Adams: no IRA move likely before elections

THE IRA is unlikely to state before the British elections on May 5 whether it will cease violence, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams indicated yesterday.

At the launch of the party's election campaign earlier this month, Mr Adams called on the IRA to end its "armed struggle" and embrace democratic politics.

The IRA, he stated at the time, was being used by both the British and Irish Governments and by unionists as an excuse "not to engage properly in the process of building peace with justice in Ireland".