The use of guns imported into the State by the Provisional IRA in the armed robbery of the security van in Dalkey, Co Dublin, last week, underlined the needs for decommissioning, the Fine Gael leader has said.
Mr John Bruton was commenting on the revelation that some of the ammunition found at the scene came from consignments of weapons smuggled into the State in the mid-1980s by the Provisional IRA.
Gardai are still trying to establish the affiliation of the gang responsible for the robbery, but they believe it was carried out by a group with access to Provisional IRA weapons. The gang may have had up to five Kalashnikov assault rifles and a handgun, and gardai believe they were prepared to kill.
At one point a member of the gang fired a shot at the head of a car-driver as the gang hijacked his vehicle during their escape. The bullet hit the metal part of the headrest and appears to have shattered, leaving the man with only a minor shoulder injury. In a statement yesterday, Mr Bruton said: "The revelation that Provisional IRA weapons may have been used in the near-fatal Dalkey raid should open some eyes.
"It shows that the taking out of commission of those weapons is not an artificial political precondition, or bargaining chip, but a practical requirement for the public safety of the people of the entire 32 counties of Ireland.
"It will also be necessary for trust to develop between parties at the [North] power-sharing cabinet table.