IMC report - Opportunity for progress on devolution

THE relentless political battle to restore devolved power-sharing government in the North has received a welcome boost in the latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) that depicts a highly encouraging picture of how the paramilitary landscape there is changing.

By any yardstick, it is the most encouraging analysis to date of how far nationalists have gone down the difficult road of putting criminality behind them.

In particular, it sends out highly positive signals about the leadership of the Provisional IRA and augurs well for the future of the peace process, a point warmly welcomed yesterday by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.