Q&A: IRA arms move

The Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has said he and his colleague Martin McGuinness have urged the IRA to make a "ground-breaking" move over arms. This appears to be a signal that the IRA is about to decommission some of its weapons, a move long demanded by unionists. BBC News Online looks at what this crucial step will mean for the Northern Ireland peace process.

Why is this latest move over IRA arms so significant?

The issue of paramilitary weapons and how to get rid of them has been the key stumbling block in the Northern Ireland peace process for many years.

Initially republicans, both the IRA and its political allies in Sinn Fein, were adamant that weapons could never be decommissioned or 'put beyond use' as they came to describe the process.

Many among the republican grassroots believed any attempt to do this would be an act of surrender by an army which had never been defeated.

But for many in the unionist and Protestant community, it was equally vital that the IRA 'proved' its commitment to peace by making at least a gesture over arms.

Without this gesture, many unionists do not regard the IRA ceasefire as credible, fearing that the guns and explosives could be used again.

The statement by Gerry Adams appears to clear the way for the IRA to take a significant step forward on this crucial issue.

With his call for a ground-breaking move, there seems little doubt the IRA will act.

Why has the IRA been so reluctant to act on the weapons issue following its ceasefire?

The Northern Ireland peace process has always been a complex web of give and take.

Trust has been crucial and this has often been absent. The IRA was not prepared to move on weapons if this was brought about by pressure from either unionists or the UK government.

It insisted that any gesture over arms could only happen as part of a wider peace process which at least guaranteed some key republican and nationalist aims.

A power-sharing administration that included Sinn Fein had to be secure, and unionists had to promise to play their full part in this administration.

Secondly, all-Ireland bodies which gave some expression of the nationalist agenda also had to be in place and working effectively.

There had to be wide-ranging reforms to the police and judicial system in Northern Ireland - and even now some of the changes made do not go far enough for republicans.

And crucially for the IRA, the UK government had to make a move over the British military presence in Northern Ireland, scaling back the number and the size of existing army bases.

It now appears the time may be right for the IRA to act over the weapons issue.

What has happened to make this move possible now?

The issue of IRA arms has tested the Northern Ireland peace process to breaking point, and the power-sharing institutions appeared to be about to collapse this week.

David Trimble's Ulster Unionists, the largest unionist party, which draws its support from the Protestant community, had made it clear it was no longer prepared to wait for the IRA to act.

Unionist ministers had withdrawn from the Northern Ireland power-sharing administration, and the peace process was running out of time.

The terrible events of September 11 in the United States have also had a significant impact. The republican movement always relied on Irish-Americans for a large amount of support, but there is now little sympathy there for anything that is perceived as terrorism.

The arrest of republican activists in Colombia was also significant. The suggestion of links between the IRA and a group associated with Marxism and drug running did little to help the cause of Irish republicans in the United States.

The statement from the leadership of Sinn Fein is a crucial step in paving the way for the IRA to act, and to keep republican supporters on board.

Republicans - both Sinn Fein and the IRA - will certainly argue that there has been a seismic shift in their position.

No armed group struggling for an end to British rule in Ireland has ever put its weapons beyond use in a way that is regarded as acceptable to the other side.

The Ulster Unionist Party has said it will be satisfied if the IRA makes a 'credible start' to decommissioning.

This will be judged by the international commission set up to monitor the issue led by the former Canadian general John de Chastelain.

But won't some unionists regard any IRA move as just a token gesture?

Some unionists will never be convinced by anything the IRA does, such is the level of distrust. But if the move is acceptable to the majority of the Ulster Unionist leadership, then it may be enough to break the deadlock.

If this latest move on weapons manages to bring some agreement, it will be the biggest breakthrough in the Northern Ireland peace process since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and a truly historic achievement.

Unionists will wait to see what the IRA does in the wake of the statement by Mr Adams, but the expectation has now been raised of a signicant gesture over the key issue of weapons decommissioning.