Sinn Féin signals major IRA arms move within days

THE North is on the cusp of a breakthrough, Sinn Féin said yesterday, signalling that the confirmation of total destruction of IRA arms is days away.

A delegation led by Gerry Adams met the Government in Dublin yesterday for the first formal meeting since January. The meeting gave public confirmation that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and his senior ministers believe the IRA’s final act of decommissioning is imminent and that the Provisionals have severed all links with criminality.

Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said he accepted what the Sinn Féin delegation had told him - that decommissioning would happen very soon and that it would be significant. He added ending links with criminality was the “bedrock” of progress.