The British Conservative Party leader, Mr William Hague, last night again demanded an end to the release of paramilitary prisoners unless the IRA began handing over its weapons.
"It is time the terrorists lived up to the Belfast Agreement. It is time they engaged in substantial and verifiable decommissioning of their guns and bombs," he told the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers at Westminster. "And it is time for the government to say that unless they do so, there will be no more prisoner releases and no place in the government of Northern Ireland for them."