The following is an edited version of yesterday's speech by the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair in Belfast:
"I don't want on this occasion to be diplomatic. I think I have the duty and a right, from the very time I have spent on this issue, to give you my frank view.
For years nationalist Ireland felt treated as second-class citizens. Let me cross out the word "felt". They were treated as second-class citizens. Let us not even assign blame. But let us not deny fact. Unionism at the time was supreme but it was also suspicious. Suspicious that if it gave way to the demands of nationalism, it was a slippery slope leading to a united Ireland. Suspicious that the British government, of whatever colour, might say they were with them, but in reality would sell them out.
And then into all this came the final and deadly ingredient of terrorism. The purpose of republican terrorism was to create such a situation of chaos that Britain would give up on Northern Ireland. The purpose of loyalist terrorism was to retaliate, to dominate or to clear out Catholics.
For our part, the purpose of the British security response, often harsh, was to eliminate the violence as was our duty to do.
The fact is none of us succeeded in our purpose. But one hangover from this history remains. Even when republicans realised they were not going to get Britain to give up Northern Ireland by terror, they still thought it had another tactical purpose.
It gave them negotiating leverage. The prospect of a ceasefire was a sufficiently tantalising prospect, to make the British pay attention and to get real movement from unionism.
At the core of the agreement was this deal: in return for equality and justice - in politics, policing, in acceptance of nationalist identity - all parties were to commit exclusively to peace. And for unionism, the right of the people of Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK so long as a majority want to, was enshrined. Indeed, provided, in effect, unionists agreed to equality and to recognising the legitimacy of the identity of nationalists, the union would remain.
However, as time went on, it wasn't the main source. Increasingly, a different problem arose, and it is this that is at the heart of the present crisis.
Once the agreement was signed, republicans committed themselves to peace. But they had their suspicions too. They believed that if they relinquished entirely the paramilitary, they might find the new British enthusiasm for the political suddenly waned; that they could and would be safely ignored again.
So the game began. Negotiation after negotiation, a decommissioning act here, an IRA statement there, progress made but slowly. However, it all came with another price. The unionists, unsurprisingly, kept pointing out that the IRA still existed; that this was not an organisation committed to exclusively peaceful means; and that they, the unionists, were obliged to sit in government with its political wing.
All the while, we were coming to a crunch point. Would republicanism really take the final step of committing exclusively, Sinn Féin and the IRA, to the peaceful path; or would they wait for the British finally to complete the normalisation of Northern Ireland, the policing and other changes promised, before doing so? That is the crunch and the problem is that the very thing republicans used to think gave them negotiating leverage, doesn't do it anymore. It no longer acts to remove unionist intransigence, but to sustain it; it no longer pushes the British government forward, but delays us. It doesn't any longer justify David Trimble's engagement; it thwarts it.
I used to say we had to be sure all sides wanted the agreement to work. I am sure everyone does. Unionism, certainly as represented by David Trimble, does. I believe that. I also believe that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness want the agreement to work. I think they have taken huge risks to try to bury the past. That is not a fond hope. That is my considered judgment after 4½ years of the closest working with them.
But the crunch is the crunch. There is no parallel track left. The fork in the road has finally come. Whatever guarantees we need to give that we will implement the agreement, we will. Whatever commitment to the end we all want to see, of a normalised Northern Ireland, I will make. But we cannot carry on with the IRA half in, half out of this process. Not just because it isn't right any more. It won't work anymore.
Remove the threat of violence and the peace process is on an unstopable path. That threat, no matter how damped down, is no longer reinforcing the political, it is actually destroying it. In fact, the continuing existence of the IRA as an active paramilitary organisation is now the best card those whom republicans call "rejectionist" unionists, have in their hand. It totally justifies their refusal to share power; it embarrasses moderate unionism and pushes wavering unionists into the hands of those who would just return Northern Ireland to the past. And because it also embarrasses the British and Irish Governments, it makes it harder for us to respond to nationalist concerns.
To this blunt question: "How come the Irish Government won't allow Sinn Féin to be in Government in the South until the IRA ceases its activity, but unionists must have them in government in the North?", there are many sophisticated answers. But no answer as simple, telling and direct as the question.
So: that's where we are. Not another impasse. But a fundamental choice of direction, a turning point.
Why do I remain optimistic? Because underneath the surface, despite all the disputes, confrontations, anger and recrimination, there has been another benefit of the past few years. There has been a maturing, steady but probably unnoticed and unnoticeable by the majority of people, of the politics of Northern Ireland. Suspension has been bitterly opposed. But no-one wants to walk away.
There is a logic and reason compelling people towards finding a way through rather than using the crisis as an excuse to turn back.
For republicans there is one very simple thing moving them in the direction of progress. Leave aside the disagreement over aspects of policing. They want to join. But the concept of republicans on the policing board, of young republicans becoming police officers, while maintaining an active paramilitary organisation, outside of the law, only needs to be stated, to be seen as an absurdity.
There can't be two police forces. Any thinking republican can see this. That is not to understate the difficulties when, for many, this has been a way of life in republican communities often outside of the reach of the law. But there's no future in it and actually republicans know it.
In a different way, but with the same logic, the unionist community knows the only way of having a lasting peace is to have a just one.
I have watched it change over these years. But in truth they are reconciled to the change, however painful, if they really believe that peace means peace. People say unionists now reject the agreement. I don't think that's true. It's not that they don't support the concept of it. They don't believe it is being implemented properly whilst paramilitary activity remains. And there's another change in unionism. They have been as unsettled as any by loyalist violence over the summer months.
There has been a thought amongst some in the nationalist community that somehow unionists disregard, even secretly tolerate, loyalist paramilitaries. I know this not to be so.
So: what do we have? We have a situation where, in truth, the overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland and their political leaders want to see the agreement implemented; want the institutions up and running again; accept the basic deal of justice for peace; but don't have the requisite trust to continue unless all the remaining bits of the puzzle are clear and fittedtogether.
Another inch by inch negotiation won't work. Symbolic gestures, important in their time, no longer build trust.
It's time for acts of completion. We will do our best to carry on implementing the agreement in any event. But, should real change occur, we can implement the rest of the agreement, including on normalisation, in its entirety and not in stages but together. And we are prepared to do what is necessary to protect the institutions against arbitrary interruption and interference. But that means also commitment from others. Unionism to make the institutions secure and stable. Nationalists to act if violence returns. Republicans to make the commitment to exclusively peaceful means, real, total and permanent. For all of us: an end to tolerance of paramilitary activity in any form.
A decision that from here on in, a criminal act is a criminal act. One law for all, applied equally to all.
In the end, justice for peace is in tune with our age. That's why this process in Northern Ireland despite it all, can still work.
Now is the moment of choice. I honestly believe that there is no other way."
The full text of Mr Blair's speech is available on The IrishTimes website at http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/special/