Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Obviously we will continue to try to build on the deal of last April and October. It did not change much, frankly, between April and October, as the basis of the arrangement was very much the same. Paragraph 13 referred to the end of paramilitarism in all its forms under the definition in that paragraph. As far as we are concerned that includes the effective ending of the IRA as an organisation that has anything to do with criminality, paramilitarism or anything else. The IRA would say it is not involved in crime but as far as we are concerned everything in paragraph 13 would end.

If we had achieved total completion of the deal we would have honoured it, as I have told Deputy Kenny in the last two weeks. Unfortunately we did not get near that, and it was not just a matter of the David Trimble issue. A number of things went wrong at the very end and my views were very clear even before we went to Hillsborough on the day in question. Our verification process, and those of everyone else, had been built into that agreement. Those processes would have applied to us, the British Government, the Ulster Unionist Party, Sinn Féin and other parties to a lesser extent.

Going forward, the reason we put so much effort into that conclusion last year was that it was before the elections. Now the structures and parties have changed and we have a different set of negotiations. It is not the same so it is not a matter of everything from last year moving forward into this year. The agenda and dynamic are different, as are the policy documents, given that parties won and lost in last year's elections as a result of various manifestos. The format for negotiations this year is different but we hope the end result will be the same, namely, the end of paramilitarism in all its forms, the initiation of inclusive institutions and the verification of whatever is agreed. The International Monitoring Commission and the independent international Decommissioning Body are the two main mechanisms to arbitrate on what is delivered. We are trying to construct a new arrangement and, as Deputy Kenny will appreciate, that will be a slow process because there is no direct engagement and the talks are not at a stage where the DUP and Sinn Féin negotiators deal with each other. Part of the process will be to achieve that.

See this speech in context