Sinn Fein Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Archbishop Sean Brady response to the IRA statement

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland Archbishop Sean Brady told an audience at St Oliver Plunkett's Church, West Belfast that:

"The statement by the IRA on Thursday was, in my view, potentially the most powerful, significant and welcome move towards genuine freedom in Ireland to have emerged from any paramilitary organisation since the beginning of the Troubles."

"I hope that others will respond with the same level of constructive thinking,"

"By setting people free from the fear of violence, by confining the search for freedom to purely democratic and peaceful means, such actions open up the possibility of addressing the deeper and more urgent dimensions of human freedom."

"Part of the moral complexity of our past was the part played by the threat of violence from the unionist community in the decision to create Northern Ireland as a separate entity."