Republicans must act to save peace process

Republicans must give an assurance that they will abandon all paramilitary activity in a bid to save the peace process, says the Northern Ireland Secretary.

The peace process in the North is not facing its gravest crisis claims John Reid.

His comments came after police charged a 52-year-old man who was arrested following a police raid on the Sinn Fein office of the Northern Ireland Assembly, with having information likely to be of use to terrorists.

The arrest was one of four made on Friday as part of a police investigation into IRA intelligence-gathering.

Dr Reid declared: "I think we are at a stage which is not only serious, or grave as the Taoiseach said in the last three days. I think this is at a critical stage.

"Somehow we have to have an assurance that if these things have happened in the past, they will happen no longer.

"Now we have never had a signal of that nature. The IRA have never been prepared to say the war is over or that their army is being stood down.

"We have come a huge way in terms of the ceasefire. There have been no attacks on the police or the (British) Army, no planting of bombs, but the constant drip feed of allegations that the maintenance of the apparatus of terror is being carried on is undermining hugely the confidence in this (Good Friday) Agreement," Dr Reid told the BBC.

His call came as unionists threatened to begin moves to collapse the power-sharing executive at Stormont over the latest allegations against republicans.