IRA Decommissioning

RTE news (and now the BBC) is reporting that Provisional IRA decommissioning has finally taken place. General de Chastelain, the head of the Decommissioning Body, will brief the British and Irish governments tomorrow and there will be a press conference later tomorrow.

I don't mean to sound like the DUP who are never happy no matter how much progress is made in the peace process and no matter how much the Provisional IRA give up but I think we have a long way to go before Sinn Fein can enter government in the Republic. This was reinforced after yesterdays march through Dublin (registration required on the Irish Independent website, sorry) with numerous paramilitary uniforms and especially kids in uniforms and replica guns .

Children posed with replica rifles in their hands yesterday as thousands of SF/IRA sympathisers brought the streets to a standstill at the height of a busy Saturday afternoon.

Among the 3,000-strong crowd that choked traffic along O'Connell Street for the march, some participants wore paramilitary uniforms while others dressed up as British soldiers.

Normal political parties don't need to dress their members in military uniforms and march through the city center.