I believe we would never get to the state of civil breakdown.

And I hope you're right, Ireland. But I's notbhard to understand how there are people who are frightened that you aren't, and their fears are real.

In the same way I'd hope you were right and the reformed police and the army could be relied on to protect everybody - but even if that's true, there are still many people who don't trust them, and that is real as well.

While those fears exist, the likely effect of a simple disbanding of the IRA could be to provide the opportunity for something else along the lines of the Real IRA or the Continuity IRA to build a basis of support, and present itself as the defenders of the community, but with a wider agenda of "continuing the armed struggle". And I am sure there are people within the existing IRAho would be up for that.

I think there should be a possibility of something short of "disbandment" at this time which would avoid that danger, and could also provide a way of getting rid of the irrelevant and counterproductive military gamesmanship on the part of the IRA (which is how the espionage strikes me, when it comes down to it - and that is not to trivialise the real and justifiable fears of prison officers and so forth).

"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through places without water, seeking rest: and not finding, he says: I will return into my house whence I came out. And when he is come, he finds it swept and garnished. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself: and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."