It is hardly surprising that an enormous majority of the electorate - 86 per cent of those polled last Monday and Tuesday - believe the IRA and other paramilitaries should now decommission. Virtually the same result emerged from an Irish Times/ MRBI poll last July, and that was before the establishment of new political institutions.
Now the power-sharing institutions are up and running, sweeping reforms of policing are on the way and Articles 2 and 3 have been replaced. Virtually all the provisions of the Belfast Agreement dear to nationalists and republicans are in place. Voters across all parties, social groups, regions and ages now want to see decommissioning.
Perhaps equally unsurprising is the apparent lack of enthusiasm for electoral reform. No specific model was put to those questioned for this opinion poll - they were merely asked whether they thought the way in which TDs are elected to the Dail should be changed.
Asked this bare question, they gave a clear answer: 52 per cent said no, with just 24 per cent saying yes. Reflecting lack of knowledge of what will be proposed, 14 per cent said they did not know enough to make a decision while 10 per cent said they had no opinion.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, who has championed the cause of electoral reform, clearly has much work to do to persuade voters that the electoral system should be changed. Opposition to change among supporters of his own party - at 56 per cent - is even higher than among the rest of the poll sample. This mirrors opposition to change within the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party.
He may believe that voters said no to electoral reform in this poll because they were asked to give blanket endorsement to such reform - to buy a pig in a poke - rather than to endorse a specific new electoral model. However, even if a detailed new electoral model is devised as a result of the forthcoming hearings on the subject by the All-Party Committee on the Constitution, it will clearly not be easy to sell it. Without the support of the Opposition, who have so far been hostile to the idea, it is likely to be impossible.
In terms of policy priorities, the electorate appears to have a considerable desire to see fairness in society as well as a wish to see economic growth continue.
An extraordinary 97 per cent of voters said the aim of making Ireland a fair place to live for all sections of the community was either very or quite important.
The answer is necessarily vague and difficult from which to draw firm conclusions. It is, after all, difficult to disagree with the proposition. But the answer is consistent with the poll finding in November that voters saw the funding of public services as more desirable than cutting taxes, reducing the national debt or developing the State's infrastructure. It indicates that voters are politically motivated by more than economic self-interest.
The aim of ensuring further economic growth was ranked almost as highly, with 95 per cent of the poll sample seeing it as quite or very important.
The third issue put to those polled - the need to complete the work of the various tribunals - was seen as considerably less important. However, 69 per cent still saw it as very or quite important, with just 18 per cent seeing it as quite or very unimportant.
This is an impressive figure showing that voters strongly support the continuation of the tribunals and inquiries, despite the regular press coverage drawing attention to their cost, to the level of fees being paid to legal practitioners involved, and to the length of time being taken to complete their work.