Army Council disbandment 'not part of power-sharing deal': Ahern

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today that unionist demands for disbandment of the IRA’s ruling Army Council was not part of the deal which set up the North’s power-sharing government.

The DUP and Sinn Féin are locked in a dispute over the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont, with unionists refusing to agree to the move.

The row threatens the future of the fledgling government, but today Mr Ahern signalled that unionists were stepping outside the terms of the St Andrews Agreement of 2006.

Mr Ahern said: “I have to restate again, because it was part of these discussions and talks, the devolution of policing was not predicated on the Army Council doing this, that or the other.

“It was not on that. It was a solemn agreement that the Irish Government (and) the British government were engaged and involved in, that said we would have the devolution of policing, that was the effect of it.”

In 2005 the IRA decommissioned its weapons and has since told its members to promote republicanism through peaceful means.

The DUP had demanded confirmation that the IRA’s ruling Army Council was disbanded before proceeding with the devolution of policing powers.

A report by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) recently found that the IRA’s structures had been disbanded and its Army Council was not meeting, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown later declaring the paramilitary group was redundant.

The DUP has now demanded a pledge from republicans that the IRA and Army Council are gone for good.

The St Andrews Agreement set May of this year as a target date for the devolution of policing powers and the pledge was a key element of the package which persuaded Sinn Féin to accept the North's policing structures.

Mr Ahern told BBC Northern Ireland that the Army Council’s status was not part of the agreement.

After the publication of the IMC report, its spokesman, John Alderdice, said the IRA had left the stage, but he speculated it would not formally announce its final disappearance for fear of rival republicans opposed to the peace process taking on its mantle.