Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has welcomed today’s statement by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) confirming that it has put its weapons beyond use.

THE INLA will later today declare its terror arsenal has finally been destroyed.

The INLA has decommissioned its weapons just days before the body overseeing the North's paramilitary weapons ceases to exist.

LEADERS of the Ulster Defence Association have confirmed it has decommissioned all weapons under its control.

Leaders of the Ulster Defence Association confirmed today that it had decommissioned all weapons under its control.

The Ulster Defence Association will announce today it has completed the decommissioning of its weapons.

The last remaining armed loyalist paramilitary groups in the North have pledged to decommission all their weapons within six months, the British Government announced today.

The decommissioning body led by General John de Chastelain has confirmed that the UVF has disarmed.

THE Government has welcomed the announcement by loyalist groups that they have destroyed their weapons and pledged to respect democratic rule.

The Ulster Defence Association will not receive public money in exchange for destroying weapons, the North’s deputy First Minister said today.

Loyalist paramilitary groups in the North have destroyed their weapons and pledged to respect democratic rule, it was announced today.

Loyalist paramilitary groups in the North today confirmed they have started to decommission their weapons.

A major announcement is expected later this morning from the UVF to say it has decommissioned all its weapons.

It is thought the UVF is on the brink of announcing it has decommissioned its weapons.

Loyalist paramilitary groups in the North could be on the verge of decommissioning their weapons, it was claimed today.

The IRA could be taken off the British government's list of banned organisations, it was disclosed today.

The funeral has taken place of former IRA army council member Brian Keenan.

THE Taoiseach said he still holds aspirations for a united Ireland, 10 years on from the signing of the historic Good Friday agreement.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, will be in Belfast today for events to mark the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Good Friday Agreement has delivered partnership between those who supported it and those who opposed it, one of its architects claimed tonight.

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.

The Taoiseach has accepted an invitation to attend an event in Belfast to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Former US president Bill Clinton will visit the North to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement, it has been confirmed.

Tony Blair and Bill Clinton have been invited to an event in the North marking 10 years since the Good Friday Agreement, it was revealed today.

A consignment of loyalist guns has been destroyed in the view of arms inspectors in the North, it was confirmed tonight.

IT is more than nine years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which stated there should be “total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations” and parties should “confirm their intention to continue to work constructively and in good faith with the Independent Monitoring Commission”.

The UDA is believed to be planning to ask the Decommissioning Body to report to both the British and Irish governments and the North's social development minister on their discussions.

The Ulster Defence Association was today given 60 days to disarm and protect £1.2m (€1.77m) earmarked for the redevelopment of their neighbourhoods.

The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is to assume a non-military, civilianised role after putting its weapons beyond use, the loyalist paramilitary organisation announced today.

TWO members of the body that oversaw the completion of IRA disarmament have been awarded honorary CBEs.

A party linked to the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force is to meet the North's Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), it was revealed today.

The British government was today accused of being involved in a cover-up over the IRA’s final act of disarmament.

The police in Northern Ireland or MI5 should publicly reveal what they know about the retention of weapons by the IRA, the Rev Ian Paisley said today.

Sinn Féin House of Commons allowances worth almost half a million pounds are a democratic right, a senior member of the party insisted today.

A new bid to bring back devolution to the North got under way today.

Almost two fifths of Democratic Unionists would share power with Sinn Féin if IRA criminality ended and there was total disarmament, an opinion poll claimed today.

The Rev Ian Paisley will today insist that republican involvement in criminality must end before there can be any political progress in the North.

NORTHERN Secretary Pater Hain last night moved to downplay the row over whether the IRA had held on to weapons, insisting it was not possible to account for every single gun.

HOPES of an early return to power sharing in the North were dealt a serious blow last night as an extraordinary row erupted over whether the IRA held back part of its arsenal from decommissioning.

GENERAL John de Chastelain was at the centre of a new row in the North last night after rejecting security force claims that the IRA is retaining weapons.

The IRA has denied that some of its members have held onto handguns and other weapons.

Northern Ireland’s big two loyalist paramilitary organisations will co-operate on a major initiative to abandon all violence for good, a senior source said tonight.

The IRA today hailed its volunteers for abandoning the armed struggle in the wake of the organisation’s historic decision to decommission its weapons arsenal.

Ceasefire watchdogs today handed over a new report on paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland to the British and Irish governments.