IRA quits arms decommissioning body

THE crisis in the Northern Ireland peace process deepened last night after the IRA announced its decision to end contact with the arms decommissioning body.

Following the IRA’s unexpected announcement that it was severing contact with the de Chastelain Commission, Sinn Féin said efforts to restore power-sharing in the North had to be redoubled.

Former education minister Martin McGuinness said the British and Irish Governments now had to make their primary focus the restoration of the Assembly and power-sharing executive.