IRA gave commitment to end paramilitary campaign

The IRA gave the Irish and British governments a commitment to undertake complete decommissioning and follow peaceful means in a landmark deal to revive power sharing in Northern Ireland.

The deal failed when the IRA refused DUP demands to provide photographic evidence of weapons decommissioning. Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Adams said the IRA would not submit to the "humiliation" requested by Rev Ian Paisley.

The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister held at a press conference at Belfast's Waterfront Hall this afternoon at which they released the 23-page formula they were working on to revive the Stormont Executive and Assembly until hopes of a deal were dashed.

They outlined the committments made to them by the various parties and released the statements they expected the IRA, DUP and International Independent Commission on Decommissioning would have made in the event of a deal being secured.

Mr Tony Blair  said that despite the failure of the deal, "considerable progress" had been made.

He said he had received a commitment from IRA to end paramilitarism fully and that the IRA had agreed with the two governments that the "causes of conflict" would have ended once fundamentals of Belfast Agreement were in place.

He said there was  a commitment by the IRA to fully decommission by Christmas. There was also a period between the end of decommissioning and the setting up of the Executive, which would have been in March next year.

There had been consensus that there should be power-sharing and on amendments of certain elements of the Belfast Agreement that would allow this to resume. There was also an agreement on resolving the policing issue.

The Prime Minister said that the issue of transparency of decommissing was a stumbling block. It had been agreed by all parties that independent verification of the putting of IRA weapons out of action was necessary. However, the requirement by the DUP that the decommissioning be photographed was not  agreed to.

He pledged to continue efforts to secure agreement between parties, despite the setbacks. "I may be weary as a traveller, but I'm not downhearted. There is a certain inevitability in this process."

Mr Ahern described the government proposals as "landmark" and "comprehensive". He too promised to maintain contacts with all parties "to ensure peace and political stability in Northern Ireland."

"Our work must continue to secure agreement and closure on what by any standards is a hugely impressive, and indeed a landmark package."

"The forms of transparency that are proposed in the government's proposals as recalled by the Prime Minister have nothing to do with surrender or humiliation," Mr Ahern said. "Certainty and clarity are two way streets and let us remember that. They apply equally to partnership politics as they do to the process of arms decommissioning."

The two governments published statements Mr Blair said they "expected" to be released by the IRA and the DUP had the  proposals been accepted.

The IRA would have consented to photographs under the deal  according to documents released today. According to a draft statement from the international disarmament body, had a deal been struck there would have been two acts of disarmament this month destroying the IRA's entire stockpile of weapons.

One Catholic and one Protestant clergyman, acting as independent observers, would have witnessed IRA disarmament. They would have been able to make public statements about what they had seen.

A photograph would also have been taken by the IICD, which would have been shown to political parties at Stormont and the governments once decommissioning was completed. It would have been published when power sharing was restored in March.

Moves to transfer policing and justice powers to the Stormont Executive would also have begun within months. Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams was also set to recommended his party ends its boycott of the PSNI as soon as the new laws were passed.