THE RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, has said an IRA ceasefire is inevitable, although he had no intelligence to tell if it was imminent. "I think it is an inevitability but I couldn't give any timescale," he said, "it would be wrong to say. At this stage, I have no intelligence to say that that's imminent. It has to come about, it should come about forthwith."
Mr Flanagan said the force was ready to implement far reaching reforms if and when there was an IRA ceasefire that could be trusted. He was speaking on BBC Radio Ulster as the force marks its 75th anniversary this weekend.
The Chief Constable said the 189 recommendations put forward during the 17 month IRA ceasefire proved the force's will ingress to change. "Major structural changes can only be contemplated when we know we have a true, enduring, lasting peace. But that research is done and that reform, that change is there for the future when we have an enduring, lasting peace that can be trusted."
Mr Flanagan said the RUC would have nothing to fear from the new British government's desire for the force's reform.
He said the community could not afford another summer like last year. "These are problems created by this society in which we live and the police alone cannot solve them. We can only effectively address them by working in partnerships."
He was also highly critical of a report by the Human Rights Watch Helsinki which urged the British government to make fundamental changes to the RUC.