Blair says IRA statement is of "unparallelled magnitude"

(28 Jul 2005)
1. British Prime Minister Tony Blair enters room and approaches lectern
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister:
"This may be the day when finally after all the false dawns and dashed hope, peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland. I welcome the statement of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) that ends its campaign. I welcome its clarity. I welcome the recognition that the only route to political change lies in exclusively peaceful and democratic means. This is a step of unparalleled magnitude in the recent history of Northern Ireland. The Unionist community in particular and all of us throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom would want to see this clear statement of principle kept to in practice. The instruction in the IRA statement that volunteers must not engage in any other activities what-so-ever, will be taken as a forthright denunciation of any activity paramilitary or criminal. The independent monitoring commission is in place to ensure that what is said is what is done. Decommissioning must be completed, as the statement said, as soon as possible. The commission on decommissioning will verify that. But the statement is of a different order than anything before. It is what we have striven for, and worked for throughout the eight years since the Good Friday agreement. It creates the circumstances in which the institutions can be revived. Unionism would want to know that these circumstances are permanent and verified. But if in time they are, then proper devolved, democratic government should be restored to Northern Ireland. Of course there will continue to be fundamental disagreement about the pass. The IRA believed their means were justified, the rest of us do not, and will remember today the many thousands of victims of their campaign. But the best way to serve the memory of victims is to make the future brighter. And there is at least some hope today that the future will indeed to be such as to banish the ghastly and futile violence from Northern Ireland forever."
3. Blair leaves room
STORYLINE:
British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the Irish Republican Army's announcement ending its armed campaign as a step of "unparalleled magnitude" and said the disposal of IRA weapons must take place as soon as possible.
"This may be the day when finally, after all the false dawns and dashed hopes, peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland," Blair said in a live televised statement from Downing Street.
"I welcome the statement of the IRA that ends its campaign; I welcome its clarity; I welcome the recognition that the only route to political change lies in exclusively peaceful and democratic means. This is a step of unparalleled magnitude in the recent history of Northern Ireland," he added.
The IRA said all of its clandestine units had been ordered to dump their arms and cease all activities, effective 1500GMT Thursday, but it would not formally disband.
The IRA also appealed to Britain and Northern Ireland's Protestant majority to accept its new position as sufficient to resume negotiations on power-sharing, the core goal of the 1998 peace accord for this British territory.
The IRA was supposed to have disarmed fully by mid-2000 as part of the Good Friday accord, but did not start the process until late 2001 and stopped in 2003.
Security experts say the IRA retains much of its arsenal hidden in underground bunkers in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland.
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