IRA arms move 'inevitable'

An early move by the IRA on arms decommissioning is inevitable, Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson predicted today.

As his party’s three ministers prepared to withdraw from the power-sharing executive in Belfast, he claimed there was now enormous pressure on the provisionals in the aftermath of the terror attacks in the United States.

He said: ‘‘It is now becoming inevitable that the IRA will have to do something. What is important is the quality of the move that they make.

‘‘I believe the circumstances are there for such a move to take place. I cannot say with certainty that it will happen, but there is enormous pressure now on the republican movement to deliver.’’

With Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid due to have new talks with foreign minister Brian Cowen tomorrow, London and Dublin are hoping the IRA leadership could be getting ready to make a significant gesture on weapons.

Sinn Fein sources insisted the provisionals have not made a decision, but security chiefs in Belfast believe the two secret dumps which have been examined by Government-appointed inspectors could be sealed over, or emptied and the weapons put beyond use within the next fortnight.

Reg Empey, Sam Foster and Michael McGimpsey, the three Ulster Unionist ministers at Stormont, are expected to hand in their resignations this afternoon in the latest move by the party to try to force the IRA to act.

With the two Democratic Unionist ministers likely to follow, Dr Reid will then have no option but to suspend the institutions at Stormont.

But if they are put on hold, all sides believe it will only be a matter of time before all departments are fully operational again - once the IRA decommission.

But Mr Donaldson, a hardliner and potential party leader, warned: ‘‘There must be no half-measures. We want to see what the IRA do is genuine, that it is actual decommissioning.

‘‘If that is what happens, and it is the beginning of a credible process, then I think that would be highly significant.’’

But without it, the peace process was going nowhere.

He said: ‘‘They are in the end the only people now who can prevent the process from completely collapsing.

‘‘We have, therefore, reached a defining moment, and in the next few days, perhaps the next few weeks, we will know whether the republican movement is prepared to make that commitment.’’

He called for any report from arms decommissioning chairman General John de Chastelain to be detailed so that any move could be seen to be genuine.

‘‘When it happens, I will welcome it, providing it is credible.’’