Alliance welcomes IRA move, calls for ministers to be reinstated

The Alliance Party has welcomed the IRA's statement on arms and has called on unionists to reinstate their ministers to the power…

The Alliance Party has welcomed the IRA's statement on arms and has called on unionists to reinstate their ministers to the power-sharing Executive.

The Alliance leader, Mr David Ford, said republicans had demonstrated to the world how politics really could overcome the prolonged futility of armed conflict.

"It is what the people of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the UK and indeed globally have been waiting for since the signing of the agreement.

"The word 'historic' has been used on many occasions since Good Friday 1998. I believe it can be used justifiably today," he added. Welcoming the statements by the British Prime Minister and the head of the decommissioning body, Gen de Chastelain, the Alliance's deputy leader, Ms Eileen Bell, said there was no longer any excuse for unionists not to retake their ministerial posts. She also called on loyalist paramilitaries to decommission.

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"There is now absolutely no good reason for loyalists not to begin taking weapons out of action.

"No amount of bland statements from David Ervine or John White will change the fact that loyalists hold guns - a position which can no longer be justified even by their own twisted logic."

The Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Alastair Dunlop, described the IRA announcement as a "major step in the right direction". He added that he hoped all paramilitary groupings would dispose of their arms.

"Violence inhibits political progress and the retaining of illegal weapons has no place in a democratic society.

"This is an opportunity to move forward to a better future, to instil a necessary degree of confidence in the political process and to make progress in healing the divisions in this society. Everyone has the responsibility to engage in actions as well as words which can build trust," he added.

The British Liberal Democrat spokesman on Northern Ireland, Mr Lembit Opik, said the IRA's statement was "truly significant" but expressed disappointment at the apparent unwillingness by loyalist paramilitaries to follow suit.