The former Northern secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, had all the evidence she needed to conclude the IRA broke its ceasefire last year, the Appeal Court in Belfast heard yesterday.
Mr Reg Weir QC said the murder of Charles Bennett and gun-running from America - attributed to the IRA by the RUC Chief Constable - were sufficient to have driven Dr Mowlam inexorably to conclude the IRA was not operating a "complete and unequivocal ceasefire".
Mr Weir was opening an appeal against Mr Justice Kerr's ruling last November when he dismissed an application for judicial review of Dr Mowlam's controversial decision that the IRA's ceasefire had not broken down.
The case was brought by Ms Michelle Williamson, whose parents were killed in the Shankill bombing in 1993.