IRA 'moving away from violence'

The IMC report is expected to be positive

There are strong indications the IRA is moving away from violence towards politics, the Independent Monitoring Commission is expected to say.

The commission's tenth report is being published on Wednesday.

It is expected to find that the IRA has significantly reduced intelligence gathering and criminal activity.

The body is also expected to repeat its claim that the IRA has retained some of its arms. However, it will say the move was not sanctioned by its leadership.

In February, the commission said it had received reports that the IRA had not handed all of its weapons when it decommissioned its arms in September 2005.

On Wednesday, it is expected to say the weapons were retained by local IRA units.

The Independent Monitoring Commission was set up by the British and Irish governments in January 2004.

It also monitors the "normalisation" of security measures in Northern Ireland.

Its four commissioners come from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Britain and the US.