I would not have believed 20 years ago that any leader of Ulster unionism, however uneven his path, would have come as far as David Trimble and an entirely new leadership of the Unionist movement have come in an attempt to reconcile what most of us feared was irreconcilable. It is worth remembering that it is almost nine years since the first IRA ceasefire, but that organisation still has weapons and explosives in usable condition. The latter must be the case or there would not be a question of putting them beyond use. I accept that the ceasefire has been almost universally observed and maintained almost 100% at the level it defined. Punishment beatings and so on are not part of the role of any paramilitary or law enforcement organisation. The IRA must begin to realise that the retention of usable weapons for the best part of ten years – it is nine years since the first ceasefire – is a statement that others are entitled to look at in a different way.