DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST (DUP) ministers will return to the power-sharing Stormont executive after a British government-ordered review dismissed their claims that the IRA had reactivated.

The independent assessment found that all the main republican and loyalist groups, including the Provisional IRA, still exist, but that their leaders are committed to peace.

The review, ordered after the shooting of alleged dissident republican Kevin McGuigan in August, said that an IRA “provisional army council” remains in place and that IRA members believe that ruling body “oversees” Sinn Fein’s strategy.

In August the Police Service for Northern Ireland’s chief constable, George Hamilton, said that the force believed that the IRA was still active and had killed Mr McGuigan in revenge for May’s murder of alleged IRA commander Jock Davison.

The power-sharing crisis that ensued prompted DUP first minister Peter Robinson to resign last month along with three of his party’s four ministers.

The party has faced intense criticism since as ministers have been reappointed for a matter of hours, only to resign again in a cycle in order to prevent other parties taking the posts.      

The party said it was now prepared to return to the power-sharing system of government that underpins the Good Friday Agreement.

Sinn Fein MLA Martin McGuinness rejected the claim that the IRA council directed its activities.

“As far as I am concerned Sinn Fein is the only republican organisation involved in the peace process, in democratic politics and in political activism,” he said. “We take instructions from no-one else.

“Republicans who support the Good Friday Agreement support the political institutions, support the peace process and don’t represent a threat to anyone in the community,” he added.

Communist Party of Ireland chair Lynda Walker said: “The findings of the government-ordered independent review of paramilitary activity show that the peace process in Northern Ireland is a complex issue, but it is precisely that — a peace process.

“The continued existence of paramilitary organisations is not surprising, as it is part of the culture of Irish politics, north and south.

“However, the statement that the PIRA leadership remains committed to the peace process and its aims of achieving a united Ireland by peaceful and political means is to be welcomed.”