The British government has tonight said that it may appeal the European Court ruling that the human rights of ten IRA men and one loyalist paramilitary shot dead by the security forces in the North had been violated.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said that there was no finding of unlawful killing, which meant the court had not found evidence of a "shoot to kill" policy.
Northern Ireland First Minister Mr David Trimble said today’s judgment was astonishing and "perverse".
However, Mr Trimble, who was in Dublin this morning for talks with the Taoiseach, said he wished to examine the ruling further.
The European Court of Human Rights awarded £10,000 compensation today to each of the men’s families after relatives argued the British army and RUC implemented a "shoot to kill" policy during four separate incidents, including a gunfight between the men and the SAS at Loughall, County Armagh in 1987 which left eight dead.
Mr Trimble also said the focus of his meeting with Mr Ahern today was to emphasise the importance of seeing the full implementation of decommissioning.
He said he was disappointed at the lack of progress on the issue and expected the Republican movement to fulfill its promise to decommission by June.
He said his party would not shirk the issue adding he was "quite focussed and quite determined" to bring decommissioning to fruition.
Mr Trimble called on the Republican movement to "keep their promises" and said he and his party had taken "enormous risks" over the past 12 months to work towards devolution and rid Northern Ireland of the "scourge of paramilitarism, the scourge of violence".
He warned that "if the Republican movement let us all down again there will be a serious problem".
Mr Trimble also highlighted the benefit of cooperation, however, and said the "one thing foot-and-mouth has demonstrated is how good cooperation can be".
The verdict was also criticised by Britain’s Conservative party.
The Conservative party's Northern Ireland Secretary Mr Andrew MacKay said: "Today's judgment by the European Court flies in the face of natural justice. Our country was facing a vicious terrorist threat that resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 people at the hands of paramilitaries, in particular the IRA.
"Surely the European Court could make a better use of its time by looking into the terrorist atrocities that have curtailed the most basic human right of all for so many of their victims and families."