Talks aim to avert power-sharing crisis in the North

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin will today hold talks aimed at avoiding a crisis over the future of the North's power-sharing government.

The negotiations follow a report yesterday by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) which said the IRA had effectively ceased to exist, having disbanded its remaining structures.

Last night DUP leader Peter Robinson, who had demanded confirmation that the IRA’s ruling Army Council had disbanded, welcomed the IMC report.

But he added: “While it is marked progress that the IRA is no longer ’doing business’, the unionist community needs to be convinced by the republican leadership that the IRA is out of business for good.”

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams insisted the IRA had left the stage and said it was time to focus on ensuring the success of the fledgling government.

The DUP and Sinn Féin are divided over a series of issues including the devolution of justice powers, education reform, the future of the Maze prison site and the promotion of the Irish language.

The St Andrews political deal of 2006, which laid the foundations for power-sharing between the DUP and Sinn Féin, set May of this year as a target date for the transfer of justice powers.

The DUP has insisted it will not move on the issue until the circumstances are right, but Sinn Féin has threatened to pull its ministers out of the Stormont cabinet if progress is not made soon.

The Assembly Executive has not met since June as a result of the dispute, but now Mr Robinson has warned of serious consequences if a meeting planned for September 18 does not go ahead.

Yesterday one of the authors of the IMC report, Lord Alderdice, said: “What we have seen is the whole functioning and structure of the IRA as a whole, from bottom to top, falling into disuse.”