US envoy calls for 'historic' action from IRA

President Bush's special envoy on Ireland, Mr Richard Haass, has urged the IRA to make a "historic transformation" which would allow politics in Northern Ireland to move forward. The American envoy returned to Belfast to meet political leaders, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor.

Mr Haass left Northern Ireland on Air Force One with President Bush on Tuesday, however, after the British and Irish governments were forced to postpone publishing their blueprint for restoring devolution, he flew back at lunchtime yesterday to offer US assistance and support.

He first met the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, at Castle Buildings, Stormont, and then held talks at the same venue with Sinn Féin leaders Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness in the afternoon.

Mr Haass said acts of completion were needed to ensure political stability. Without making direct reference to the governments' complaint that the IRA's response to the blueprint was "totally inadequate", he made it clear that republicans must take action to restore confidence.

"I essentially urged Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness to use their influence to try to persuade the IRA to say certain things that really would mark an historic transformation in the situation," he said.

"I also urged Gerry Adams in his capacity as president of Sinn Féin to say things that clearly resonate with rank and file unionists," the US envoy added.

"I think that if this opportunity is going to be seized that the leadership of the IRA is going to have to take positions that would mark an historic transformation and that it is going to mean things it says and things it does, which would mark a qualitative change in where it stands.

"I would urge and hope that they are in a position to do exactly that," he said.

Mr Haass described the blueprint as an extraordinarily good document. "Taken as a whole, the package as its stands is in the interests of all of the parties," he said.

Mr Haass also met the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, yesterday evening and was also due to meet the other parties as well as the head of the decommissioning body, Gen John de Chastelain.

After their meeting with Mr Haass, Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness repeated their call on the governments to publish the detail of their proposals to restore devolution and the Stormont institutions.

Mr Adams refused to comment on the reports that the IRA response to the governments' package failed to give details of what the IRA would do in terms of effectively ending its activity and whether it would back this up with major acts or act of decommissioning.

He said that if the blueprint was published, the IRA should also respond. Asked should the IRA's response be different than its original statement to the governments, he said: "I am not going to speculate about that."

Mr Adams accused the governments of briefing journalists "in a most unhelpful way".

The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, said there was no serious argument about where the blame lay for the current stalemate.

In response to republican suggestions that the problem did not lie with the IRA but with "obsessive unionist demands on the IRA", Mr Durkan added: "I have listened to everything that Sinn Féin representatives say, not just in recent days but over months and years. Going by much of that, there is now no republican reason for the IRA to exist.

"I would say to the IRA, if there is now no republican reason for the IRA to exist, why keep giving unionists the excuse?"

Anti-Belfast Agreement Ulster Unionist Mr Jeffrey Donaldson called on the British government to proceed with elections but to ensure that subsequently Sinn Féin is excluded from the Executive.

Pro-agreement former UUP minister Mr Michael McGimpsey said that Sinn Féin should do the "honourable thing" and in the absence of any significant movement from the IRA, accept that it could not be part of any new executive.

DUP Assembly member Mr Peter Weir said there was not a single unionist who believed the blueprint was good for unionism.

"After Assembly elections, we must ensure the UUP is never again allowed to negotiate on behalf of the pro-union people of Northern Ireland," he added.