February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The statement said that the IRA volunteers had been “formally ordered” to end the armed campaign and to dump arms.
The statement did not point to any disbanding of the organization but did say that all members had been instructed to pursue purely political and democratic programs through exclusively peaceful means.
Here is the full test of the statement.
“The leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign.
This will take effect from 4pm [1600 BST] this afternoon.
All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms.
All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means.
Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever.
The outcome of our consultations show very strong support among IRA Volunteers for the Sinn F