The head of the international decommissioning body General John de Chastelain has warned that even the IRA itself may not have a full inventory of its weaponry as many of its members who hid the arms and explosives are no longer alive.
He has also said that the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister do not know the scope of Tuesday's act of disarmament by the IRA. This casts further doubt on Mr Blair's claim to have information about the act which, if made public, would satisfy sceptical unionists.
In an interview with the Toronto Globe and Mail in his native Canada, the 65-year-old retired general who heads up the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning again refused to give details of the IRA's weaponry. "There are a lot of arms, put it that way," he said.
"They have a system of distribution and tunnels, and a lot of the people who did know are no longer alive. . . Things may have been moved, so not even the IRA quartermaster or the chief of staff may know the full inventory."
The general, who spoke to the Globe and Mail from Belfast, defended the fact that he did not reveal how many guns or what quantity of explosives, ammunition and other items he saw being put beyond use last Tuesday. "The IRA have insisted this has to be under the confidentiality clause," he said. "We have to accept that. We've made it clear to the different governments that the IRA has agreed to [disarm] only on that basis."
He would not disclose the mechanism by which he met the IRA except to say "just meeting with the IRA is complex". He could not divulge the methods, location or quantities of weapons.
He said he remained optimistic about the long-term prospects for cross-community political institutions. "I'm certain that eventually this is going to lead to a satisfactory conclusion because people want it. But ask me to say when, and I can't tell you that."
Gen de Chastelain said that despite the recent frustrations, the North had undergone a sea change over the past eight years.
Asked how long he might stay in his post, he said he did not know. "Is the process going to go ahead? That's the big question right now and a lot of people here really don't know how things are going to turn out. . . . "