Northern Secretary Peter Hain today said he is expecting a statement from the IRA committing itself to "peaceful means" as another push for peace in the North begins.
The Taoiseach is due to meet the British prime minister twice this week: in London on Wednesday and again at the EU summit of leaders beginning Friday. He is also expected to lead a Government delegation meeting the DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley this week. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell are also due to attend.
The peace process looked in serious trouble at the end of last year after the IRA was accused of involvement in the £26.5 million Northern Bank Robbery. Both British and Irish governments lost patience with Sinn Féin’s relationship with the provisionals when it was alleged there was party and paramilitary involvement in the killing of Robert McCartney in January.
The May general election which saw the Ulster Unionists all but wiped out further exasperated the malaise but a call by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams on the IRA to throw down their arms at the outset of campaigning created an opening for dialogue in the event his call was heeded.
Mr Hain today said: "I'm confident now with an imminent IRA statement expected, which needs to be credible, and has been promised after a very important speech by Gerry Adams - the Sinn Féin leader - in which he committed Sinn Féin to exclusively political and democratic and peaceful means and he called on the IRA to do the same".
Speaking to BBC television, he said he was hoping for an imminent IRA statement that would be credible thereby opening up "a new chapter in Northern Ireland politics".
His statement comes as a full Anglo/Irish summit is being mooted for the end of the month at which talks on how to revive the Belfast Agreement will dominate. The DUP’s attitude to sharing power with Sinn Féin and plans for a method of IRA decommissioning along with criminality among its members will be the key subjects for discussion.