What evidence he has received of the dismantling of paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland.

The IRA has taken major steps this year. The 28 July statement and the independently verified decommissioning of the IRA's arsenal of weapons are historic. The IMC report published on 19 October stated that the initial signs are encouraging. It is high time that loyalist paramilitaries decommissioned too.

Will the Secretary of State take it from me that my colleagues and I and, indeed, the whole community in Northern Ireland believe that it is time for all the paramilitary organisations, loyalist and republican, to shut down and disband? Does he also accept that the overwhelming Majority of people in Northern Ireland fear that the Government are intent on repackaging the paramilitaries as community restorative justice officers or as part of some community support service? Will he assure us that we can see the back of paramilitaries rather than seeing them in a new guise? Will he give his interpretation of the statement that he read out earlier from the IMC report—a report that he flagrantly disregarded—about the IRA involving itself in political intelligence gathering?

I agree with many of the points that the hon. Gentleman makes about what the people of Northern Ireland want. They want a total end to all paramilitary and criminal activity. In respect of community restorative justice schemes and police community support officers, there is no question at all of paramilitaries going straight into becoming police community support officers—if we proceed with the plan to introduce them in Northern Ireland—or into running community restorative justice schemes. Both programmes will be established in accordance with the rule of law, and both—especially the recruiting of police community support officers—will be established according to the normal criteria for police recruitment. The hon. Gentleman's concerns are not well founded, and I am sure that he will come to support what we are trying to do.

May I add my congratulations to the almost right hon. Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley)?

The paramilitary organisations are known to smuggle large quantities of fuel across the border, yet paragraph 5.16 of the IMC report recommends the introduction of

"licensing regimes which would enable the closure of businesses which have been engaged in the illicit fuel trade, and would keep out of the industry all those shown to have been involved in that illicit trade".

Has that recommendation been enacted, and, if so, how effective have the Government been in truly eliminating these rogue traders from the Northern Ireland fuel trade?

This matter is a priority for the Organised Crime Task Force. I share the hon. Gentleman's concern, and we will look carefully at the IMC recommendations. He will be encouraged to know that fuel smuggling is already the subject of vigorous action, with 160 customs officers employed to break up the criminal gangs involved in oil fraud. The latest available figures show that deliveries of legitimate road fuel have increased for the third year running. The illicit market appears to be shrinking, but we shall continue to crack down on it.

Does the Minister understand that the Unionist population in Northern Ireland will accept nothing less than the dismantling and disbandment of the Provisional IRA?

We all expect the promise made by the IRA on 28 July—to close down all its paramilitary activity, end its armed campaign and stop criminal activity—to be implemented in full. That is the position around which we should unite and on whose delivery we should insist.