NORTHERN IRELAND

Early day motion 311, tabled 24 October 2001 by Helen Jackson (Labour). Signed by 145 members.

That this House expresses its wholehearted welcome for the announcement this week by the International Commission for Decommissioning and the IRA that decommissioning of the IRA's arsenal has now commenced; pays tribute to the huge efforts made by the leaders of all the political parties supporting the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement, the persistence of successive Secretaries of State in this Government and the previous administration, and in particular to the commitment of the Prime Minister and the Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to settle this historic issue; and looks with optimism to a safer future for Northern Ireland, envisaged by the Good Friday Agreement and endorsed overwhelmingly by the people in the North and South of Ireland, where all political parties settle their differences through political argument not sectarian violence.

Signatures by party: Labour 113, Liberal Democrat 16, Labour/Co-operative 13, Conservative 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1, UUP 1.