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Parties split; governments praise IRA move
RELATEDSPECIAL REPORT
QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- Reaction to an announcement that the Irish Republican Army had "put beyond use" its weapons has been met with praise by the British and Irish governments. But reaction by Catholic and Protestant political leaders was predictably split. Gerry Adams, President of the IRA's political arm Sinn Fein, said: "What has been achieved is major." He added: "It is finished. It's done." But on the other side, Ian Paisley, head of the hard-line Democratic Unionist Party, called the announcement "the cunning tactics of a cover up." In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters: "This is the moment we have been waiting for, for a very long time." And he said that the door had been opened to the prospect that the "devolved" government could be resurrected to govern Northern Ireland. In Dublin, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern called the announcement "a landmark development." But in Belfast, Paisley said the announcement amounted to "duplicity" on the part of the British and Irish governments. "We do not know how many guns, the amounts of ammunition, explosives -- nor were we told how the decommissioning was carried out," said Paisley. He said the British government had promised that the decommissioning would be transparent and contended that the announcement was not. While two clergymen -- one Protestant and the other Catholic -- who witnessed the turnover of weapons insisted they were not acting at the behest of the IRA, Paisley charged they were not independent. But Adams, who called in April for the IRA to complete decommissioning, said it was time for all the parties to be "focused, decisive and creative" in reaching a peace. Ahern said the IRA decision put new pressure on loyalist groups to turn in their arms. "We must look to the day when loyalist weapons are removed from the equation," said Ahern. "We have a duty to work now to build a better Ireland. An Ireland that is a warm home for everybody who lives here." The home rule government for Northern Ireland is under suspension in large part because of Protestant distrust of the IRA and what Protestant leaders have charged is a lack of transparency in IRA decommissioning. CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said the two governments were convinced this was a full end of armed action by the IRA. However, he added it was not just a matter of convincing the two prime ministers but also the unionist communities. "There is skepticism among unionists as the IRA is blamed for the huge Northern Bank robbery last year and the question they are asking is: Will that money be used as pensions for old IRA fighters or to buy new arms," Oakley said. He added that many in Paisley's DUP party will want to be involved in the power-sharing government of Northern Ireland even if he doesn't. Oakley predicted while there would be small incremental steps towards peace, serious questions remain though about whether the IRA has ended punishment beatings and its criminal activities.
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