Instead of the institutions returning first and this body being established afterwards as a fail-safe or sanction mechanism, it has a different role of helping, along with others and the Governments, to establish the climate in which it is possible to restore the institutions. I am torn in my judgments of the continuing residue of paramilitarism, even mainstream paramilitarism, that still exists. On the one hand I have great admiration for the distance travelled. If one looks at any international comparison it will be difficult to find similar situations. In South Africa, for example, the ANC fought a guerrilla war, entered negotiations, came out on top and won. In that simple case the ANC formed the institutions of the state and the army. The type of paramilitarism in which they were involved disappeared, but that is not the position in the North of Ireland. It is difficult to detect any winners of the 30 years of conflict. In many ways everyone was a loser. I have never subscribed to the zero sum game theory of Northern politics, even though many parties behave as if it applied. Enormous progress has been made but it needs to be concluded and finished. Naturally, when I was a member of the Government team I shared the frustration at the relative slowness in putting the past to bed and moving forward, something I still share as a citizen and public representative. My hope is that the election results will give encouragement to the political strategy which was embarked upon many years ago, and that people will realise that not merely is there no need for paramilitary organisations but the continuing existence of them is an encumbrance and a hindrance and a potentially serious embarrassment. I do not expect people to do things unilaterally, but I hope in the coming months in the context of moving forward that people use the opportunity to put the past behind them and to put paramilitary organisations definitively out of commission. This is a great opportunity for the republican movement to show a final act of political courage that will vindicate the course on which it has embarked.