IRA are unlikely to declare that war is over

IT is unlikely the IRA will declare that its war is over, a senior Sinn Féin figure claimed yesterday.

As Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minster Tony Blair’s officials examined a final draft of an IRA statement, Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said its language was unlikely to be in the form that unionists want.

“It is my view that the IRA is unlikely to use the sort of language that unionists have demanded,” the Foyle MLA said.