PREMIERS SAY IRA MUST END ACTIVITY BEFORE POWERSHARING

[mrgorth]

PREMIERS SAY IRA MUST END ACTIVITY BEFORE POWERSHARING
02/01/05 13:07 EST

Irish premier Bertie Ahern and the British Prime Minister
Tony Blair have warned the IRA that it must give up all
alleged criminal activity if there was to be any return of
power sharing to Northern Ireland.


Following talks in Downing Street the two men said the IRA's
"continuing criminal and paramilitary activity" was the sole
remaining obstacle to a peace settlement in the North.


Mr Blair and Mr Ahern were briefed by PSNI Chief Constable
Hugh Orde and Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy on the £26.5
million Belfast bank raid.


They said they accepted the claim of both police forces that
it was the work of the Provisional IRA.


"The obstacle now to a lasting and durable settlement in
Northern Ireland is the continuing paramilitary activity and
criminal activity of the IRA," Mr Blair said.


"It has got to stop. It has got to stop in its entirety.
There cannot be any compromise with that. If it is given up
the process can move forward on an inclusive basis."


His words were echoed by Mr Ahern who told reporters in No
10: "The reality of the situation is that until we have got
an end to criminality we cannot win the trust and confidence
of the collective parties to move forward."


Mr Blair acknowledged that the bank raid may have been the
result of divisions within the republican movement. However,
he said Sinn Fein and the IRA were now alone in not
accepting that there must be a commitment to exclusively
peaceful and democratic means if the process was to move
forward.


He said the unionist community now accepted the principle of
power sharing with nationalists provided they abandoned
alleged criminality and paramilitary activities. "There
cannot be any going back on that," he said.


Mr Blair said he hoped there would be a period of "hard and
difficult reflection" by the republican leadership. "There
is almost a simplicity about the present situation," he said.


"There is no way forward by compromise, fudge, ambiguity on
this issue any more. There is only one way forward.
Everybody gets on to the democratic bus and goes forward on
that track or not."


Mr Ahern added: "The questions are very clear. They are very
simple. If they (republicans) are prepared to engage and are
prepared to move forward we can get on but we need that
response back from them."


Sinn Féin chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, later dismissed
the comments, saying there was nothing new in them.


The Foyle Assembly member criticised Mr Blair for failing to
acknowledge the DUP had walked away from power sharing in
the talks last December.


"Mr Blair is well aware of Sinn Féin's commitment to
peaceful and democratic means," he said.


"Sinn Féin has been the engine driving the peace process for
the last decade. Sinn Féin's commitment is to make this
process work. But as the Taoiseach and the British Prime
Minister know we cannot do this on our own."


The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, who also held talks with Mr
Blair today, welcomed the "clarity" of the statements.


"It is not a matter of sending a signal that we are moving
against any one party at this stage or that the rest of us
are looking to move ahead without any one party at this
stage, but making clear that we are not waiting until we can
all only move forward only with the say so of the IRA," he said.
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