British prime minister Tony Blair has said the Provisional IRA must move into "a different modus operandi" in which it no longer poses a threat of violence in Northern Ireland.
Resisting the word "disbandment", Mr Blair suggested "verbal battles ... aren't what's important" and declared: "What is important is that the republican movement pursues its aims by exclusively democratic and peaceful means and that means an end to all violence and preparations for violence."
He was speaking after a full summit-level meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in London yesterday, where Taoiseach Bertie Ahern appeared to win some movement by the British over the issue of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings.
While the essential backdrop to yesterday's summit was the renewed speculation about next month's expected IRA statement about its future role and status, the formal British-Irish communique also appeared to foreshadow further moves to address "the outstanding issues" arising from the Patten report on policing reform in Northern Ireland.
With belief apparently hardening that the IRA statement could coincide with the anniversary of the second IRA ceasefire around mid-July, Mr Blair had earlier suggested that the eagerly awaited statement represented a "one-off opportunity" for republicans to pass through the "credibility threshold" and place the obligation on unionists to drop their objections to power-sharing with Sinn Féin.
There was no obvious political concession to the majority Democratic Unionist Party yesterday, as the Taoiseach declared himself and Mr Blair "rock solid" in their commitment to the Belfast Agreement.
At a brief joint press conference in 10 Downing Street after their one-hour summit, Mr Blair might have sounded slightly qualified, saying: "The basic and essential deal at the heart of the Good Friday agreement remains ... We've just got to hope people will fulfil their obligations to get there."
However, Mr Ahern declared: "We remain absolutely rock solid in our determination to implement all aspects of the Good Friday agreement."
The Taoiseach raised the Dublin and Monaghan bombings with Mr Blair and reiterated the call by an Oireachtas Committee for a Cory-type inquiry. He said that, in the absence of progress, the Government would have to examine the possibility of pursuing a case before the European Commission on Human Rights, as recommended by the Oireachtas Committee.
The British strongly contended that they could find no evidence of collusion in the bombings but undertook to take another look at any information available.
The Taoiseach said that in the meantime he would be raising the matter on a preliminary basis with the Attorney General.