The IRA must prove it has got rid of all its weapons before republicans can join a power-sharing Northern Ireland administration, Conservative Party leader Mr Michael Howard said today.
Mr Howard - speaking at a business breakfast in Belfast on his first visit to the North as Tory leader - said the principles laid down by the Taoiseach, that the paramilitary group must disband before Sinn Fein could join a coalition in Dublin, must also apply in the North.
"What we need is the clearest demonstration - through deeds, not just words - that the republican movement has completed the transition to 'exclusively democratic and peaceful means'.
"That must include transparent decommissioning to an agreed timetable, an end to the IRA as an active paramilitary group and a clear acknowledgement that the so-called 'war' really is over," he said.
With talks to end the political stalemate in Northern Ireland continuing, Unionists have demanded that the IRA decommission all of its weapons before there can be a restoration of the Stormont Assembly.
Mr Howard, who was addressing the Confederation of Small Businesses, said his party wanted to see the return of locally elected, accountable ministers.
"Yet we also agree with those who say that devolution can only be restored on a fully inclusive basis once the shadow of the gun and the private armies have been removed for good," he added.
Quoting the recent words of the Taoiseach that there must be an end to paramilitarism and private armies, Mr Howard said: "I agree. But the standard that Bertie Ahern insists upon in Dublin should be the same standard that applies here in Belfast."
Sinn Fein has demanded that policing and criminal justice be devolved to a local administration as soon as possible after the restoration of devolution.
Republicans have yet to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland and take their places on the Policing Board.
The Conservative leader said a basic requirement for any minister serving in the Northern Ireland administration must be unreserved support for the police and the criminal justice system.
"Until these things happen, any further moves by the government on issues like security normalisation or changes to policing would be, to put it mildly, unwise. And they would be opposed by me and my party," he said.