Emptying of arms dumps will pave way to devolution talks
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain is poised to call new talks with the North's political leaders in a bid to restore devolution after the IRA declared an end to its armed campaign.
But he is expected to delay the opening of any discussions until September, by which time the Irish and British governments hope the IRA will have completed its decommissioning process.
International disarmament chief General John de Chastelain is due to meet an IRA representative in the coming days as part of plans to empty the arms dumps.
Two clergymen – one Protestant, one Catholic – have been chosen to scrutinise the destruction along with Gen de Chastelain.
Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey will also meet his Assembly team today to assess the historic IRA statement.
In an unprecedented attempt to reach a final political settlement in the North, the paramilitary organisation ordered all units to dump arms and assist in the development of a democratic process.
Even though the IRA has officially been on ceasefire since 1997, the announcement – delivered yesterday by former IRA prisoner Seanna Walsh, who is now involved in developing the republican peace strategy – was historic.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair described it as a step of unparalleled magnitude.
He said: “This may be the day when finally, after all the false dawns and dashed hopes, peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland.”
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams insisted the IRA decision was a courageous and confident initiative and history would not be kind to governments that played politics with it.
He claimed: “There is a time to resist, to stand up and to confront the enemy by arms if necessary. In other words there is a time for war. There is also a time to engage, to reach out and put war behind us.”
Despite the IRA urging its members to embrace the democratic process, unionists insisted they would judge on deeds rather than words.
Until the details of the IRA disarmament becomes known over the next few weeks, there is absolutely no chance of serious dialogue opening up.
Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley, who now heads the largest party in the North, made it clear he would be in no hurry to engage.
He said: “Even on the face of the statement, they have failed to explicitly declare an end to their multi-million-pound criminal activity and have failed to provide the level of transparency that would be necessary to truly build confidence that the guns had gone in their entirety.”
He added: “This lack of transparency will prolong the period the community will need to make its assessment.”
Alongside the IRA’s £26.5m (€38m) raid on the Northern Bank’s Belfast HQ, it was the murder of Robert McCartney in a city-centre pub that piled pressure on the organisation to end its campaign for good. Robert was allegedly battered and stabbed to death by a gang of IRA men in January,
Sister of the 33-year-old Catherine McCartney said the statement did not go far enough.
Catherine, who has joined her four sisters and Robert’s fiancee, Bridgeen Hagans, in a tireless campaign to prosecute the killers, claimed the announcement was a positive step forward for the peace process but insisted it did not address criminality.
She said: “The IRA has not spelled out where it stands on those within its ranks who indulge in criminal activity. It tells them they have to stop it. But it does not say what happens if they don’t stop it.
“They should be subject to the rule of law and witnesses should be able to come forward against IRA volunteers who engage in criminal activity.”
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden was killed in the Omagh bomb atrocity, called on Sinn Féin to fully co-operate with investigations into the atrocity.
He claimed the party had so far failed to assist inquiries into the blast, which killed 29 people, among them a woman pregnant with twins, in the Co Tyrone market town in August 1998.
Mr Gallagher added: “The IRA statement marks a sea change in republicanism and it comes just weeks before the seventh anniversary.
“If the Sinn Féin leadership is serious about the changes in republican attitudes, would it come forward and ask people who have knowledge of what happened at Omagh – before and after the bombing – to share that with the investigations, north and south of the border?
“That would give some degree of confidence to people that there has been a sea change in Sinn Féin’s attitude.”
