ARCHBISHOP Robin Eames has offered to positively consider any future request from the International Body on Decommissioning to play a role in trying to resolve the disarmament deadlock.
The Church of Ireland Primate also said last night that it would be inappropriate for him at this stage to accede to a request to meet the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams.
Dr Eames confirmed that in a private submission to the decommissioning body before Christmas he offered to positively consider any requests he might receive from the body to assist in breaking the decommissioning impasse.
"I am prepared to play a full part in the decommissioning process if the Commission feels it desirable following its initial report. This is a matter for the Commission," he told the body.
However, Dr Eames denied one newspaper report that he had been in sustained contact with the IRA through intermediaries since the ceasefire. While he has maintained links with loyalist paramilitaries through their political representatives, he had felt it inappropriate to maintain such contact with the IRA.
Last night Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, the Sinn Fein chairman, urged Dr Eames to accept Mr Adams's request for a meeting.
Dr Eames told the commission he believed loyalist paramilitaries would hand over their arms if there was movement from the IRA because "loyalist organisations view themselves as reactionary to the PIRA".
He made the submission in the company of Bishop Samuel Poyntz, retired Bishop of Connor. He said last night that he was not taking a position on the decommissioning issue but understood how it was preventing the element of trust "becoming more real for ordinary people".
"Until now most people do not feel involved. If the Commission could spell out the need for a link between decommissioning and community trust it would do much to move the process forward," he said in the submission.
Dr Eames also said he favoured elections to a local assembly. This forum should have a definite purpose and time scale and allow the majority of people to "own" the peace process, he said.
