IMC presents its final report

The Independent Monitoring Commission, which was set up to monitor paramilitary ceasefires in the North, has presented its final…

The Independent Monitoring Commission, which was set up to monitor paramilitary ceasefires in the North, has presented its final report.

The body will officially wind up at the end of this month after seven years in operation.

Its last report to the Dublin and London Governments is an overview of its work and an assessment on any lessons that can be learned. It will be published after the governments examine the findings.

“The 26th and final report of the Independent Monitoring Commission has been presented today to the British and Irish governments," an IMC spokesman said.  "The report documents changes, impact and lessons during the period from January 2004 - March 2011.”

READ MORE

A Northern Ireland Office spokesman said is will a statement of response once the conclusions have been fully examined.

The four members of the commission are former Assembly speaker Lord (John) Alderdice, former Department of Justice secretary general Joe Brosnan, retired Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner John Grieve and ex-CIA deputy director Dick Kerr.

The decision to wind-down the IMC late last year came despite the ongoing threat from dissident republicans.

At the time, Lord Alderdice said the peace process becoming established and policing and justice powers being devolved from Westminster to Stormont had paved the way for the IMC to be conclude its work.

Mr Kerr, still active on the international stage despite being in his mid-70s, said they had held more than 100 formal meetings as part of their activities. “I have spent, in attending these meetings, a total of 2,400 hours on aeroplanes. That doesn’t count going through security and waiting in airports,” he said. “So just getting here and getting back has been for me a major challenge.”

PA