British Government ‘quietly confident’ of IRA disarmament

The British Government was today poised to put into operation a series of measures to bolster the Northern Ireland peace process in the event of an IRA act of decommissioning.

A Northern Ireland Office source confirmed officials stood ready to implement the British and Irish Governments’ Weston Park plan once it was confirmed by General John de Chastelain that disarmament had begun.

The spokesman said: ‘‘There is an air of quiet confidence right now after Gerry Adams confirmed he had asked the IRA to disarm.

‘‘We’re in a bit of a waiting game right now and we have to wait for a decommissioning act which is okayed by the international commission.

‘‘Once we get that signal, you can expect the Weston Park package will be implemented fairly quickly.’’

Under the Weston Park plan, the two governments committed themselves to the normalisation of security in Northern Ireland depending on how the Good Friday Agreement is implemented and the RUC Chief Constable’s assessment of the threat from paramilitaries.

London and Dublin also envisaged when the plan was published in August the scaling down of troop levels and Army installations in Northern Ireland.

Over time, this would mean the ‘‘vacation, return or demolition of the great majority of Army bases, the demolition of all surveillance towers, no further Army presence in police stations and the use of Army helicopters for training purposes only’’.

It is expected as an initial response to IRA decommissioning, the British Government will demolish Magherafelt Army base, the super-sangar (look-out post) at Newtownhamilton Police Station and two observation towers in Camlough, in republican south Armagh.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid has already begun to implement commitments on policing by publishing an implementation plan for the reforms and establishing a 19-member Police Board involving unionist and nationalist Assembly members.

Sinn Fein, however, declined its seats on the board on the grounds that the reforms did not go far enough.

The Weston Park package also saw the two Governments commit themselves to:

:: A review of the controversial Parades Commission which decides on the routes of contentious marches.

:: The appointment of a judge to investigate allegations of state collusion on either side of the Irish border in the controversial killings of solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson, LVF leader Billy Wright in the Maze Prison, Lord Justice and Lady Gibson, RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill.

:: An amnesty for paramilitaries at large not covered by the Good Friday Agreement’s early prisoner release scheme.

:: The formation of an implementation group to oversee the handling of the Agreement.

:: The operation by all parties in good faith of all the political institutions.