If all our expectations of the Good Friday agreement are not met, I will be seeking a way forward in co-operation with those committed to the process, based on the principles of this agreement. We stand on the brink of a remarkable transformation in Northern Ireland. There are already signs of growing economic confidence. The security situation, while not perfect, has been transformed. Bombs and barricades no longer interrupt daily life.
People are once again able to lead a normal existence.
We must not go back to the bad old days, and with a settled political future in which the needs of both communities are met in a fair and equal society, we will not have to. The alternative is to hold back, to risk the renewal of instability and all that brings, Never to know whether decommissioning would have occurred, and to create an overwhelming sense of disappointment and uncertainty which could not be more harmful to Northern Ireland's interests, now and in the longer term. In my judgment, that is no real alternative at all. People in Northern Ireland are demanding a safe, secure future for their children. It is the politicians' job to create that for them.