Conroy: IRA 'has turned its back on crime'

The IRA has completely abandoned all crime in the Irish republic, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy insisted today.

He delivered his verdict after Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley accused Northern Secretary Peter Hain of trying to deceive the public over the scale of the Provisionals’ shift away from illegal activity.

Mr Paisley’s scathing attack followed a meeting with the Independent Monitoring Commission whose latest paramilitary ceasefire dossier gave an upbeat appraisal of the current activity of the IRA.

It confirmed that he still needs to be convinced of republican credentials during devolution talks Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair and are to hold with the political parties at St Andrews from Wednesday.

But after Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde’s broad backing for the IMC’s assessment, Commissioner Conroy claimed the Provos had undergone a huge transformation.

“We know from our intelligence work on the ground that as an organisation I can say without doubt that’s the case, they are totally away from all that area of criminality,” he said.

“But there are people who had been associated with the Provisional IRA who still get involved in criminal activity.”