We have to take the IRA at their word

SOONER or later, the DUP and the rest of us are just going to have to trust the IRA on the issue of decommissioning. As they have been on ceasefire for quite a number of years, they might perhaps be entitled to that trust.

At the end of the day it will be their word that all weapons have been destroyed because only they know the full extent of their arsenal and its whereabouts - unless the doubters are prepared to dig up the entire surface of this island, there seems no alternative but to trust them.

The last British general election seems to have created a watershed in that it has forced the DUP into a constructive engagement with the problems in the North instead of their endless opposition.