Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

——policing, both from the point of view that it removes an obstacle to the operation of democracy, the rule of law and power-sharing devolution in the immediate future, but also because it helps to level the playing field as and between the different communities in Northern Ireland so that policing is no longer mainly the preserve of one community vis-À-vis the other.

A debate to clarify in our own minds and in the minds of others the significance of and reasons for what has happened would be also welcome. There is inevitably a lot of hype and partisan argument on different sides. This is a good Chamber in which to coolly analyse both the significance of what has happened and where it is hoped to go in the near future.