ONE word was standing in the way of a deal to revive the Northern Ireland peace process last night. Government sources signalled that the IRA had answered two of the three questions posed by Tony Blair about its future intentions and was finally ready to declare its 30 year “war” over. The issue of whether IRA activity “will” end rather than “should” end was the only thing preventing the return of the Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, his Irish counterpart, to the province to seal a deal to restore power-sharing. In a speech strongly welcomed by officials in London and Dublin, Gerry Adams appeared to meet two of the Prime Minister’s demands: for the IRA to decommission all its weapons and to declare its 30-year “war” over. Even though the Sinn Fein leader failed to state explicitly that the IRA would end all paramilitary activities — Mr Blair’s third demand — saying that such activities “should not” be happening, officials said they were hopeful that this could shortly be resolved. “He spoke about things which ‘should not’ happen; we need to know that they ‘will’ not happen. We’ll continue to talk, but the next step is getting this final piece of clarification,” said one. Full Story
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