As Northern Ireland enters the "age of grown-up politics" the republican and loyalist paramilitary groupings must realise that decommissioning must happen, the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, has stated.
In his Christmas message yesterday, Mr Mandelson looked back on a "momentous year" and forward "with hope to a bright new future". There were encouraging signs that the Belfast Agreement was working but it must be implemented in full, he said.
"No longer must anyone live under the threat of violence. Those days, too, must be seen to have gone. And that is why decommissioning has to happen as laid down in the agreement under the supervision of Gen John de Chastelain," he added.
Mr Mandelson looked to calmer times ahead. "We have all experienced a quiet yet quite astonishing revolution. After 30 years of violence Northern Ireland now has an administration that represents all its people, an executive in which former enemies sit together to produce programmes and policies to benefit all," he said.
"Throughout Northern Ireland there is an atmosphere of calm optimism and a growing sense that life is becoming increasingly normal. This is the age of grownup politics." Mr Mandelson described the British-Irish Council and the British InterGovernmental Conference as "common-sense organisations" that reflected the "new era".
The Northern Secretary said he was very conscious that while for most families this was a period of celebration, for many others who had lost loved ones during the Troubles it was a time of "sad memories, renewed pain" that "puts a particular responsibility on all of us to make sure that the peace we are creating is unbreakable".
He wanted to devote his energies to bringing increased investment to Northern Ireland. "We have to tell the world that the question mark over Northern Ireland that made people think twice about investing, about bringing new jobs here, has lifted."
The Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, in his Christmas message, said last year had "witnessed amazing happenings in the political process". The pace of the changes was "immense" and gave rise to hopes of a stable and co-operative political future.
"But we must never forget those who are finding it so difficult to come to terms with these developments . . . They too are part of this community which hears again the Christian message of Christmas. We still have a long road to travel for true reconciliation to finds its roots in hearts and minds."
