leader the Reverend Ian Paisley claimed today.

DUP leader the Rev. Ian Paisley was today holding crucial talks with head of the independent disarmament body General John de Chastelain as the pressure mounted on his party and Sinn Féin to endorse a new peace process deal.

TOTAL IRA disarmament is a mirage, it was claimed yesterday.

Talks aimed at restoring power sharing in Northern Ireland remained on a knife edge tonight as Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionists still sought assurances about a deal.

Democratic Unionist leaders are to meet the head of the North’s independent disarmament body before saying whether they will accept or reject plans to revive power- sharing, the party confirmed today.

THE Ulster Defence Association has held new talks with disarmament chief General John de Chastelain, the British Government revealed last night.

The British government has total confidence in disarmament body chief General John de Chastelain’s role in verifying any future move on IRA weapons, a junior minister insisted today.

A Fianna Fáil TD yesterday openly called for his party to seriously consider going into coalition with Sinn Féin after the next election.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party today called on the British and Irish governments to back down from a “whispering campaign” against the head of the International Decommissioning Body, General John de Chastelain.

IN his column (Irish Examiner, October 24), Pat Brosnan showed that he does not understand David Trimble’s realpolitik.

SINN FÉIN and the Provisional IRA have crossed the Rubicon into democratic politics.

ACHIEVING progress in the Northern Ireland peace process requires public confidence in the IRA’s decommissioning, Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble said yesterday.

THE IRA’s apology to families of ‘The Disappeared’, people murdered and secretly buried by the Provisionals, was rejected by victims relatives last night.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was due to face some of his biggest critics today as his party's Assembly candidates prepared to discuss election tactics.

IF Gerry Adams were to swear allegiance to the queen, join the Police Service of Northern Ireland and lead an Orange parade down the Garvaghy Road, then maybe — just maybe — David Trimble might be satisfied.

THE head of Northern Ireland’s decommissioning body will resign rather than reveal further details of the IRA arms given up this week, it was claimed yesterday.

The head of the international decommissioning body in Belfast, General John de Chastelain, was due to face questions from hardline unionists today about the latest act of IRA disarmament.

The situation in the North is much too serious to allow the current uncertainty to drag on.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has blamed Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble for sparking the latest crisis in the Irish peace process.