Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Mr. Adams. In recognition of what some of the other speakers have said, we cannot but think of Martin McGuinness today as well. We certainly would love to have had him alongside Mr. Adams today to hear his view on how things have evolved over the past almost 25 years. We could argue the ins and outs of elements of his statement. Some of it I will agree with and some I will not. I want to keep to the theme, which is reflecting on the Good Friday Agreement, what was achieved and how it was achieved, and if mistakes were made along the way, what we can learn from what took place.

With that in mind, I want to draw Mr. Adams back to those years post agreement. It took seven years to effect decommissioning. Will he give us a description of what that process was like? Would he agree that it caused an awful lot of upset in unionist circles, and an awful lot of difficulties for David Trimble and his party? Would Mr. Adams also agree that it in some way damaged his standing as party leader and, moreover, damaged his party electorally in Northern Ireland? On reflection, does he have any regrets about it taking seven years, or was that beyond his control?