Stormont talks resume in wake of report on IRA

Crisis talks addressing paramilitary activity in the North are taking place at Stormont in an effort to save the power-sharing administration from collapse.

Following the British government's publication of an independent review of republican and loyalist paramilitary groups on Tuesday, DUP leader Peter Robinson has returned to the role of First Minister and says it is time for politicians to "roll their sleeves up".

The report concluded all the main loyalist and republican groups, including the PIRA, still exist.

Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers and Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan – who are meeting Northern political leaders at Stormont on Wednesday – have set a deadline of the end of this month to resolve the two key issues of paramilitarism and welfare reform.

Round-table talks started at Stormont House at 10.30am on Wednesday to address the report’s findings and paramiltiarism in general.

Negotiations are expected to continue throughout Wednesday and into Thursday.

Mr Robinson warned revelations around paramilitarism must be addressed urgently to “save Stormont”.

He wants the IRA army council to be disbanded but accepts the leadership is not involved in directing terrorism.

In his response to the report’s findings, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, said the IRA had successfully delivered on the “transition from conflict to peace” and that “Sinn Féin is now the only organisation involved in the republican struggle and in republican activism.

“There are of course enormous and urgent issues to be dealt with around the existence of armed groups, paramilitaries and criminality,” he said.

After the murder of Kevin McGuigan in August , PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said the PIRA was not engaged in terrorism, which has been assessed as an accurate view by independent reviewers Lord Carlile of Berriew, Stephen Shaw QC and Rosalie Flanagan in their report complied for Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt says Sinn Féin and the IRA "are not one in the same" but the army council does have influence on the republican party.

He also said Sinn Féin are the only ones “in denial about the existence of the IRA”.

Mr Nesbitt told Radio Ulster on Wednesday morning he wants Sinn Féin to demonstrate they are "on the same page" as everyone else. "If they are going to persist in telling lies about such a fundamental point we will not be doing business with them," he added.

Mr Robinson has also said he would not like interparty Stormont talks to “go beyond the end of this month”.

With just days left to save the institutions in the North he explained “there has been a measure of agreement” so far but warned politicians need to get into intensive late night negotiations and matters should be put in writing so a deal can hopefully be made.

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly said he and the Government were very concerned about the findings in the report.

"It certainly would make you think in relation to Sinn Fein and the IRA and renews views there are linkage there that may not seem apparent upfront," he said in Dublin.

“If this report is saying there is there that is something we all have to bear in mind.”

Meanwhile, a new Garda report has concluded that some former PIRA members are now engaged in organised crime in the Republic for personal gain but that it has “withered” year on year, to a much greater extent than in the North.