No backsliding on devolution deadline,insists Blair

BRITISH Premier Tony Blair last night insisted there would be no backsliding on the North’s devolution deadline ahead of a crunch showdown with Ian Paisley.

Downing Street positioned itself for a tough-talking encounter with the DUP leader this week as negotiations on the resumption of Stormont intensified.

The apparent hardening of the British stance came as the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) used its latest report to warn of the danger posed by republican dissidents as the North’s political situation continues to drift.

Mr Blair’s spokesman insisted the Belfast Assembly would be closed on March 26 if no power-sharing deal was done — slapping down talk of a “shadow Executive” being created to see the North through while the DUP demands further proof of Sinn Féin’s endorsement of civic policing.

As the clock ticked down to the deadline, diplomatic activity increased with Northern Secretary Peter Hain meeting Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern as well as Sinn Féin.

Irish and British officials are finalising the details of a massive investment package for the North which will be triggered by devolution.

Both governments welcomed the IMC’s 14th report which found the Provisional IRA no longer poses a security threat.

The study, which covered the six months to the end of January, stated the Real IRA, responsible for the 1998 Omagh bombing which left 29 people dead, is still intent on violence and is attempting to strengthen its capacities.

However, the international four-man team, which is assessing paramilitary ceasefires and the British Government’s two-year demilitarisation programme in the North, stressed the splinter republican factions do not have the ability to mount a sustained terrorist campaign.

“Dissident republicans remain a threat, both to the security forces in particular and the community more widely. They remain committed to terrorism and continue to engage in terrorist activity.

“They continue to take steps to reinforce their capacity as paramilitary organisations,” the report said.

“During the period covered by this report, the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) has at times been more dangerously active than at the time of our previous security normalisation report six months ago.”

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell welcomed the report.

“It offers further evidence of the great progress that has been made in transforming Northern Ireland into a society in which policing, supported by all sectors of the population, is seen as a part of everyday life,” he said.

Mr Hain said: “This report details what the people of Northern Ireland are already experiencing — that they are living in an increasingly normalised society.”