The decommissioning report received by the Government which confirms that a number of IRA arms dumps have been inspected was described as a breakthrough of "unprecedented and historic proportions" by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday. He was speaking after a meeting Mr Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, and Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, former general secretary of the ANC.
Their report stated they had carried out inspections of the dumps, which hold a substantial amount of military material, including explosives and related equipment, as well as weapons.
It confirmed that the weapons and explosives were safely and adequately stored and could not be used without the knowledge of the two men, who will reinspect the dumps on a regular basis, carrying out another inspection in about three months. The meeting took place at Dublin Airport after the Taoiseach's return from a State visit to Norway.
"This report is a most welcome and satisfactory piece of news for the peace process for a long time . . . It represents for all of us a breakthrough of unprecedented and, of course, historic proportions because it is the first time that any thing like this has happened in all of the decades," said Mr Ahern, adding that, as a result, a major leap in the peace process had been made.
Mr Ahern paid tribute to the Sinn Fein leadership, saying its members had gone to great lengths to facilitate the inspections. He also welcomed the announcement by the IRA that it had decided to re-establish contact with the de Chastelain body, which it broke off in February.
He thanked Mr Ahtisaari and Mr Ramaphosa on behalf of all Irish people, saying they had gone to extraordinary lengths. The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr David Trimble, he said, could feel justified now, and that his confidence in the agreements in early May had been fulfilled.
He said he believed it was now possible to concentrate on important issues, "the issues of Northern Ireland dealing with its own affairs through the Executive, debating its own issues in the Assembly and working with us on this island through North-South bodies".
The inspections marked a "truly significant" development, according to the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn.
"In terms of the political evolution of the republican movement this is probably the most significant development since the announcement of the original IRA ceasefire in August 1994," he said.
He said he hoped loyalist paramilitaries would follow suit and agree to put their arms beyond use.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, described it as a "very welcome" development. Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland yesterday he said he regretted that loyalist paramilitaries had not offered to have their arms, which were being used in punishment shootings, inspected. Since the beginning of the year there had been 36 loyalist punishment shootings and 21 by the IRA.