Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams today welcomed the removal of a British military watchtower from a block of flats in west Belfast.
The Divis Tower observation post is being dismantled as part of a sweeping security scale down in the North following last week's IRA statement on its future.
Despite his pleasure at the removal of the observation post, the Sinn Féin president refused to offer any new clues on the IRA's disarmament process.
"I'm not going to speculate on any of that," he insisted.
"The IRA has made its commitments on that. It's between the IRA and the IICD (Independent International Commission on Decommissioning)."
The surveillance equipment on top of the 19-storey Divis Tower accommodation block has been used by the British army since the 1970s when violence raged on the streets of Belfast.
For republicans living in its shadow, the installation was a symbol of oppression used to spy on their community.
After the IRA's declaration that its armed campaign was finished, however, the government ordered the post to be pulled down in an operation expected to take months to complete.
Mr Adams said the removal would be a relief for residents in his constituency forced to endure the military presence.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams
Responding to unionist opposition to the military scale-down, the west Belfast MP mischievously added that it could be rebuilt at the church in the east of the city where Mr Paisley, the Democratic Unionist Party leader opposed to the demilitarisation and disbandment of Royal Irish Regiment battalions, preaches regularly.
He said: "If Ian Paisley wants it to be transferred to the tower of the Free Presbyterian church, to the tower of the Martyrs' Memorial church, that's a matter for him. "But he must welcome the fact that these people (in Divis Tower) are going to be given respite."
More seriously, Mr Adams accepted the DUP was never likely to be pressing for a swift return to sharing power with Sinn Fein after the Provisionals announced they were dumping their guns.
But, with leaders of the main unionist party still refusing to enter direct negotiations with republicans, Mr Adams asked if Mr Paisley would have preferred that the IRA had not made its move.
He also challenged British prime minister Tony Blair to advise the DUP. It was time to move on with the peace process and restore devolved government in Northern Ireland.
As engineers continued to dismantle equipment high above him, the Sinn Féin leader was quick to wish them good riddance.
"I'm and Irish republican and the British army should never have been here at all," he claimed. "They serve no useful purpose here on Divis Tower.
"We are told they were there for our protection but people were killed in my constituency office, people were killed in this neighbourhood, all within sight of the squaddies on this tower."
PA