Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 1:46 pm on 24 February 1999.
I am sure that the Secretary of State, and indeed the House, would welcome the decision by the new Northern Ireland Assembly by a 75 per cent. vote to accept the structures of the north-south implementing bodies. Does the Secretary of State agree that, to enhance the prospects for full implementation of the agreement and devolution in particular, if her Government and the Irish Government together could persuade the IRA, UVF and UDA to make even a gesture of decommissioning, it would unlock the blockages that are possibly there at the moment and would be in the spirit of the Good Friday agreement, if not in the letter of the law?