Labour Party leader Mr Pat Rabbitte said today the progress made in so-called "security normalisation" in Northern Ireland, as presented today by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) was welcome.
However, he said there was clearly a long way to go on issues such as cutting troop numbers.
"Whilst today's report is a long overdue step towards normalisation, there is still a lot to do in regard to reducing army numbers and scaling back on army bases," Mr Rabbitte said.
"However, all this depends on the extent to which paramilitaries reciprocate by decommissioning their weapons with sufficient transparency to assure us that there will be no return to violence.
It is disingenuous to dismiss the IMC's report. It is a starting point. It provides a basis to measure future progress, and I look forward to the day when it produces its last report."