BLAIR REJECTS DUP CLAIMS ON IRA DECOMMISSIONING
06/14/06 09:44 EST
British Prime Minister Tony Blair today rejected claims by the Democratic Unionist Party that the full decommissioning pledged by the IRA has not happened.
However, Mr Blair stressed that it was ultimately a matter for the Independent Monitoring Commission to decide and that political judgments must flow from that.
Speaking in the British House of Commons, Mr Blair also emphasised the IMC’s ‘crucial role’ in providing independent verification amid the myriad “claims and counter claims” from all sides.
He was challenged about decommissioning by the DUP’s David Simpson, who referred to last week’s haul of 10,000 bullets in a sealed pipe in woods near Sligo.
Mr Simpson, MP for Upper Bann, said that a senior Garda had alleged that the ammunition belonged to the IRA.
“Would you agree with me now that the full decommissioning that was promised to the people of Northern Ireland in fact did not happen?” Mr Simpson said.
But Mr Blair told him: “I can’t agree with that, no.”
He added: “Throughout the whole course of the peace process over these last few years we have sought to get some form of independent verification about whether the claims of the IRA, or indeed the claims of others, are justified or not.”
“For that reason we introduced the IMC. They will look at all the evidence including statements that have been made by those in the Republic or indeed those in the Police Service of Northern Ireland and they will make up their minds as a result of that. But we have got in the end to make our judgments on the basis of what that IMC says,” Mr. Blair said.
“If we do not do that then we are losing the essential objectivity which is the only way that you can determine claim or counter claim. There are claims and counter claims made on all sides of this issue. Here is only one way of determining them finally and that is the process that we set up and actually that you supported at the time,” Mr. Blair concluded.
