Seventh report of the Independent Monitoring Commission

This report focuses primarily on six months from 1 March until 31 August 2005, and continues the work of monitoring paramilitary activity.

The report is divided into seven chapters. It sets out: the Commission's approach in reporting on paramilitary activities; an assessment of current activities; the incidence of violence and exiling; organized crime and other activities; the leadership in paramilitary groups, with a final section of conclusions and recommendations.

Among the conclusions the Commission outlines are: the need for paramilitary groups to lessen control and exploitation of communities; and, the significance of the PIRA (Provisional Irish Republican Army) statement of 28 July, with the decommissioning of weapons and the discouragement of criminal activities.

The Commission recommends that the Governments of the UK and Ireland should introduce licensing regimes, which would enable the closure of businesses which have engaged in illicit fuel trade.