Unionist politicians have reacted bitterly to the IRA's confirmation last night that it had decided against decommissioning weapons.
The North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, said in Oslo that it was deliberate reaction to the Nobel Peace prize awards. He said the IRA's utterances "would appear to be their repudiation of peace. I am quite sure that in view of the deliberate timing of this, all civilised people will repudiate them."
It would now seem that the IRA leadership timed yesterday's statement as a direct rebuttal of Mr Trimble's assertion in Oslo that there would have to be decommissioning before Sinn Fein could be allowed into government in Northern Ireland.
While the IRA's stance would appear to indicate that the political deadlock in Northern Ireland is set to continue, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, were restrained in their reaction. Both leaders, who had discussions on the North on the margins of the EU summit in Vienna, played down the reports about the IRA's refusal to decommission. The IRA's announcement, in the form of calls to a number of selected journalists, confirms reports from Garda sources earlier this week that the organisation held two meetings in the Republic last weekend to review its ceasefire. It is understood decommissioning was raised at the meetings but firmly ruled out by the IRA members attending. Reports have also referred to leadership changes.
In Vienna, Mr Ahern said that both he and Mr Blair were very anxious to conclude by Christmas their understandings on the makeup of the Executive with ten seats, the North/South implementation bodies and the North/South co-operation areas.
Confirming that "no new suggestions" had emerged from his meetings with Mr Blair, Mr Ahern said the main difficulty was that since the finalisation of the UUP meeting on Thursday of last week, there had been no meaningful contact. Mr Blair, in a television interview, reiterated his message that the Belfast Agreement must be implemented "in all its forms".
"It is necessary that people give up violence for good and the terms of the agreement on decommissioning have to be implemented like everything else."
Mr Ken Maginnis, the Ulster Unionist Party security spokesman, said "the ability of the leadership of Sinn Fein/IRA to take the entire movement with it has seemed to be less and less over the last few months." However, he said he did believe decommissioning would happen eventually. The Rev Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, said: "This absolutely confirms what I have always been saying, that under the constitution of the IRA the only time they will hand in any arms is when there is a united Ireland, and they will hand them into the Government of the united Ireland.
The PUP spokesman, Mr David Ervine, said the IRA's decision hindered rather than helped the current situation and described the announcement as "mischievous".
The UK Unionist leader, Mr Bob McCartney, said the IRA's refusal to disarm meant that Sinn Fein was violating basic democratic principles.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said the reported IRA comments, if accurate, were "an extremely serious development". Tensions suspended as UUP and SDLP celebrate prize; Ahern, Blair still resolved to see solution by Christmas: page 8