Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The confirmation this week by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning that the IRA has put all its weapons beyond use has been acknowledged in this House as a momentous development, which it is. We have always said that decommissioning had to be complete and credible. On Monday we got that unambiguous statement from General de Chastelain when he said that "the totality of the IRA's arsenal" has been decommissioned. We also had a statement from two fair-minded and independent clergymen, highly respected in their own communities, who said they were "certain about the exactitude of this report".

In short, we have crossed a historic threshold. Throughout our history, violence and politics have mingled and only now can we believe they have truly parted company. The decommissioning of Provisionals' weaponry is a triumph for constitutional nationalism and republicanism, as enunciated by my party. It is a triumph for those of us whose main personal and political goal is the unity of Ireland and her people, and who simply find it wrong that our neighbours in places like Faughert and Drumintee should live in separate states. Such towns and communities have suffered at first hand from the partition of our island. People have seen the Provisional campaign bolster that partition and drive unity further into the future. The peace process was built on our conviction that Irish unity could never be built on the hatred of ages, down the barrel of a gun. It is built on our efforts to convert others to our democratic analysis and assessment of partition. With decommissioning, the veracity of that analysis is clear and the redundancy of Provisionalism is equally clear.

In the battle of ideas we believe that we have clearly won. The question remains, however, as to why over 3,000 people had to die to get us to where we are today. I was struck by the front page coverage in all newspapers of the events of recent days, but particularly by the front page of the Irish Examiner which listed the names of all those who had been killed. The coverage was extremely poignant and underlined what the past 30 years were all about.

While the decommissioning of IRA weapons has been a major step forward, it is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end and we should not lose sight of that. Our democratic tradition, embodied and practised in this Chamber, is strong.

See this speech in context