Ahern tells of frustration over IRA arms issue

The Taoiseach did not talk to the chairman of the international decommissioning body until almost 24 hours after he had expected to, the Dáil was told yesterday as Mr Ahern gave details of the latest stalling of the peace process negotiations.

He also said that if the two governments were to have revealed the full extent of what arms the IRA had put beyond use in its third act of decommissioning, it would have ended that scheme. The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, had insisted it should continue.

Mr Ahern was commenting after the deal on the full implementation of the 1998 Belfast Agreement went awry, with Mr Trimble saying there had not been sufficient transparency in the latest weapons decommissioning. The Taoiseach said he was "deeply frustrated" by what had happened, but he said "this is a new day and we must get on with it". Significant progress was made "and we came down on the detail of one issue and we have to move on from there".

Answering opposition leaders' questions, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that there were some issues "we have no control over" and decommissioning was the great concern. The "one person who we were not dealing with was the IRA representative" in decommissioning.

"Downing Street was well aware of my fear, because even yesterday morning I was quite reluctant to leave here because I was unable to make contact with Gen de Chastelain, even to find out what was happening".

Mr Ahern said he had understood it would be possible for him to talk to Gen John de Chastelain, chairman of the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning (IICD), at 6.30 on Monday evening but that "the first occasion I was able to make contact with him was when I walked into Hillsborough yesterday evening and that didn't help".

There was "an understanding between Gen de Chastelain and the IRA representative as to what he can say. If that is broken by the governments, and we thought about that yesterday, we would end that scheme. That is his judgment and I believe him to be correct on the issue."

He said the material put beyond use could have caused "death and destruction on a gigantic scale", and was considerably larger than the previous decommissioning, but "it does not sound as exciting when put in stark military terms".

Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny said it was "quite extraordinary that an unknown representative of the Provisional IRA is in a position to impose a vow of silence on two prime ministers in respect of such a critical deal".

Labour party leader Mr Pat Rabbitte said that while decommissioning was a statutory process, with an implication of confidentiality on the IICD, "it would not appear that any such statutory provision impacts on the two governments".

He said the Taoiseach appeared to be saying that if Gen de Chastelain had issued a statement couched in certain language it would have been adequate to meet the situation and asked if there was any impediment to prevent the Taoiseach calling on the IRA to release the IICD from the imposed confidentiality.

Mr Ahern said the two governments did not rule out the possibility of saying more, but "it would be unwise to contemplate that course without giving the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) the chance to resolve the difficulty through direct contact with the IRA". His understanding was that the IRA "believes that unless it proceeds in its dealings with the commission on the basis of confidentiality it would damage rather than enhance its prospects of putting all arms beyond use as quickly as possible". He added that "I sincerely hope it (the IRA) will revisit this thinking, at least in respect of yesterday's act" of decommissioning.