Sir, - The IRA decision to begin the process of decommissioning its weapons, and putting them verifiably beyond use, marks a significant new chapter in the history of the Northern Ireland peace process.
This subject of decommissioning has been the stumbling block for many previous secretaries of state, politicians, and governments who were unable to solve the impasse to eventual decommissioning.
The IRA has ultimately realised that by honouring its obligation to decommission it has secured a better future for all nationalists living on this island. Undoubtedly September 11th has been a turning point for everyone.
By the removal of arms from the equation of Irish politics, a new democratic horizon beckons for everyone. Politicians now have to collectively live up to their obligation and fully deliver and implement the Good Friday agreement in its entirety.
Gen John de Chastelin, of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, has long waited and aspired for this day to come. Surely now that this monumental achievement has arrived, parties like the DUP which said, "decommissioning would never happen", have now realised that the process of decommissioning has finally been achieved. All unionist parties should now recognise and agree that the new institutions and government bodies have to work with all cross-party participation.
It is regrettable that parties like the DUP, have nothing more positive or constructive to say on the IRA beginning the process of decommissioning. It seems that the DUP have not only been against the Good Friday agreement, but are totally against any form of agreement.
The DUP has once again highlighted its true political colours. No matter what positive outcome there is to strengthen and build the Good Friday agreement, the DUP is against any change that is for the better of any person living in Northern Ireland. It seems that the DUP has finally been caught out. It is the party that called the ceasefire a disaster.
While the likes of Peter Robinson, Gregory Campbell, and Nigel Dodds, hold onto the tails of Ian Paisley's leadership coat, other parties including the SDLP will continue to implement and honour their obligation of restoring Northern Ireland to a final sense of stability.
There is still a lot more building to be done. I hope that eventually Sinn FΘin will recognise that the SDLP was right to join the Policing Board, that the SDLP was right to ask nationalists to join the new Policing Service and that it was right in saying a united Ireland has to come about through democratic means and the consent of the people, North and South, and not by military force or victory.
Finally, as the SDLP was one of the parties that took the risk of dialogue with Sinn FΘin leader Gerry Adams in the early 1990s, I hope that the republican movement can also congratulate and accept that it was also John Hume as well as its own party leadership in Sinn FΘin who showed courage in the face of unionist criticism in kick-starting the beginning of the new Ireland, and the Good Friday agreement. - Yours, etc.,
Patrick Clarke, Drumaroad, Castlewellan, Co Down.