Parties call on republicans to end violence

Irish opposition parties will today seek all-party support for a landmark Dáil motion calling on the Republican movement to abandon all violence and fully embrace democracy.

The hard-hitting Fine Gael document blames December’s Northern Bank robbery for shattering power-sharing talks and calls on the IRA to immediately decommision and end criminality and paramilitarism.

However the Government is unlikely to support the motion and will instead propose its own amendments before a vote is taken in the Dáil tomorrow.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny insisted that his party’s motion was a chance to send out a clear message to Sinn Féin and the IRA that the Dáil supported exclusively democratic politics.

He said: “This motion isn’t about party politics. It is about establishing the primacy of democracy as a means to pursue your political agenda, and the Dáil has a central role for that agenda.

“This means we support the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, we reject the use of violence to support the achievement of political objectives and we renounce any links with criminality in any jurisdiction.”

Fine Gael Chief Whip Paul Kehoe said: “The Good Friday Agreement must not be allowed to collapse around us. It is time to take a stand on the issue.”

The 10-point motion says the party has “deep concern” about Sinn Féin’s attitude towards criminality and describes recent IRA statements as “an implicit threat to the Irish people“.

Bertie Ahern and his ministers will also today discuss the International Monitoring Commission report at their weekly Cabinet meeting.

The report blames the IRA for the £26.5m (€38m) Northern Bank heist and is likely to recommend political sanctions against Sinn Féin.

However the Government is not favour of excluding any parties from power-sharing talks.

Mr Ahern said: “The government is not in favour of exclusion and will continue to engage with the British government and all the parties to advance all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement.”