The British Secretary of State has accused the IRA of betrayal over the issue of decommissioning. Similar allegations have been made by others.

The British Secretary of State has now used this in threatening to collapse the political institutions.

We totally reject these accusations. The IRA have never entered into any agreement, undertaking or understanding at any time with any one on any aspect of decommissioning.

We have not broken any commitments or betrayed anyone. It was the IRA who took the first step to remove the guns from Irish politics by silencing our weapons.

By so doing we created the space for the development of the peace process and for politicians to make politics work.

Those who have once again made the political process conditional on the decommissioning of silenced IRA arms are responsible for creating the current difficulties and for keeping the peace process in a state of perpetual crisis.

The IRA believes that that this crisis can be averted and the issue of arms can be resolved.

This will not be on British or Unionist terms, nor will it be advanced by British legislative threats.

We recognise that the issue of arms needs to be dealt with in an acceptable way and this is a necessary objective of a genuine peace process.

For that reason we are engaged with the IICD[Independent International Commission on Decommissioning].

We have supported and we will continue to support efforts to secure the resolution of the arms issue.

The peace process is under no threat from the IRA.

Signed

P O'Neill