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.

“There is a huge political responsibility on all political leaders to work together and I think the key focus of the two governments at this time has to be to bring about a process of political dialogue and discussion which is absolutely about putting up the institutions which were taken down in the course of recent days,” he said.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said he regretted the IRA’s decision but insisted it was a tactical step and a distraction from the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

It is not the first time the IRA has broken off contact with General de Chastelain’s group and Minister McDowell said the paramilitary group had no choice but to re-engage with the de Chastelain Commission.

A British government spokesman described the IRA’s move as regrettable but insisted all paramilitary activity had to cease if the political process was to succeed.

The IRA said in a statement it had decided to stop engaging with General de Chastelain’s organisation because the British Government had “by its own admission” not kept its commitments under the Good Friday Agreement.

“The British Government says the responsibility for this present crisis and its resolution lies with us and there is an effort to impose unacceptable and untenable ultimatums on the IRA,” it said.

It added it is up to the British Government to create confidence in the peace process by honouring its commitments.

Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble said the IRA’s move justified suspension of the Stormont Assembly.

“It has been obvious for months the IRA has not been making progress on decommissioning,” he said.

The mood among political parties in Dublin was also negative, with Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny calling on the IRA to reverse its decision.