they kept their promise
14:11 Monday September 26th 2005
The body charged with overseeing IRA decommissioning has confirmed that the republican organisation has now destroyed all of its known arsenal.
Speaking at a press conference in Belfast today, Canadian General John de Chastelain said the paramilitary outfit had honoured its promise to put all its arms, ammunition and explosives “beyond use”.
He said he had now overseen the destruction of an arsenal that corresponded to estimated inventories provided by the Irish and British Governments.
The IRA vowed to complete the process before the end of this year after declaring an end to its armed struggle in July.
General de Chastelain was appointed to oversee IRA disarmament 10 years ago and has already presided over several smaller acts of decommissioning.
Unionists, however, have dismissed the previous acts as meaningless due to the IICD’s failure to reveal details of what exactly was decommissioned.
For that reason, the IRA agreed to allow two Catholic and Protestant churchmen to witness its final act of disarmament.
Those independent witnesses - Catholic priest Alex Reid and former Methodist president Harold Good - said today that they could verify the truth of General de Chastelain’s statement and were “utterly certain” about its veracity.
They said they had spent several days watching the general and his colleagues going about the destruction of “huge amounts” of weaponry and explosives.
They said it was clear “beyond any shadow of doubt” that “the arms of the IRA have now been decommissioned”.
