The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) was an organisation founded on 7 January 2004, by an

agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus (disambiguation), a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of ...

between the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and Irish governments, signed in Dublin on 25 November 2003. The IMC concluded its operations on 31 March 2011.

Remit

The IMC's remit included: * monitoring any continuing activity by paramilitary groups. * monitoring the commitment by the British Government to a package of security normalisation measures. * handling claims by parties in the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

that a Minister, or another party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means, or that a Minister has failed to observe any other terms of the pledge of office, or that a party is not committed to such of its members as are or might become Ministers observing the other terms of the pledge of office. The IMC submitted formal reports to both the

British Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

and

Irish Government The Government of Ireland () is the executive authority of Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet – is composed of ministers, each of whom must be a member of the , which consists of ...

. The body faced criticism from

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

due to the manner in which it was set up as an apparent sop to Unionists. In a debate in

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

Aengus Ó Snodaigh referred to it as "three spooks and a lord".

issued legal proceedings against the IMC, through their solicitors in London, Howe & Co, alleging that the IMC Commissioners are "apparently biased" and challenging the IMC's application (or non-application) of a standard of proof in its assessments and reports presented to the two Governments. The IMC issued 22 reports, including 3 ad hoc reports. Two ad hoc reports were issued on the initiative of the IMC, while one (the 19th) was requested by both state governments.

Commissioners

Four commissioners were involved: * Lord Alderdice, former Alliance Party leader; former Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and peer in the British

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. * Joe Brosnan, former Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Republic of Ireland. * John Grieve, former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terror Branch. * Dick Kerr, former Deputy Director,

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

Chronology and list of reports

* 7 January 2004: Inauguration of the IMC * 15 January 2004: Joint Declaration by the British and Irish governments * 4 February 2004: Agreement between the British and Irish governments establishing the IMC. * 9 March 2004: Statement by the IMC to clarify its role. * 20 April 2004: First Report: reported 3 months early, at the request of the British and Irish governments * 20 July 2004: Second Report * 4 November 2004: Third Report * 22 November 2004: First report by the Secretary of State under Section 11(1) of the Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc.) Act 2003 * 10 February 2005: Fourth Report: a special report on the robbery at the headquarters of the Northern Bank, Belfast, on 20 December 2004 * 24 May 2005: Fifth Report * 22 September 2005: Sixth Report: a special report on the "violent feud between the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Loyalist Volunteer Force" * 19 October 2005: Seventh Report * 1 February 2006: Eighth Report: a special report made at the request of the British and Irish governments * 8 March 2006: Ninth Report: the first report under Article 5(1) obliging the IMC to "monitor whether, in the light of its own assessment of the paramilitary threat and of the British Government's obligation to ensure community safety and security, the commitments the British Government made in the programme are being fulfilled to the agreed timescale" * 26 April 2006: Tenth Report * 6 September 2006: Eleventh Report: the second report under Article 5(1), covering the period from 1 February to 31 July 2006 * 4 October 2006: Twelfth Report * 7 December 2006: Second report by the Secretary of State under Section 11(1) of the Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc.) Act 2003 * 30 January 2007: Thirteenth Report: an additional report made at the request of the British and Irish governments following the

St Andrews Agreement The St Andrews Agreement (; Ulster Scots: ''St Andra's 'Greement'', ''St Andrew's Greeance'' or ''St Andrae's Greeance'') is an agreement between the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland's political parties in relation to the de ...

* 12 March 2007: Fourteenth Report: the third report under Article 5(1), covering the period from 1 August 2006 to 31 January 2007 * 25 April 2007: Fifteenth Report * 17 September 2007: Sixteenth Report: the fourth and final report under Article 5(1), covering the period from 1 February to 31 July 2007 * 7 November 2007: Seventeenth Report * 5 March 2008: Third report by the Secretary of State under Section 11(1) of the Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc.) Act 2003 * 1 May 2008: Eighteenth Report * 3 September 2008: Nineteenth Report: an ad hoc report giving a further assessment of the PIRA leadership structure * 7 October 2008: Fourth report by the Secretary of State under Section 11(1) of the Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc.) Act 2003 * 10 November 2008: Twentieth Report * 7 May 2009: Twenty-first Report * 4 November 2009: Twenty-second Report * 26 May 2010: Twenty-third Report * 15 September 2010: Twenty-fourth Report: a special report regarding the murder of Bobby Moffett * 5 November 2010: Fifth report by the Secretary of State under Section 11(1) of the Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc.) Act 2003 * 2 March 2011: Twenty-fifth Report: the IMC's final report * 16 March 2011: Sixth report by the Secretary of State under Section 11(1) of the Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc.) Act 2003

2015

In 2015 the UK and Irish governments gave consideration to reviving the commission after alleged breaches of ceasefires. Since the IMC finished its work, some weapons recovered by the police had been linked to paramilitaries.

References

External links