Deal to disband IRA 'still possible'
The bid to save the Good Friday Agreement cranked up a notch today after hints that a deal to disband the IRA was still possible.
As the political parties continued marathon peace talks, Sinn Féin also claimed Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist party was up for doing business.
Both sides are being pressed by Mr Blair and Bertie Ahern in an attempt to revive the power sharing Executive.
With the DUP demanding proof that the IRA will disarm and end their terror operation before agreeing to go back into the Stormont administration, Sinn Féin chairman Mitchell McLaughlin confirmed some progress had been made.
He said: “I agree that the deal could be done. We are engaged in a process of talks that has actively intensified.”
Devolution collapsed two years ago amid suspicions of an IRA espionage plot inside the Northern Ireland Office.
Speculation of a major statement by the IRA has heightened since the three-day talks at Leeds Castle began yesterday.
Although Mr McLaughlin insisted he was unaware of any imminent announcement on guns, he said the whole peace process would be “liberated” if an agreement involved terrorist weapons and British troop reductions in Ulster.
But before republicans make a move they want assurances that the Stormont Executive and Assembly will be protected.
Any attempt to totally restructure the political institutions will be fiercely resisted, the Sinn Féin chairman said.
Nevertheless, he added: “We will not be found wanting if the DUP are ready to discuss. Our view for some time is we will do business with the DUP, representing in our view a more cohesive unionism.”
Peter Robinson, Mr Paisley’s number two, also spoke of movement on some of the outstanding issues which have bedevilled Northern Ireland politics.
He refused, however, to indicate whether the advancement was around paramilitary violence and decommissioning, switching policing powers from Westminster to Belfast, or how the Stormont regime operated.
“Progress has been made in some areas. There are other areas where there has been no progress whatsoever. I’m not indicating how much progress we are making in any specific areas.”
The East Belfast MP cautioned against the earlier optimism of other political parties that a deal was moving towards completion.
“To say that we are on the cusp of getting an agreement, that isn’t the position inside (the negotiations).”
As the haggling continued, the Tony Blair’s official spokesman said he was prepared to stick with the talks.
He said: “We wouldn’t still be here unless work was being done and work is being done.”
David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionists, urged the IRA to make a new and detailed statement on weapons without delay.
He said: “There have been rumours that the spokesman of that private army may be about to say something. In which case, the sooner we hear it, and the clearer the message, the better.”
For others involved, there were signs of a possible breakthrough.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan claimed resistance to a settlement was weakening.
He said: “I don’t think we have the full combination code yet. But I think we are potentially getting to a click on some of the issues that we haven’t concluded on before.”
And the centre-ground Alliance Party leader David Ford expressed hope that the outstanding issues could be sorted out.
“The government have started to do the homework that’s necessary. It’s rather late, but at least it has started.”
