If you militarise a situation, you beg for an armed response.

I think the worst kind of grief is unacknowledged grief.

Republican patience with how unionism deals with the political institutions, and with key issues like equality and human rights, will be tested because, obviously, there will be a battle a day on these matters. So lets face up to all of this with our eyes wide open.

I think there is a huge responsibility upon governments to understand the consequence of their decisions.

In the past I have defended the right of the IRA to engage in armed struggle. I did so because there was no alternative for those who would not bend the knee, or turn a blind eye to oppression, or for those who wanted a national republic.

Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.

It might or might not be right to kill, but sometimes it is necessary.