‘Legal road’ an option for IRA

Ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern has suggested the provisional IRA should consider using a long-standing law to register as a now-peaceful “commemorative” legal body, saying it is “unrealistic” to believe it would simply “vanish 100%”.

The former Fianna Fáil leader said the group should consider taking advantage of the 1939 Offences Against the State Act, which allows for previously illegal groups to apply to the High Court to become legal organisations once a conflict is over.

Speaking at the weekend after two reports by MI5 and the gardaí found the paramilitary group continues to exist in Northern Ireland, has a legacy of criminality in the republic and that its army council has an over-arching strategy which controls Sinn Féin, Mr Ahern said it would be “unrealistic” for the group to simply “vanish 100%”.