'People will be ultimate judge if IRA pledges peace'

The people of Northern Ireland will be the ultimate judge of whether any IRA statement on an end to violence and paramilitary activity is for real, US politicians were told today.

As United States politicians urged the IRA to issue a positive response to Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams’ call for the Provisionals to abandon armed struggle and pursue their goals through peaceful and democratic means, Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said it was not what the terror group said which mattered but what it did.