Britain set to accept IRA's word on peace

THE Government is close to accepting the IRA cessation of violence as permanent, which could clear the way for talks to take place within three months.

There is a a growing conviction in Whitehall that ministers are satisfied IRA violence has ended for good. The special Cabinet committee on Northern Ireland is likely to reconvene next week after indications that the Northern Ireland Office now believes the Republicans have met the principal demand after declaring they are 'totally and absolutely committed to peaceful and democratic methods'.

A further indication that the parties have moved closer towards removing the obstacle in the way of exploratory talks between the Government and Sinn Fein came yesterday when John Taylor, Ulster Unionist MP for Strangford, said his 'gut reaction' was that the IRA ceasefire was 'for real'.

A number of key officials and ministers now regard a series of statements by Republican leaders culminating in Tuesday's joint statement by Albert Reynolds, the Irish Taoiseach, John Hume, the SDLP leader, and Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, as having the potential to allow talks within three months.

However, there were clear signs in Whitehall last night that any declaration that the IRA have met the Government's demands depends first on Mr Major's personal decision and second on a meeting of the Cabinet committee.

One Cabinet minister, while encouraged by Mr Taylor's remarks - which were described as 'personal' by an official Ulster Unionist spokesman - last night said the Prime Minister was right to 'proceed gradually' and to watch the 'developing situation'. There have been indications of edginess among some Unionist-minded ministers about the political outcome of the peace process.

It was also clear last night that the Government's opposition to an application by Mr Adams for admission to the US is softening. One government source suggested that while the visa would depend on the purpose of the visit, it should not be assumed that the UK would make representations against it as it did in February.

Even if the roadblock to talks is removed, they seem unlikely to take place before the Conservative party conference in October, which is due to hold a full debate on Northern Ireland.

Dick Spring, the Irish Foreign Minister, addressing last night's meeting of the British Irish Association in Oxford quoted from Tuesday's joint statement, adding: 'It is no small matter . . . that a significant constituency which has hitherto been outside the pale of political negotiation have now proclaimed a new era in which they are 'totally and absolutely committed to democratic and peaceful methods of resolving our political problems'. Any group or party standing over such a statement is entitled, in turn, to respect for its democratic mandate, even if we don't like aspects of the politics they practice.'

Mr Spring also used his address to call for the Northern Ireland 'security apparatus' to be 'reduced speedily in proportion to the threat it is meant to address'. The Ulster Unionist leader James Molyneaux - whose views will weigh heavily on Mr Major's decision of when and whether to make an official declaration that he accepts the IRA - has continued to argue that Mr Adams should accept the whole of paragraph 10 of the Downing Street declaration, which calls not only for a commitment to peaceful means but also a 'permanent' renunciation of violence.

Some Ulster Unionists have started to focus more sharply on the task of 'verification' of the IRA's intentions once talks eventually begin. One purpose of the talks, once they take place, is the handing-in of arms by the IRA.

Reg Empsey, a senior Ulster Unionists' official, said last night on Channel 4 News that after a suitable period 'they can discuss how they hand over the sinews of war, and that is the real test.'