Ahern Calls For Agreement In North

Mr Ahern was commenting after the latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) said it remains certain that the IRA is committed to following an exclusively peaceful path.

The IMC has been assessing the threat of paramilitary organisations for almost five years, based mainly on Intelligence provided by the British Intelligence services.

Its latest report has suggested that dissident republicans are determined to murder police officers and are more active that at any time since 2004.

It also recommended that a deadline should be set for loyalist organizations to complete weapons decommissioning.

In his reaction to the report, the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, urged Northern Ireland's political parties to reach agreement on this issue.

Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary, Sean Woodward echoed that view.

He said progress would be greatly enhanced by the devolution of justice and policing powers.