Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

We should not ignore the fact that General de Chastelain's job is only half done. He stated that when he said on Monday that he had still to hear from the UDA, the UVF and the LVF. Only when loyalist paramilitaries reciprocate will we be able to say that all guns have been taken out of Irish politics. As long as those organisations continue to hold on to their weapons, the potential for conflict to re-emerge remains. Should there be any repeat of the rioting, thuggery and lawlessness of loyalists in recent weeks, especially at interface areas, and should republicans respond, the entire process will, once more, be at risk.

That is why loyalists must seize the opportunity that currently presents itself. As SDLP leader Mark Durkan puts it in today's The Irish Times: "The best thing loyalists can do now to free their communities of poverty and fear is to give up drug-dealing, racketeering, intimidation and murder, and destroy their guns." In that respect, the onus falls now on those leaders of Unionism who have been so quick to question the validity of IRA decommissioning but so slow to move loyalist paramilitaries towards the same end. If parties such as the DUP are so eager to take the votes of working class Protestants and to express the disenchantment and disillusionment of those communities, they must also act responsibly in ensuring that the peace be held in those areas that are most volatile. If the DUP were prepared to concentrate its energies on leading its own community rather than face-saving exercises on power-sharing in order to claim it has re-negotiated the Good Friday Agreement, we would be more likely to make progress.

This week saw the Provisional movement — albeit belatedly — acknowledge the decision taken through the ballot box by the Irish people North and South. This is welcome. All law-abiding democrats must welcome an announcement by an unlawful paramilitary organisation that it has abandoned its arms. Nobody can be certain all arms have been destroyed but focusing on inventories and the like is merely an excuse for further procrastination.

The real tragedy is that if the Provisional movement had lived up to its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and delivered decommissioning as required by May 2000, the bodies envisaged under that Agreement would be functioning and firmly bedded down. Instead, momentum was lost and the IRA's failure to decommission always added to the sense of permanent crisis that has bedevilled the process, and, moreover, kept that organisation centre-stage, waiting for the moment to deliver finally on the commitment given to decommission within two years of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

In recent times, as Deputy Kenny observed, the duplicitous approach of the Provisional movement to issues such as the Northern Bank robbery and the murders of Robert McCartney and Joseph Rafferty means decommissioning, welcome as it is, has not had anything like the same impact it would have had in May 2000. We must all hope Sinn Féin has now decided to contest the democratic space on the same basis as the other parties in this House. All parties in Northern Ireland should recognise these events as positive and they should lead to the earliest possible re-establishment of the assembly and the Executive. The ongoing absence of these bodies and the two Governments' exclusive approach in regard to the DUP and Sinn Féin allows these parties monopolise the peace process to the detriment of parties such as the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists. Thus far, this exclusive focus may have brought us decommissioning but it has not, as yet, restored the assembly and it has come at the cost of compromising some core elements and fundamentals of the Agreement.

Moreover, it also leads to the suspicion that certain side deals and concessions may have been negotiated by the IRA in exchange for decommissioning. In responding to this debate, the Taoiseach should take the opportunity to respond to that concern. These are questions we are entitled to ask to ensure that any deal that has been struck to bring about decommissioning does not come at the expense of other important areas or see other institutions compromised. If so, the potential for breakdown is immense and for the political vacuum to extend ever further.

It is simply unacceptable to have a significant political party organised on both sides of the Border, whose growth has come almost exclusively as a result of the peace process, not participating in or supporting policing arrangements in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin is always quick to tell us about the sacrifices its members have made and the difficulties they have faced each time they are dragged forward for the sake of political progress. However, they must recognise that in doing so they have benefited immensely, often at the expense of true democrats from political parties whose commitment to peace and reconciliation and to justice and a lawful society was always beyond question. Sinn Féin must now commit to supporting and playing an active role in policing structures in the North. Only yesterday, the 14th report of the policing Oversight Commissioner again vindicated the stance of parties such as the SDLP who took the brave decision to support the PSNI when republicans refused to do so.

There are wider issues outstanding. The reality remains that restoration of devolved government is not the only or even the major task facing those concerned with Northern Ireland's future. It is no longer adequate to suppose that sectarianism and its bitter and corrosive divisions will somehow have been tackled just because a devolved assembly and Executive are returned to Stormont. If the two Governments believe, as they are reported to, that the process is completely on track and that a deal can soon be cut between the DUP and Sinn Féin, they are failing to take account of the wider structural issue.

For the Good Friday Agreement to work, it must be bedded down in an expectation of ongoing, at least passive, consent from a majority in both communities. As of now, the Agreement does not have the consent of a majority within unionism. If loyalism has learned anything from the successes of the Provisionals, it is that the non-co-operation of even a minority, if it is of sufficient size, can veto progress and stability for all. It is true that Unionist politicians never sufficiently appreciated or broadcast to their own community that the constitutional question was settled by the Good Friday Agreement. Whatever else the Agreement achieved, the principle of consent and the status of Northern Ireland within the union have both been assured.

However, it is against this background of deepening sectarian division and aimless loyalist street violence that Sinn Féin has decided now is the time to launch its 32-county campaign to "rally for Irish unity" and "make partition history". It is bizarre that the movement that has done most in our history to copper-fasten partition should consider itself in any way suited to set about the task of uniting this country and making partition history; that they, of all people, could now remove all those bitter and enduring consequences of the IRA's campaign of violence, destruction and enduring, evermore entrenched, divisions.

The campaign to "make partition history" is calculated to increase the trend towards inter-communal hostility which makes power-sharing within Northern Ireland difficult, if not impossible.

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