The IRA may respond quickly to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams's call on it to fully embrace democratic politics in order to gain political advantage in the election, David Trimble has said.
While Mr Adams this week indicated that such a statement would not be forthcoming from the IRA during the campaign, the Ulster Unionist Party leader said yesterday that an IRA response that would talk about "standing down" could come as early as this week, but that it should be treated with scepticism.
He further suggested that the predicted IRA statement would be ambiguous, but that in order to "cover the inadequacy of the words" the statement could be accompanied by decommissioning. This would not work with unionists, he said.
"So I must advise republicans that this time they must demonstrate a complete change of heart. Their statements should be unequivocal. There should be no doubt that they now see violence and crime as things of the past."