Sometimes you have to state the obvious to get across an obvious point – the IRA will be part of the political scene here until there is a comprehensive peace agreement which works, which they can support and which deals with the removal of all armed groups involved in the conflict.
There is not a comprehensive agreement round the corner so those jumping up and down demanding the IRA exit now should sit down and review what it is they are trying to achieve – a permanent peace or the defeat of the IRA? The first is possible the second is not.
Political demands and ultimatums, irrespective of who makes them, will not secure the IRA's premature departure.
The IRA correctly sees itself as a response to Britain's occupation of Ireland, to the injustice of partition and the one-party sectarian state established thereafter.
This is the rationale which underpinned the IRA's struggle against British rule in successive decades following partition and brought them back onto the scene in 1969 in Bombay Street and the Short Strand the following year.
The IRA's existence, the British Crown forces in Ireland, the various unionist paramilitaries, are all a product of English government in Ireland and the legacy of that involvement.
The failure of the peace process to date to deal adequately with the underlying reasons which created armed conflict in the first place perpetuates the existence of armed groups.
The IRA therefore does not exist in a political vacuum.
The Six Counties is an armed state and has been in perpetual conflict and crisis since it was set up.
It is not a democratic society.
The above are the circumstances in which the IRA and all the other armed groups exist.
Over the last 10 years of the peace process a lot of progress has been made. The IRA has been on cessation for most of that time.
Unionist paramilitaries have observed cessations to varying degrees. The crown forces have made some moves towards demilitarising society.
The vast majority of the political prisoners were released although some are still in prison as a result of the activities of other armed republican groups.
The PSNI has replaced the old RUC but we are still some way off the new beginning to policing where Sinn Féin could endorse the new policing arrangements.
When that stage has been reached young republicans will be in a position to decide to join the PSNI.
This will truly be a watershed in terms of creating a peaceful and less threatening society for nationalists in the Six Counties.
Such a development will also impact on the existence of all the armed groups.
The Good Friday Agreement implicitly recognised all of these realities.
It's political structures transcend partition and are set in an all-Ireland framework.
The political emphasis of the agreement locates the decision making process here involving the representatives of all the political traditions, unionist and nationalist.
The British government has partially moved towards recognising it is for the people of Ireland to decide the issue of sovereignty by transferring the decision over their presence in the north to the people of the Six Counties.
Although this is a step in the right direction it does not fully restore sovereignty to all the people of this island.
The peace process has established an underlying pattern of fundamental change for those involved in armed groups.
We have reached the remarkable stage where the IRA has put a considerable amount of its weaponry beyond use.
Two weeks ago Gerry Adams stated at Sinn Féin's Ard Fheis that the peace process and the opportunities arising out of it are an alternative to armed struggle.
Last December the IRA outlined in some detail what was politically required for them to leave the scene.
And although we are clearly not there yet in my opinion it is not an impossible scenario to achieve.
Time, effort and energy should be invested in creating this scenario instead of grandstanding before the cameras making unrealisable demands.
