The IRA is "firmly committed" to the political path, according to the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) in its latest report published yesterday. The report demonstrated that politicians had no excuse for not cementing a powersharing deal by March 26th, said Northern Secretary Peter Hain.
The body's 14th report focuses on British army demilitarisation or normalisation, which it says is ahead of schedule, but there is also reference to the IRA and the continuing threat posed by dissident republicans as well as comments about loyalist paramilitaries.
Ahead of the potential establishment of a DUP-Sinn Féin-led powersharing government by Monday week, the IMC said the IRA was not engaged in terrorist activity and was not contemplating a return to such actions.
"Its operational structures have been disbanded and in the absence of activity the deterioration of terrorist capability continues. The organisation does not engage in acts of violence and has instructed its members not to do so," it added.
"The leadership continues to encourage members to undertake political or community activities. We have no reason to think that it will be diverted from continuing along this path," said the IMC.
Noting how Sinn Féin in January endorsed the PSNI, the IMC added: "We therefore conclude that terrorism and violence have been abandoned and that PIRA does not pose a threat relevant to security normalisation."
The IMC, however, said dissident republicans remained a threat to the PSNI and British army and to the wider community. "They remain committed to terrorism and continue to engage in terrorist activity. They continue to take steps to reinforce their capacity as paramilitary organisations," it said.
It said the Real IRA was "dangerously active" over the six-month period of the report from August 1st, 2006 to January 31st, 2007, and that the Continuity IRA still posed a threat. It added, however, that none of "the dissident republican organisations have the capacity to mount a sustained and serious terrorist campaign".
The IMC said that loyalist paramilitary activity should not impede demilitarisation. It reported: "Although loyalist paramilitaries are actively engaged in violence and other forms of serious crime, and in our view have decided against early decommissioning, we do not believe they pose a present threat to the security forces. There is evidence of senior figures seeking to lead the organisations away from crime, although their impact so far has been limited and patchy."
The four-member IMC said the British government's two-year demilitarisation programme was ahead of schedule. By August British army troop levels will be down to no more than 5,000.
Tánaiste Michael McDowell said the reports offered "further evidence of the great progress that has been made in transforming Northern Ireland into a society in which policing, supported by all sectors of the population, is seen as a part of everyday life".
"I look forward to the further significant step in this direction which will follow the restoration of devolution and the instalment in office of a powersharing executive on March 26th," he added.
Northern Secretary Peter Hain said the report "details what the people of Northern Ireland are already experiencing - that they are living in an increasingly normalised society".
"It is now up to the politicians to normalise politics in Northern Ireland . . . there can be no excuses for not doing the deal."
