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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

At one stage, Ministers in the Irish Government called on the IRA to disband—the Justice Minister did so recently. I agree that an announcement about disbanding would probably send a more powerful signal to the Unionist community and to democratic nationalists in Northern Ireland than any other single gesture. Instead, too much of the debate about the future devolution of policing has centred on whether and, if so, when Sinn Fein will take up its seats on both the Policing Board and district policing partnerships. Taking seats risks being an empty gesture unless it is a clear demonstration that republicans will henceforward support the PSNI as an institution and work for its success. Ideology is important. We cannot have on the Policing Board members of a political party that will not accept either the police or the courts as legitimate, but instead looks to the army council of the provisional IRA as the supposed source of legitimate authority not just in the north but throughout the entire island of Ireland.