The Irish Republican Army, which for almost 30 years fought a low-level insurgency against the British in Northern Ireland, is no longer a threat to security and its leadership structures have been allowed to "wither away", according to an expert panel set up by the UK and Irish governments.

The findings will put pressure on the Democratic Unionists in Northern Ireland's power-sharing assembly, who have so far resisted Sinn Féin demands that the province's political parties should take over responsibility for policing and justice.