From the text of today’s statement by the IRA:

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.

The IRA leadership has also authorised our representative to engage with the IICD [Independent International Commission on Decommissioning] 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.

We have invited two independent witnesses, from the Protestant and Catholic churches, to testify to this.

Are there still problems? You bet. The two splinter groups responsible for most terrorist attacks in recent years haven’t yet released a statement agreeing with the IRA. Still, there is no question that the IRA and Sinn Fein are the heart of the Republican movement in Eire.

The Central Bank of Eire said today in its Summer Bulletin that the prospects for the domestic economy remain broadly positive. Real GNP growth this year is expected to be about 51⁄4 per cent with a similar rate of growth expected for 2006.

One essential factor in the political side of the struggle for unification and independence has been comparisons between economic and social life in Eire and the North. The latter really was in much better shape — mostly because of social benefits — for many years. The “Irish Miracle” has not only countered that state of affairs, it’s turned the head of voters in the North away from the status quo to considerations of economic reality.