Republican News · Thursday 31 October 2002

Sinn Féin responds to IRA statement

Reacting to this evening's statement from the IRA, Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness said:

"In Tony Blair's recent speech, he acknowledged that this government has yet to implement the Good Friday Agreement. The political institutions are in suspension. That is the political context in which this statement has come.

"The statement speaks for itself and it is not the job of Sinn Féin to interpret it.

"But our focus remains the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. It is the task of political leaders to move the process on and get the political institutions back up and running.

"We will meet with the British Secretary of State tomorrow and we will outline once again to him our belief that the only way forward can be through the implementation of the Agreement."