IRA ‘must prove it has quit criminality’

THE IRA must give unequivocal and independently verified commitments that it has severed all links with criminality, the Government insisted yesterday.

In a significant upping of the ante for any negotiations, two senior ministers, Dermot Ahern and Michael McDowell suggested that a verification by the International Monitoring Commission (IMC) that the IRA had ceased all criminal activities would now be necessary.

Mr Ahern and Mr McDowell held separate meetings with Northern Secretary Paul Murphy in Dublin yesterday to discuss the political implications of the robbery. It was the first face-to-face meetings between the two Governments since the €32 million raid.