Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has warned Unionists that they must "get real" and accept that the IRA no longer pose any threat.

The warning comes after the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) declared last week that the IRA Army Council was now committed to an "exclusively political path."

"In our view the way in which the leadership has adopted an entirely different course, disbanded terrorist related structures and capacity and engaged in different activities, and members have moved on to other things, means that the IRA of the recent and violent past is well beyond recall," IMC commissioners said.

Responding to unionist demands that the IRA's Army Council must disband, the IMC said, "Now that that campaign is well and truly over, the Army Council by deliberate choice is no longer operational or functional.

"This situation has been brought about by a conscious decision to let it fall into disuse rather than through any other mechanism.

"By taking these steps IRA has completely relinquished the leadership and other structures appropriate to a time of armed conflict."

Warning Unionists that they could no longer use the IRA's Army Council as an excuse to block progress, Adams said, "We are committed to making these institutions work in the interests of all our people and to the full implementation of all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrew's Agreement.

"So the issue of the IRA has been dealt with definitively ... this issue is gone."

Secretary of State Shaun Woodward said the IMC report was proof that the IRA had fulfilled its pledge to decommission and disband.

"IRA has met its commitment," he said."It has abandoned all terrorist structures, its recruitment and IRA's so-called 'military' departments have ceased to function and have been disbanded."

DUP leader Peter Robinson welcomed the IMC statement but warned that Unionists remained to be convinced by Republicans.

"While it is marked progress that the IRA is no longer 'doing business,' the Unionist community needs to be convinced by the Republican leadership that the IRA is out of business for good," he said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the IMC report "will provide reassurance and hope for everybody."