R≤is∅n McGlore, like many in Catholic west Belfast, thought she would welcome the day the IRA began to scrap its arms. "I expected to be overjoyed. But I think we all were a bit stunned."
Mrs McGlore runs the Springfield Inter-community Development Project, which works on the flashpoint areas between the Falls and Shankill neighbourhoods of west Belfast.
Her comments reflect the conflicting emotions that greeted the news that the IRA had started to put arms beyond use following a call to do so by its political allies. "There was no one celebrating around here. And if that was my reaction, what do you think was the reaction of those on the ground who took up arms, in their eyes to achieve justice, and are now being told the war is over?
"For many on the unionist side, decommissioning is just a piece of symbolism. But that's not what this is about. For republicans, there is a lot of pain and suffering involved."
Geraldine McAteer, head of the West Belfast Partnership Board, which works on economic regeneration in the area, welcomes the move, but adds: "I think a lot of people in this neighbourhood believe decommissioning is a red herring when the IRA guns have been silent. It was not even specifically mentioned in the Good Friday agreement."
Monday's speech by Gerry Adams calling for IRA decommissioning, was aimed at placating some of dissenters. "The real target of Monday's statement was the grass roots," says an Irish government official.
Brendan Macken, a former republican prisoner who runs the centre for the unemployed, a cross-community project aimed at reconciliation, says it was important that Mr Adams was joined on the platform on Monday by Joe Cahill, the veteran IRA figure.
"It signalled the links between the old militarist IRA and the new pragmatism of Sinn FΘin. What the announcement also showed is that Sinn FΘin and not the IRA is now the voice of the people," he says.
Mr Blair now will want to move quickly on the back of the IRA statement to start dismantling the British army watchtowers and other surveillance paraphernalia, which have been such a source of grievance for nationalist communities on the border with the Republic.
According to army statistics, 45 military installations have already been dismantled since 1995. However there remain 63 bases, spy posts and watchtowers and 13,600 troops are still garrisoned in the North. Crucial will be the reaction on the ground in south Armagh, where the local IRA has a big influence on the republican leadership.
Because of its hardline reputation, at one stage it was thought that decommissioning would happen only in the context of what Sinn Fein calls the "demilitarisation" of south Armagh.
Where there may be rather less support for the decommissioning move is in north Belfast and other areas of more mixed religious communities. In those areas, the announcement coincides with an increase in sectarian violence.