AHERN CONFIDENT ABOUT IRA CEASEFIRE
Ahern 'confident about IRA ceasefire'
IRISH Prime Minister Bertie Ahern today forecast that IRA weapons would be decommissioned on schedule as long as the Northern Ireland peace process was implemented in full.
Commenting as the Northern Ireland Assembly prepared to meet again in Belfast, the Dublin premier also paid tribute to the "courage and leadership" of Ulster Unionist first minister David Trimble.
In an interview with the Irish News, Mr Ahern said he believed the two-year decommissioning deadline set out in the Northern Ireland peace accord, would be met "in the context of the implementation of the agreement as a whole".
Mr Ahern -who made it clear last week that he did not see decommissioning as a precondition for the inclusion of the IRA's Sinn Fein allies in the new Northern Ireland executive -added: "I am confident that the IRA ceasefire is definite and that the use of violence by them is over, done and gone, as we hope it is on all sides."
Mr Ahern repeated his pledge to utilised new security and legal powers rushed through the Dail this month -in tandem with similar moves by the House of Commons -to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the Omagh bombing that killed 29 people and injured more than 200.
But he confirmed there would be no mass round up under the terms of the tough new powers of members of the Real IRA group behind the bomb following their declaration last week of a complete ceasefire.
Mr Ahern declared: "We will continue to use the legislation where ever it is necessary to bring justice those people who were involved in the atrocities.
"It will not be used in terms of rounding up people who have declared a ceasefire.'
IRISH Prime Minister Bertie Ahern today forecast that IRA weapons would be decommissioned on schedule as long as the Northern Ireland peace process was implemented in full.
Commenting as the Northern Ireland Assembly prepared to meet again in Belfast, the Dublin premier also paid tribute to the "courage and leadership" of Ulster Unionist first minister David Trimble.
In an interview with the Irish News, Mr Ahern said he believed the two-year decommissioning deadline set out in the Northern Ireland peace accord, would be met "in the context of the implementation of the agreement as a whole".
Mr Ahern -who made it clear last week that he did not see decommissioning as a precondition for the inclusion of the IRA's Sinn Fein allies in the new Northern Ireland executive -added: "I am confident that the IRA ceasefire is definite and that the use of violence by them is over, done and gone, as we hope it is on all sides."
Mr Ahern repeated his pledge to utilised new security and legal powers rushed through the Dail this month -in tandem with similar moves by the House of Commons -to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the Omagh bombing that killed 29 people and injured more than 200.
But he confirmed there would be no mass round up under the terms of the tough new powers of members of the Real IRA group behind the bomb following their declaration last week of a complete ceasefire.
Mr Ahern declared: "We will continue to use the legislation where ever it is necessary to bring justice those people who were involved in the atrocities.
"It will not be used in terms of rounding up people who have declared a ceasefire.'
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0662
Published Date: 14-Sep-98
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.