Blair says IRA arms plan is 'important step'

Tony Blair has welcomed news that the IRA has started a process to put their weapons beyond use.

The move came as the parties in Northern Ireland faced new pressures to sign up to a package of proposals to end the deadlock threatening the peace process.

The Prime Minister, who is on holiday in Mexico, says it is an important step forward.

Mr Blair said: "This is an important step forward which I warmly welcome and on which I hope we can build rapidly. I believe it has now the potential to resolve the arms issue to everyone's satisfaction."

Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble welcomed General de Chastelain's report, saying it was "significant".

He said: "The IRA has taken a significant step towards decommissioning, but it hasn't actually begun decommissioning."

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid said he was encouraged: "It is an important, and I believe, very significant step forward. I believe it provides the basis and the potential for rapidly resolving the arms issue."

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, described the statement as "historic", adding he believed it was clearly enough to move the stalled peace process forward.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams declared the report a "hugely historical breakthrough" in the context of republican history.

He said: "The two Governments, the UUP and the other parties should grasp the new opportunity that this unprecedented statement from the IICD creates."

But Ulster Unionist MP for Lagan Valley, Jeffrey Donaldson, said the statement was not enough to "break the log-jam" on its own and warned that time was running short for addressing the "many outstanding issues".

Democratic Unionist Party leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, dismissed the statement, adding it gave no details about the timing and method of putting the IRA's weapons beyond use.