The DUP today demanded a clear end to the IRA’s ruling army council after senior police warned judging its disbandment may be difficult.
DUP MLA Jeffrey Donaldson said the IRA should not function in any way. But Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) assistant chief constable Peter Sheridan said the IRA's command, while not a security threat, had not formally disbanded.
The British and Irish Governments have asked the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) to prepare a special report on the group's structures by September 1st as the Assembly considers whether to request devolved policing and justice powers.
The British government and Sinn Féin have been pressing for speedy change but the DUP wants to wait until unionist confidence in the process has been established.
Mr Donaldson said: "Whilst we note that the IMC has been asked to prepare a special report on paramilitary structures, including the current status of the IRA, we will be making our own assessment and using our own security contacts.
"The briefings we receive on a regular basis establish the extent to which the IRA has progressed with the dismantling of its paramilitary structures.
"It remains our position that the army council must leave the stage and that the IRA should no longer function in any respect."
Mr Sheridan, a PSNI senior intelligence analyst retiring within weeks to take up a post at Cooperation Ireland, said: "The final ending of the Provisional Army Council (PAC) may be difficult to call. If three of them met today to plan the way forward, is this a PAC meeting?
"They have not formally disbanded but they aren't doing what they were set out to do and they aren't a security threat.
"In a democratic society you clearly cannot have an army council. It is for the police and the security services to deal with the dissidents."
He also said that in his current assessment the IRA was in the final "end game".
Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) MEP Jim Allister said devolving policing and justice responsibilities was the wrong move.
"The key thing about policing and justice the minute it is devolved is the powers it brings to the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister.
"You can't have in government a party with a paramilitary structure."
A spokesman for Sinn Féin said: "The IRA have clearly gone off the stage and have done so since 2005.
"But there's still attempts being made by some people to drag them back on and I think that's silly."
PA