Republicans should be in no doubt about what is required of them if they are to enter government or be treated as political equals on either side of the Border. The IRA will have to go away. And republicans will have to confine their activities to purely democratic and peaceful pursuits within the constraints of the law. For some members of the IRA, that transition may be difficult. But the Sinn Féin leadership will have to convince them that the democratic mandate the party receives from the electorate is not transferable and may be finite.
The message was spelt out in the Dáil during the week when the main opposition parties joined with the Government in demanding an end to paramilitary and criminal activity and urging the decommissioning of weapons. The Belfast Agreement was acknowledged as the only template for future political progress. Recent threats from the IRA that it might engage in a resumption of violence were rejected, as was Sinn Féin's unwillingness to accept that the IRA had been involved in criminal activity.
Given this background and earlier statements from the Taoiseach and the British prime minister that the IRA had been responsible for the biggest bank robbery in these islands, yesterday's report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) added little. It confirmed that the Provisional IRA had planned and executed the Northern Bank robbery before Christmas. It declared that the raid had been carried out with the prior knowledge and agreement of senior members of Sinn Féin. And it widened the focus of its review by accusing the IRA of engaging in three other major robberies during the past year, involving threats to life and sums in excess of £3 million.
The response by Sinn Féin to these events was predictable and tunnel-visioned, lathered in victimisation, anger and self-regard. Mr Gerry Adams complained that a torrent of abuse had been unleashed against Sinn Féin in the Dáil because of its electoral success. He accused Mr Ahern of dirty politics in leading the Government attack and challenged him to order his arrest for complicity in the robbery. This was designed to distract attention from the source of the current difficulties: continuing IRA criminality and a failure by republicans to live up to their political commitments.
The IMC reported that, had the Northern Assembly been in existence, it would have recommended the expulsion of Sinn Féin. It also left open the prospect of identifying those prominent republicans who hold dual membership of Sinn Féin and the IRA. In the past, the malign shadow of the IRA and the threat of armed activity assisted Sinn Féin in punching above its political weight. Now, that paramilitary organisation has become a barrier to political progress and to the implementation of the Belfast Agreement. The Government has urged republicans to consider the implications of this situation and to resolve it. Rather than blame others, Mr Adams should get on with that task.