Minister: End spectre of para-militarism

Foreign Minister Brian Cowen today pointed to the “corrosive impact” of para-military activity on the Northern Ireland peace process.

His comments came ahead of this week’s talks in Hillsborough, Co Down, between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair – and followed intensifying speculation in Dublin that the two governments were about to insist on an IRA declaration that their war was over.