Well the IRA has issued its statement and I must say I was surprised at the wording of it. It can be read in full here. They went further than I expected they would but whether they will stick to the promises they have made, only time will tell.
Some of the more important statements:
"The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign. This will take effect from 4pm this afternoon."
Welcome news.
"All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever."
Welcome news.
"The IRA leadership has also authorised our representative to engage with the IICD to complete the process to verifiably put its arms beyond use in a way which will further enhance public confidence and to conclude this as quickly as possible."
Again, welcome news.
Overall, I welcome this statement and will agree with those who say it is a historic moment, but the people of Ireland have been in similar situations like this with the Provisional IRA before and it remains to be seen whether it will go down in history as a momentous day or yet another broken promise in the long line of broken promises to the people of Ireland.
Let's hope it goes down in history for all the right reasons.
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