Gen John de Chastelain press conferenceGen John de Chastelain, head of the international weapons body, appeared before reporters at Hillsborough hours behind schedule to give only limited details of the decommissioning he had witnessed earlier.
He had just briefed British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on what he had seen that morning.
Speaking from notes, but without distributing an agreed text, the general said he had just witnessed a third act of decommissioning earlier that day.
Speaking softly, and accompanied by Mr Andrew Sens, another member of the commission, Gen de Chastelain said he had been present as the IRA "put beyond use" a substantial and significant quantity of weapons.
"The commission has witnessed a third event in which IRA weapons are put beyond use in accordance with the governments' scheme and regulations," he said.
He said these included light, medium and heavy weapons, and that these included explosives, ammunition and explosives material. Part of this, he added, included fuses, detonators, timing units and power supplies as well as a variety of firearms, including automatic guns and a variety of heavy artillery.
"The arms comprise light, medium and heavy ordinance and associated munitions," he said.
"They include automatic weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive material. The quantity of weapons involved was larger than the quantity put beyond use in the previous event."
He said the decommissioning was considerable but admitted he was hidebound by a commitment to confidentiality and, therefore, could not go into any detail.
"I do want to make the point - and that is why we have indicated this time - that the amount of arms put beyond use was larger - I would say considerably larger - than the previous event."
Under questioning, he said the event had taken place earlier in the day "somewhere on the island of Ireland", but he said he did not know the exact position.
He said the weapons had been inspected and were seen to have been in operational condition.
He had prepared an inventory and handed this to the two governments shortly before he made his presentation to reporters.
Asked for an indication of how much of the IRA arsenal had now been put beyond use, Gen De Chastelain said he could not give such an indication. But he added that the process would "take as long as it takes" to be completed.
In a rare glimpse of the length of the decommissioning process he had attended, Gen de Chastelain said the operation he attended "took hours".
He confirmed that communication with the paramilitaries would continue throughout the week.
Pressed on various aspects of the event, he insisted decommissioning was tied in with politics and, therefore, he could not comment.
His colleague, Mr Sens, tried to give a clearer picture by suggesting the scale of the weapons that had been rendered unusable.
"The material put beyond use this morning could have caused death or destruction on a huge scale had it been put to use," he said.
"The commission has witnessed a third event in which IRA weapons were put beyond use in accordance with the governments' scheme and regulations. The arms comprised light, medium and heavy ordinance and associated munitions.
"They include automatic weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive material. The quantity of arms involved was larger than the quantity put beyond use in the previous event."