IMC report: IRA has Retained Weapons

The Irish Republican Army has halted violence but is continuing to engage in intelligence gathering and has also retained some of its weapons six months after the group said it was ending its armed campaign according to a report published on Wednesday.

The forty-six page report, published by the Independent Monitoring Commission, said that the IRA leadership and involved senior members were authorising intelligence gathering on enemies. It also stated that both members and ex-members are engaged in organised crime including counterfeiting and smuggling.

The Commission did however say that the IRA intended to remain true to its pledge of pursuing peaceful means to secure a united Ireland.

"The indications that the Provisional IRA appears to retain long-term intentions to gather intelligence is in our view a matter for concern," said the Independent Monitoring Commission.

"On the other hand, we believe there is a clear strategic intent to turn the organisation on to a political path."

The IRA's seven-man command quickly hit back at the report saying that its rank and file members were fully observing the group's declaration to end its thirty year old armed struggle.

"Recent allegations that the IRA is in breach of its public commitments are false," said the IRA in their public statement.

Sinn Fein has also responded to the allegations of the report, with deputy leader Martin McGuinness dismissing the findings as vague and lacking credibility.

It is likely that the report will further slow down progress on the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, with Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley clearly stating that his party will not enter into any form of agreement with Sinn Fein until it is convinced all illegal IRA activity has ended.

"Far from being a clean bill of health, the Independent Monitoring Commission's report re-affirms what we already know that the Provisional IRA is riddled with illegality," said Paisley.

"The very idea of a power-sharing executive with Sinn Fein, given all of their ongoing criminality and the existence of their terror organisation, is just not tenable."

Paisley said Britain "will find that the DUP will not be budging on their assessment of the situation."

Meanwhile, British secretary of state for Northern Ireland Peter Hain said that the report on IRA activity "does not paint a picture of perfection, and frankly I did not expect it to."

Mr. Hain said there was "enough evidence of progress to make the process of political talks meaningful."

"There have been no murders, no recruitments and no bank robberies. Compared to where we were ten years ago, there has been a sea change," he said.

Speaking on the report, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that significant progress had been made in the peace process but he emphasised that it was crucial that all IRA criminal activity had to come to an end.

"Let me make it clear once again: all criminal activity has to cease," said Mr. Blair.

"But I think it would be quite wrong if you were suggesting that there hadn't been a significant process or that the statement that the IRA gave last July was not highly significant."

Elsewhere, the Ulster Unionist Party has accused the British Government of allowing the peace process to remain stalled due to on-going IRA activity, while Ulster's SDLP have said that the IRA was playing into the hands of the DUP by failing to live up to its commitments.