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UTV, SUNDAY 25/09/2005 08:19:42, Press Association


IRA will dump arms soon - Adams

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams added to the growing belief that the IRA are about to carry out an unprecedented act of decommissioning, saying it was going to honour its commitment to dump its arms in the "near future".


"I believe that the IRA in the near future is going to honour its commitment to put its weapons beyond use," Mr Adams told thousands of Sinn Fein supporters in Dublin.

"Such an announcement will have a huge impact on the political process. I know it will be difficult for many republicans. There will be some who are concerned about the future. But I believe that we need to face up to this opportunity in a positive mood."

An IRA statement in July signalled the end of the armed struggle.

Speaking at a rally in Dublin yesterday to mark the 100th anniversary of Sinn Fein`s founding, Mr Adams said the move would be a huge sea change not just for republicans but for the entire island of Ireland.

"I don`t think republicans have absorbed what it is about.

I don`t think the media have absorbed what it is about. I don`t think our opponents have absorbed what it is about," he said.

"But when the IRA delivers, when our opponents and our enemies no longer have the IRA to use as an excuse, what are they going to do? Harking back to the old days is clearly not an option and I suspect that in their heart of hearts they know that."

Traffic diversions were put in place in Dublin as thousands of Sinn Fein supporters marched in the rally, which began Parnell Square in Dublin and culminated in Mr Adams` speech outside the General Post Office (GPO) in O`Connell Street. The GPO was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule and is hugely symbolic for republicans.

Mr Adams opened his speech with a reference to Bobby Sands, the republican who died in 1981 after 66 days on hunger strike in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland and whose election as an MP is credited with bringing Sinn Fein into politics.

"In the opening line of the diary he kept during the first two weeks of his hunger strike, Bobby Sands wrote: `I am standing on the threshold of another trembling world`," he quoted.

Mr Adams said there was now a great opportunity to achieve Sinn Fein`s aim of a united Ireland and warned unionists that the days of second class citizenship for nationalists were over.

"At the same time let no Irish republican or nationalist underestimate our responsibility to reach out to unionism, to pro-actively listen to their concerns and to find a space that they can share with us on the basis of equality. In calling upon Unionists to think beyond the moment, to think about the future, we are mindful that we need to do the same."

The "Rally for Irish Unity" is the latest in a series of events which have strengthened belief that the IRA are ready to live up to their July 28 pledge to ended armed struggle and dump its massive arsenal.

Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness is due to travel to Washington next Tuesday, further intensifying speculation that IRA disarmament is imminent.

In his speech, Mr Adams renewed his call for the release of all republican prisoners, which includes the IRA killers of Irish policeman Jerry McCabe in 1996. He also called for the release of five Mayo men, known as the Rossport Five, who have been in prison for more than 90 days due to their opposition to a Shell gas pipeline in the West of Ireland.

"We need to be shouting from the rooftops that their detention is immoral as is the deal which saw the Irish government hand away natural resources worth billions of euro to a small number of multinational corporations with no return for the Irish people.

"These five men should be released immediately," said Mr Adams.


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