N Ireland watchdog believes IRA still spying, says paper

Northern Ireland’s ceasefire watchdog, the International Monitoring Commission, will tell Britain and Ireland on Monday the Irish Republican Army is still involved in crime and intelligence-gathering, The Irish Times reported.

The IMC report was specially commissioned to report on progress made by the guerrilla group since its July pledge to down arms and end armed struggle against Britain for good. Its findings had been viewed as central to building trust between opposing Northern Irish political parties and to help kickstart talks on reviving a mothballed provincial government in which pro-Irish and pro-British opponents shared power.

The newspaper said the IMC report would also point to continuing IRA criminality but leave open whether this was authorised by IRA leaders. However, the report would be generally positive about the IRA and acknowledge it was broadly living up to its commitments to end its armed campaign, the newspaper added.