Ahern signals need for some decommissioning

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has given his strongest signal to date that some decommissioning will have to accompany the setting up of the executive in Northern Ireland.

Asked if he could foresee an executive operating under the d'Hondt system "without a gesture or movement" by the international decommissioning body, Mr Ahern replied: "The answer is that I cannot foresee such an eventuality." During a series of lengthy questions on Northern Ireland in the Dail, the Taoiseach also said it was clear to any observer that "we are unlikely to see any move on decommissioning in the immediate future".

Under the Belfast Agreement, he said, Sinn Fein was committed to doing all in its power to ensure that all paramilitary weapons over which it had influence would be put out of circulation by the end of a two-year period. "I hope they will be able successfully to use that influence, but unfortunately I do not know when," he added.

The Government had engaged in direct discussions with the NIO, he continued. It had talked to the parties and worked out a common position with Sinn Fein and, more particularly, with the SDLP. They had communicated directly with Mr Trimble on these matters. "We have explained our position endlessly to the British government", he said.

The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said yesterday he wanted to see decommissioning begin "immediately", adds Rachel Donnelly in London.

Responding to a question from the Labour MP, Mr Harry Barnes, who said decommissioning was "not the same thing as surrender", Mr Blair told MPs during Question Time that the British government was working to ensure confidence in the political process.

In a separate development, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, has re-appointed Mr John Jermyn Rowe, QC, to undertake the annual review of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1996.