Adams set to respond to Blair demand at rally

SINN FÉIN will deliver its verdict on Tony Blair’s demand for the IRA to disband at a major republican rally next weekend, it emerged last night.

With activists livid at the British prime minister’s call for the Provisionals to quit violence, party president Gerry Adams will hold negotiations with senior colleagues before responding.

Republicans in Belfast were being urged to stay calm as the Sinn Féin leadership scrutinised Mr Blair’s landmark speech he delivered in a bid to save the Northern Ireland peace process. It is understood a conference at an undisclosed venue next weekend will now be dominated by Sinn Féin’s reply.