The leadership of the INLA held a meeting with representatives of the IRSP. This meeting was at the request of the IRSP and was to discuss the INLA statement issued following the sectarian murder of Belfast Catholic John Slane 14-03-97.

The IRSP made us aware of meetings they had attended with concerned community activists.

They expressed the feeling and perceptions of those engaged in inter-community work.

We listened carefully to what was said and we have spent some considerable time analysing the ramifications of our statement. This is our response.

It was never the intention of the INLA to place any form of sectarian threat on Protestant community workers. We believed that this was clearly declared in our statement of 15-03-97. We cannot be held responsible for the activities of those who deliberately misrepresented our intentions. However, perception is reality in the warped politics of the six-counties. It is with this in mind and in the interests of marginalised, neglected working-class communities that we unconditionally withdraw paragraph five of our March 15 statement.