Sir, - The British-Irish Agreement made at Belfast on Good Friday, 1998, is explicit on the subject of decommissioning. Though specific on the who, what and why of that particular issue, it is very general on the exact where and when. The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning concerns itself with the "how" of the process, to be concluded within two years of All-Ireland referenda.
While there is no specific reference to an actual commencement date, the question must be asked: if then, why not now? Having reached a classic impasse on the precise timing of decommissioning, a potential resolution appears to emerge in the context of location.
The 1986 Sinn Fein Ard Fheis ratified a motion to contest Dail Eireann elections, the benefit of which was realised in Caoimhighin O Caolain's subsequent election. This politically developed the Provisional IRA Army Council's ordinance proscribing engagement of "FreeState" forces, (itself an ostensible recognition of the southern state's constitutional legitimacy).
Assuming that political primacy predominates within the republican movement, it should be possible to prevail upon the Provisionals to initiate preliminary decommissioning outside their own self-declared "warzone", to qualify SF's political participation in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Good Friday Agreement does not specify the geography of decommissioning!
The claim that the republican paramilitary hardware used in Northern Ireland originated in the south, denies the credibility of refusing such a gesture. And the Limerick PIRA could be instrumental in this regard, while atoning for the Adare debacle, (a contravention of its own Army Council ordinances). This might make any subsequent release of the perpetrators under the agreement more tolerable. - Yours, etc.,
Ciaran Kennedy Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6.