Fine Gael leader Mr Michael Noonan TD today called on the IRA to honour it's commitment to disarm under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
Speaking at the annual Michael Collins commemoration at Beal na mBlath, Mr Noonan said he wished to remind the Republican movement of it's commitment to decommission "within two years of the referendums, north and south," a deadline he said "which has long since passed."
He also called on Republicans "to desist from attempting to introduce their own policing" and "to show the confidence that the other participants in the peace process have already shown".
Attacking Sinn Féin, Mr Noonan said major, if not complete, progress had been made on most aspects of the Belfast agreement, including prisoner releases, police reform, bar decommissioning.
He said Fine Gael rejected efforts by anyone to use violence in pursuit of political objectives.
The Fine Gael leader said Sinn Féin had the ability to achieve it's objectives through the political process and "not through threats of withdrawing co-operation from the Decommissioning Body."
Although he welcomed Sinn Féin's involvement in politics in the Republic, Mr Noonan said it would have to accept that the Army was the only military force entitled to bear arms under the Constitution.
"Until they recognise that in our democracy there is only one Army, their participation in our democratic institutions here will inevitably be a qualified one for those of us whose commitment to democracy is unqualified and unequivocal," he said.
The Fine Gael TD also used the occasion to reaffirm his party's position as a "Nationalist Party, which wishes to see the unity of all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland."