The giant step forward in the peace process has been made. The first inspection of IRA arms dumps by President Martti Ahtisaari and Mr Cyril Ramaphosa is the most fundamental development for the consolidation of the Belfast Agreement since it was ratified by referendums, North and South, over two years ago. The report by the two inspectors, which was forwarded to the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) and the Irish and British Governments on Sunday and published yesterday, marks an unprecedented initiative from the IRA, an indicator that the republican movement has been pushed by the weight of public opinion on this island to travel along the road from paramilitarism to parliamentary democracy.
In their announcement, which could not be more timely, President Ahtisaari and Mr Ramaphosa report that they have inspected a number of arms dumps holding a substantial amount of military material, including explosives and related equipment, as well as weapons. "We observed that the weapons and explosives were safely and adequately stored", they say. "We have ensured that the weapons and explosives cannot be used without our detection". In the last paragraph of their report, they conclude that the process that led to the first inspection visit and the way in which it was carried out "makes us believe that this is a genuine effort by the IRA to advance the peace process".
In their judgment, the IICD, which has been charged to date with the handling of the decommissioning process, reports that the inspectors have ensured that the weapons are secure and cannot be used "without their becoming aware that this has happened". It also informed the Irish and British Governments at the weekend that the IRA were now resuming contact with the Commission.
A major advance in the consolidation of peace and political accommodation has been made with yesterday's announcement. The unionist community has been presented with the confidence-building measure for which its leaders have waited so long. The First Minister, Mr David Trimble, put his leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party on the line in the battle to ensure that the quid pro quo for Sinn Fein's membership of the Northern Ireland Executive was a movement on arms. The British Government had to suspend the institutions last February when that did not happen. Mr Trimble wore his vindication generously yesterday, however, when he acknowledged that the republicans had "kept their word".
The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister, as well as all of the pro-agreement parties, have firmly welcomed the inspections as a confirmation that the republican movement is honouring its commitment to the deal which brought about the restoration of the Executive and the North/South dimensions of the agreement a month ago.
The surmounting of the decommissioning hurdle, which has plagued the peace process for three years or more, marks the most important milestone in the implementation of the Belfast Agreement, if not in recent Irish history. For the first time since the agreement was ratified in historic referendums in both parts of this island, a process has started that will completely and verifiably put IRA arms beyond use. The pro-agreement parties are being placed on a level playing pitch now. D-day has arrived.