More unionists will come around to accepting that full IRA decommissioning has taken place, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said yesterday.
He said he had said since Monday that unionists needed time to absorb what had happened, and he believed this had been "vindicated by the response from the Ulster Unionists".
In relation to the initial rejection of the IRA act by the Rev Ian Paisley, Mr Adams said: "You could have written the script."
He added: "As more and more people on the unionist side have a sense that this has been what the IICD says it was and the two witnesses say it was, then we will have more and more unionists coming around to that view."
Speaking outside Leinster House yesterday, Mr Adams also said it was he who raised the killing of Joseph Rafferty during a meeting with the Taoiseach last Friday. He did so as he feared it was becoming a political issue.
The family of Joseph Rafferty, shot dead last April in west Dublin, says he was killed by an IRA member, and has demanded that Sinn Féin help to bring his killer to justice.
"As far as we are concerned, anyone who has information on this man's killing should give it to the guards," said Mr Adams. "As far as we are concerned this is an issue for the guards.
"It was a brutal killing, he was killed by thugs, we condemn it utterly, and of course if anyone wants to raise this issue with us that's fair enough. And I am also prepared, if the family wish, to speak with them at any time."