SF says it will no longer interpret IRA statements

Sinn Féin has said it is stopping the practice of interpreting statements issued by the Provisional IRA.

Speaking in Belfast today following a statement issued by the IRA last night and before a second one issued this evening, party president Mr Gerry Adams said they would no longer be interpreting such statements "for the convenience of governments."

"The IRA will speak for itself and Sinn Féin will speak for ourselves," he told reporters in Belfast. The party's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, repeated the point later, when speaking in Dublin.

Addressing Dublin and London, Mr Adams said both administrations "have a critically and important contribution to make. Either they can rise to the hard and difficult challenge of peacemaking, or they can go on making a bad situation worse."