The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) was an organisation founded on 7 January 2004, by an agreement 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. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

governments, signed in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

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 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 submits formal reports to both the British Government and Irish Government. The body has faced criticism from

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

due to the manner in which it was set up as an apparent sop to Unionists. In a debate in Dáil Éireann Aengus Ó Snodaigh referred to it as "three spooks and a lord".

have 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. Since its founding the IMC has 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 current peer in the British

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. * Joe Brosnan, former Secretary General of the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, 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 ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

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 ( ga, Comhaontú Chill Rímhinn; 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 politica ...

* 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