McDowell endorses IRA’s adherence to peace

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday gave the Provisional IRA’s ceasefire his strongest endorsement to date, saying that the organisation was “adhering 100%” to the commitments it had made.

He was speaking after an intergovernmental conference in Hillsborough where the British and Irish Governments repeated their view that the IRA leadership was committed to exclusively peaceful means.

The Justice Minister has issued frequent denunciations of the Provisional movement in the past, especially relating to the issue of criminality.

His unequivocal backing of the joint government belief that the IRA was honouring its commitments was, therefore, viewed as significant.

Ahead of the crucial Independent Monitoring Commission report in the autumn, both governments agree that the IRA has honoured its commitments.

“I was happy to be able to report to my colleagues that, as far as I am concerned, the Provisional IRA is adhering 100% to the commitments it has made,” said Mr McDowell.

Asked if the IRA was being sincere or merely complying for tactical reasons, he said that both governments were working on the reasonable assumption that it was sincere, based on the evidence at their disposal.

In a joint statement, the governments did accept that loyalist and dissident republicans continued to be involved in illegal activities.

Northern Secretary Peter Hain also conceded that some former and current IRA members may be involved in localised criminality, but said they were doing so solely for private gain.

“What there is not is any organised-from-the-centre criminality anymore,” he pointed out.

However, the Democratic Unionists Party immediately criticised the statement, describing it was part of a strategy to railroad unionists into an agreement by November.

The party and its leader Ian Paisley have said they are not prepared to enter a power-sharing arrangement with Sinn Féin until conclusive proof has been produced that the IRA has abandoned all activity.

One of the party’s leading MPs, Nigel Dodds, described the statement as a bluff which was asking people to ignore IRA activity to make a power-sharing executive possible.

Alliance leader David Ford also criticised the statement, saying that it was unwise for governments to act as cheerleaders for paramilitary movements.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern yesterday repeated his plea for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.

Speaking at the same press conference, he made an implicit criticism of the US government by saying that another week of warfare could not be tolerated.