We had the same old soundbites – "historic", "momentous", "unprecedented" – and the same old IRA frontmen rushing around TV studios trying to tell us that they are good boys now, that they are going to behave themselves and that now we should be grateful and give them a few government departments to run.
Meanwhile, Unionists in North Belfast were having to deal with the same old Republican movement – petrol-bombing homes, paint-bombing churches, stoning and petrol-bombing Orange Halls.
The bottom line is that Unionists in North Belfast, as in other parts of the country, need to see much more than a few tired tricks using smoke and mirrors. We've seen it all before and Republicans will have to do better than that.
As much as anything else, the issue of decommissioning was about them providing a sign of intent, about making it clear that the war is over.
They threw away their opportunity to do that. In any case, what does it matter what the IRA is doing in some hole in the ground in County Tyrone, if their people in North and West Belfast are still waging war, attacking the Unionist community, trying to drive Protestants off the streets and out of their homes.
There has been much talk of alienation within the Unionist community. This is true. Unionists are sick, sore and tired of a peace process that simply delivers one concession after another to Sinn Féin/IRA. They are sick of a British government that panders to its enemies. But Republicans should not confuse this alienation with defeatism, for the reverse is true. Unionists in North and West Belfast are more determined to resist the Republican advance than at any point in the recent past. People are resolute that they will not be pushed about any more.
The Unionist community is uniting around the strong leadership of the DUP, which says we will have equality in this peace process and we are no longer prepared to be treated as second-class citizens in our own country.
They are fully supportive of the DUP campaign to have Unionist areas rebuilt, right across North and West Belfast: and the campaign is bearing fruit. Even now, builders are on site in many areas and plans are being developed for large scale investment in other Unionist districts. There is also clear evidence that unionists are starting to move back in from the suburbs.
The fact is that Republicans are rattled. They can see a Unionist community that is becoming more cohesive and confident: a community that has turned its back on weak UUP leadership; and a community that is prepared to stand its ground.
They can see a community that is starting to get results. If they weren't rattled, they wouldn't be producing propaganda complaining about the number of houses being built in Unionist areas and claiming that the DUP has imposed an Orange line in North Belfast, beyond which Republicans may not pass.
Gerry Adams once said that the IRA hasn't gone away. Until the unionist people see the evidence with their own eyes and in their own districts, we will continue to assume that they are still here. What Republicans need to know, however, is that unionists are still here too.
We have taken everything that has been thrown at us over three decades and we are still here: and we won't be going away, you know.
