The DUP has always maintained that it wants to see the complete decommissioning of all republican and loyalist paramilitary weapons.
It was therefore intriguing to find a detailed and apparently verbatim account of last week's meeting between senior DUP figures and General John de Chastelain appear on the party's official website.
The article listed almost 50 questions which were directed at the general by the DUP representatives.
Every single one concerned IRA arms, while the enormous arsenals under the control of the UDA and the UVF escaped any mention.
DUP officials may well insist that the meeting was specifically called to discuss the IRA's attitude towards decommissioning but there was nothing to prevent at least a passing reference to the position of loyalists.
The IRA, quite correctly, is being encouraged on all sides to put its guns entirely and demonstrably beyond use.
Unfortunately there is little evidence of similar pressure being applied on the main illegal loyal groups.
While republicans have a realistic prospect of a return to ministerial posts and remain at a totally different level in electoral terms,
there can be no justification for allowing loyalists to evade their responsibilities over decommissioning.
The DUP had a chance through its meeting with General de Chastelain to prove that it was committed to an even-handed approach to the crucial issue of illegal weapons.
On the evidence of its own website, its response in terms of loyalist arms was painfully inadequate.
