IMC findings - Report paves the way for devolution

WITH the latest imprimatur of the International Monitoring Commission (IMC) conferred on the IRA, combined with the decision of Sinn Féin to support the police and the criminal justice system in the North, it was hardly unexpected that it was described as the removal of the “final impediment” to devolution.

Last evening in London Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed that Northern Assembly elections will take place on March 7, a date which in any case, had been legislated for by Britain.

In accordance with the St. Andrew’s Agreement, the Assembly, which was transitional, has been dissolved.