After months of agonising over the need for republicans to make "hard choices .. .hard decisions", the president of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, has finally called on members of the IRA to abandon the option of armed struggle, to embrace democratic and peaceful means and to join as activists in a national movement towards independence and unity.
The initiative has considerable significance. For the first time, Mr Adams has called publicly and formally on the IRA to take themselves out of the political equation. The full authority of Mr Martin McGuinness and Mr Gerry Kelly and other prominent republicans has been placed behind it. If the IRA was to reject the overture, a formal split between Sinn Féin and the IRA would be inevitable, with the latter organisation continuing its paramilitary and criminal activities. In such a situation, the Democratic Unionist Party would reject any dealings with Sinn Féin.
The timing of the speech is hardly coincidental. Sinn Féin is effectively playing the IRA card as it prepares to contest the Westminster and local government elections in Northern Ireland. Once again, nationalist voters are being asked to trust Sinn Féin and to support its candidates in the belief that an end to IRA activity is in sight and that peace, justice and power-sharing can be secured under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. It may be so, but on the basis of past failures, it is asking a lot of the electorate.
The Northern Bank robbery and the murder of Robert McCartney have placed Sinn Féin on the defensive. At the same time, the manner in which the IRA maintains control of nationalist areas in Northern Ireland and engages in a wide range of criminal activities has come in for close scrutiny and growing criticism at home and abroad. Last month, Sinn Féin was frozen out of previously friendly venues in the United States. And the SDLP dared to hope it could regain some of the political ground it lost in recent years.
The internal debate now initiated by Mr Adams may not be completed until after the elections. There is no certainty about the outcome. It remains to be seen whether it is a genuine attempt to move the political situation forward. It would seem, on the face of it, that Mr Adams has placed himself on a road of no return vis-a-vis the IRA and its activities. Sinn Féin would move along the political path, he said, building support in Ireland and internationally. But Mr Adams made no reference to the critical issue of policing. He declined to take questions.
The Sinn Féin president is seeking to regain international credibility and political momentum by proposing the transformation of the IRA with no strings attached. He has not spelt out any of the detail. What is important to remember, however, is that the bar has been raised for Sinn Féin and the IRA since the Northern Bank robbery and the murder of Robert McCartney. Nothing short of demonstrable disbandment is credible any longer.