A report out on Tuesday says Britain and Ireland should set up a formal process to help armed groups in Northern Ireland break up, the Guardian and the Irish News reported.

Fleur Ravensbergen, a Dutch expert at the University of Amsterdam, wrote the report. Both governments asked her to study the issue. She spent about a year meeting people, including members of loyalist and republican groups.

Ravensbergen recommended an "independent, time-bound transition mechanism," the Irish News reported. It would give groups a point of contact. It would set agreed steps for groups that take part, and outside monitors would check their progress.

"I have concluded that there is sufficient merit in and support for a formal process of paramilitary group transition," she said in Belfast, the Guardian reported. She found "significant willingness to engage" among the groups. But many did not like the word "disbandment."

These groups were expected to fade after the 1998 Good Friday peace deal. But some lasted and turned to drug dealing, extortion and other crime, the Guardian reported. The report said groups should not get financial rewards for taking part. Ravensbergen said none of the groups asked for payments or early release from prison, the Irish News reported. But sources close to the main dissident republican groups told the Irish News those groups did not really take part.

Chris Bryant, the UK minister for Northern Ireland, said the government would study the report and talk with Dublin first. "Their continued influence is a stain on our collective conscience," he said of the groups, the Guardian reported.

Naomi Long, Northern Ireland's justice minister, criticized the effort last year. She said talks could give such groups a veneer of legitimacy, the Guardian reported.

What we know: The report calls for a formal process with a time limit, outside checks and no money for the groups.
What we don't: Whether the British and Irish governments will adopt the plan.