Trimble accuses IRA of ‘word games’

ULSTER Unionist leader David Trimble dismissed the latest IRA statements of intent yesterday and accused it of playing word games.

As the British Government again called for the IRA to end all paramilitary activity and London and Dublin prepared for a new round of talks with the political parties in a renewed drive to restore devolution, Mr Trimble said the penny did not seem to have dropped about what was required from republicans.

Mr Trimble stressed: "We all expected there would be a transition period after the Good Friday Agreement, but five years after the Agreement, is it not reasonable to expect that transition to have been completed and for us now to be living in a society where there are no private armies and there is no paramilitary activity?