Should we believe the IRA has actually decommissioned its weapons

There are many arguments as to whether or not we should believe that the IRA has truly puts its arms out of use but those two arguments are the primary opinions expressed by each party involved to put across their point. Unionists argue that they have no reason to believe an organisation that have spent thirty years to destroy their community and they have no reason to believe the word of terrorists and murderers when they say that they have destroyed everything. In my opinion I think this opinion is perfectly understandable but I feel it would be naïve on the Unionists behalf to think that photographic evidence would be proof of decommissioning. To counter this the Republicans may stress that this is an historic day in the campaign for peace and that the people of the North of Ireland must decide for themselves if they wish to stay firmly entrenched in the bigotry and violence of their dark past or if they have the courage and honour to seize a brighter future for their children.

I have a strong personal feeling on the matter of decommissioning primarily coming from what I think about the whole decommissioning subject and what I think will come from it in the future. Decommissioning gives breathing space so to speak but nothing more. The problem still remains. The republicans still long for a united Ireland but the Loyalists and Unionists don’t. In the end both cannot get what they want so ultimately one of them will be disappointed and as we have seen for so long in our country the losers will reach for the bombs and bullets. In my opinion I believe that all we can hope for is a stalemate, or a compromise. I also feel strongly that the longer this uneasy peace continues the better the chances that a middle stance can prevail. The battle for peace is tough enough although the DUP seem determined to make sure that peace cannot be achieved I feel this because of their disgusting response to the IRA decommissioning it weapons. The DUP must not be able to understand the fact that the IRA has realised that democracy, not violence, is the only way to advance the republican cause. I have come to the conclusion that the DUP and other loyalist and unionist parties will never accept anything the IRA or other republican movements do, because they don’t want to.

To conclude, I would just like to say that you must decide for yourself whether or not you believe the IRA has decommissioned its weapons, this essay has revealed the various arguments for either side of the argument but ultimately the final decision is up to you. On a final note, it’s up to the loyalists now if they want peace or not, if they do they can come to equitable terms and accept Catholics as their country men or if their own incitement and arrogant violence continues, risk the IRA rearming and forgetting about peace at all for generations to come.