Jim O'Keeffe
Question:95 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if and when he expects further decommissioning of arms in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31492/01]
Written Answers. - Northern Ireland Issues.
At the start of August, following intensive discussions with the parties at Weston Park, the two Governments brought forward a package of proposals to help deliver the full and early implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.
The package covered all four outstanding issues – policing, normalisation, stability of the institutions and decommissioning. It said that, while each of the issues is best addressed in its own terms rather than being seen as a precondition for progress on any other, the Agreement can only succeed if all parts of it are implemented together. We repeated our view that decommissioning is an indispensable part of that. In the period since, matters have advanced considerably.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland has come into being with a policing board which includes representatives of both communities. Further steps have been taken on demilitarisation, including a start to the removal of those military installations identified at Weston Park.
Having overcome initial difficulties, on 6 November David Trimble and Mark Durkan were elected in the Assembly as First Minister and Deputy First Minister respectively. The institutions are fully back in operation. On 30 November the Taoiseach hosted summit level meetings of both the British-Irish Council and the North-South Ministerial Council in Dublin Castle.
As the House will be aware, on 23 October the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning reported to the Governments that it had witnessed an event, that it regarded as significant, in which the IRA put a quantity of weapons – arms, ammunition and explosives – completely beyond use. The commission also said that it would continue its contact with the IRA representative in the pursuit of its mandate. On 3 December the Secretary of State and I met with General de Chastelain when he briefed us on his ongoing work.
All of this represents substantial progress. It brings us closer than ever before to achieving full implementation of the Agreement. It now needs to be consolidated and advanced.
The vision of the Patten report needs to be delivered. I am very pleased that a positive start has been made in this regard. We need arrangements for a fair, balanced, effective and efficient criminal justice system in Northern Ireland put in place. We need to see the institutions carrying out their work in a fully inclusive and stable manner. We need as early a return as possible to a normal security environment and we need all of the guns – including those held by loyalist paramilitaries – taken out of the equation. This can best be achieved, not through focus on one issue or through the imposition of deadlines and con ditions, but through a period of sustained calm and stability in which people can see the real benefits of the Agreement delivered.
The Government, working with the British Government and with the pro-Agreement parties, will continue to do all that it can to ensure that this can happen.