Orde to face questions over IRA disarmament

PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde will today face questions from the Northern Ireland policing board over claims that the Provisional IRA have retained a number of guns.

Divisions opened up yesterday between the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) and the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) over their assessments of the extent of the IRA's disarmament.

The four IMC members said they had received "credible" reports that "not all PIRA's weapons and ammunition were handed over for decommissioning in September". The weapons retained were said to include "a limited number of handguns kept for personal protection or some items the whereabouts of which was no longer known" .

The IICD's General John de Chastelain said he too had heard that members of the IRA had retained guns. These reports were said to come from "security sources". It is understood these are most likely to be from within the PSNI or MI5.

However, Gen de Chastelain said he had been reassured by both the gardaí and the IRA that the allegations were false.

Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness strongly rejected the claims at a press conference yesterday. "Personal protection?" he exclaimed angrily. "That's bullshit of the highest order."

Mr Orde will today face questions from the policing board about the situation and his assessment of the status of the IRA.