Britain and Ireland Urged to Talk Directly to Paramilitaries to End Them
Britain and Ireland should hold direct talks with paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland to bring about their disbandment, according to the Independent Report on Paramilitary Group Transition to Disbandment published on 13 October 2026.
The report was commissioned by both governments and written by Fleur Ravensbergen, a Dutch conflict resolution expert and lecturer in conflict resolution and governance at the University of Amsterdam. It concludes there is enough merit in and support for a formal transition process. It says a window of opportunity exists to create a formal mechanism for loyalist and republican groups if certain conditions are met. Loyalist here means mainly pro-UK groups, republican means mainly pro-united Ireland groups. The Guardian
Ravensbergen sets out strict conditions. Groups should get no financial rewards for taking part. Any mechanism would need credible monitoring and verification of progress, meaning independent checks that promises are kept, and robust law enforcement. The findings follow a year-long scoping exercise. During that work, Ravensbergen found significant willingness to engage among paramilitaries. No names are given. The report did not identify individuals or specific organisations because discussions were held on a confidential basis.
The report found limited support for the term disbandment. Objections focused on the wording rather than on what transition should achieve. In plain terms, the dispute is over language, not necessarily over demobilisation, decommissioning or ending coercive control and criminality. Think of it as an argument about the label on the door, not whether to walk through it.
Chris Bryant, the Northern Ireland secretary, said the UK government would consider the report and liaise with authorities in Dublin before responding. Naomi Long, Northern Ireland's justice minister and Alliance party member, had criticised Ravensbergen's appointment as interlocutor last year. Interlocutor means an independent go-between. Long had previously warned that government plans to explore formal engagement with paramilitary groups could give them "legitimacy in our communities". BBC
The appointment was foreshadowed in February 2025, when Dublin and London said they would appoint an independent expert to assess the merits of engaging directly with paramilitary groups and to review the potential for those groups to work towards disbandment. That mandate built on longer-standing monitoring. The Independent Reporting Commission was established in 2017 to report annually on progress towards ending paramilitary activity connected with Northern Ireland. Its commissioners are John McBurney, Tim O'Connor, Monica McWilliams and Mitchell Reiss. Its Fourth Report, published in December 2021, stated that disbandment of paramilitary organisations requires voluntary action and co-operation by the groups.
The history behind this is the settlement that largely ended the Troubles, three decades of violence that affected Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. The UK and Irish governments and Northern Ireland political parties participating in peace talks announced an agreement on April 10. That peace deal included reform of the police, early release of paramilitary prisoners and disarmament.
The broader context here is the tension between inclusion and legitimation that shapes any such plan. Direct talks would offer a way to test stated willingness and to set clear benchmarks, timelines and verification rules with British-Irish backing. At the same time, it brings political risks around status, sequencing and enforcement, especially when participation is voluntary but coercion and crime continue. The things to watch are how clear the mandate is, who does the monitoring and with what authority, how transition work fits with normal policing, and whether unionist, nationalist and Alliance actors can keep a common position as London and Dublin coordinate.
