Governments publish declaration

Mr Blair and Mr Ahern drew up the joint declaration

The British Government has published its joint declaration with the Irish Government on the heels of its announcement to put back the Northern Ireland Assembly elections.

The long awaited declaration is a 22-page document and includes undertakings by the government to repeal its power to suspend the assembly.

On normalisation, or the scaling down of the number of soldiers and military bases, there was a pledge to demolish five watchtowers in south Armagh by the end of the year.

In time, just 14 military bases and 5,000 soldiers would remain in the province. There was also a pledge to drastically reduce the number of military helicopter flights.

There would be a reduction in the number and the appearance of police stations, with a move away from fortified bases to community posts.

The declaration also deals with policing. The government said it would start discussions on the devolution of policing and justice within the lifetime of the next assembly.

Among the powers the power-sharing executive could initially have had were those dealing with the prevention and detection of crime, powers of arrest, detention and the handing over of suspects and offenders between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

Further devolution would have covered parades, public order, firearms and compensation for the victims of crime.

Ceasefire monitor

Alongside the declaration the government has published two other papers.

One outlines plans for a four-person independent monitoring body, which will keep track both of paramilitary activity and complaints that either the governments or the parties are not sticking to the rules.

The second deals with the controversial question of so-called on-the-run paramilitaries, who will qualify for early release after their cases are considered by a special judicial tribunal.

Most of the details have already been leaked, and much of it will only come into effect in the context of paramilitary acts of completion.

The governments said they decided to make the documents public in order to prove their commitment to implementing the Good Friday Agreement and to back up their argument that the recent IRA statement on its future intentions should also be exposed to public scrutiny.

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The joint declaration between British and Irish Governments
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