Ahern: IRA move paves way for political progress

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has told an SDLP conference in Derry that the completion of IRA decommissioning should pave the way for political progress in the North.

However, Mr Ahern also said he understood that it would take time for unionists to have confidence in the move.

The Democratic Unionist Party has effectively rejected the significance of IRA disarmament due to a lack of photographic evidence.

Sinn Féin and the SDLP have criticised this stance and are demanding that the Irish and British Governments resist any DUP attempt to keep the peace process stalled.