McGuinness hails significance of IRA move

Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness has hailed the significance of IRA decommissioning.

The Mid Ulster MP said: “This is a momentous day for peace.

“It is, in my view, a tremendous advance, a historic advance, for all the people of Ireland.

“It is the turning of the final page in the whole controversy over IRA arms.

“It has always been used by unionists as an excuse but now that excuse has effectively been taken away.

“For all of us there is a tremendous, golden opportunity to move forward.”

Mr McGuinness, who will this week brief Irish Americans on the breakthrough, said: “I hope people will realise the importance of what has happened and recognise that all of this was done by people who were part of a military organisation, who accepted Gerry Adams’s appeal that the way forward now is by purely political means.”