Mr Blair is right to demand IRA deeds as well as words

Gerry Adams, the leader of the political wing of the IRA, does a nice line in sarcasm. In response to the three questions put by Tony Blair to the IRA last week, he had one question for the Prime Minister. Just which part of "no activities" was it that Mr Blair did not understand? The IRA leadership, he said, "is determined that there would be no activities that would undermine in any way the peace process or the Good Friday Agreement".

His demeanour of frustration, being forced to clarify his clarification of an IRA statement that he insisted was clear in the first place, was convincing. But it does not withstand examination. The part of "no activities" that no one outside the closed ranks of republicanism understands is the gap between Mr Adams' words and the reality.

The IRA has proclaimed its support for the peace process since the Good Friday Agreement was signed five years ago. All the time, legs have been broken, guns have been run, Colombian terrorists have been trained, lists of prison officers have been stolen and weapons have been retained.

Mr Adams' words are the right words, but Mr Blair's questions were essentially about how the unionist majority in Northern Ireland could trust the IRA to deliver on them. One of his questions was whether the Sinn Fein leadership was speaking for the IRA. On the face of them, Mr Adams' words could be merely descriptive. He could be saying what he thinks the IRA's position is.

The best test of the IRA's sincerity would be for it to cease the activities listed by Mr Blair and Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister, as incompatible with the Good Friday Agreement. But unionists, and the rest of the world, would need time to be sure that they really had ceased. In the absence of greater openness about how precisely Mr Adams expects the "determination" of the IRA's leadership to be carried out, waiting is the only option.

Given also that the pro-Agreement republicans want the Assembly elections more than pro-Agreement unionists do, it makes sense to use them as leverage over Mr Adams.

Mr Blair was right, therefore, to postpone the elections until such time as republican words and actions converge.