The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble dismissed the latest IRA statements of intent and accused it of playing word games.
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As the British government again called for the IRA to end all paramilitary activity and London and Dublin prepared for a new round of talks with the political parties in a renewed drive to restore devolution to Northern Ireland, Mr Trimble said the penny did not seem to have dropped about what was required from republicans.
Mr Trimble stressed: "We all expected there would be a transition period after the [Belfast] Agreement, but five years after the Agreement, is it not reasonable to expect that transition to have been completed and for us now to be living in a society where there are no private armies and there is no paramilitary activity?"
The Unionist leader added: "Putting it simply, the republicans have not got that point clearly in their minds and they still seem to think that somehow they can manoeuvre through this with a fog of words or some gestures."
They would have been useful beginnings, he said, but fell a long way short of acts of completion.
He accused the IRA of "playing word games" with their statement and said parts of it were "meaningless".
Insisting he was committed to restoring the devolved institutions at Stormont, Mr Trimble said the IRA needed to address how it was going to wind up paramilitary activity - and could start by stopping it.
PA News