JOHN HUMPHRYS:                Well Martin McGuinness, 
Sinn Fein's Chief Negotiator is in our Derry studio. 

                          Mr McGuinness, the Ulster 
Unionist Party as you'll know, is saying that it's good, or some in that 
party are saying that it's good as far as it goes but they want a lot of 
clarification.  As far as your understanding is concerned, is it the IRA 
statement, that is a take it or leave it or is there now scope for real 
negotiation based on it.

MARTIN McGUINNESS:            Well I think the first thing 
to be said is that the IRA statement is a very powerful development and 
one which gives all politicians on all sides, particularly those who are 
pro-agreement a very real opportunity to press on to implement an agreement 
which should have been implemented some two years ago.  Now obviously over 
the course of recent weeks much work has been done to try and bring about 
a situation where the impasse can be broken and of course involved in those 
meetings were the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Taoiseach, ourselves 
and Sinn Fein and of course others.  Now I think in relation to whatever 
difficulties or problems that the Unionists might have, and I'm very heartened 
by the response that I have heard from at least those Unionists who are 
prepared to be positive and constructive about how we handle this particular 
situation that we're in.  I think that whatever difficulties and problems 
are there can effectively be ironed out successfully.

HUMPHRYS:                    So there is room for 
negotiation - that's the nub of it?

McGUINNESS:                Well what I'm saying is that 
I believe that we have cracked the nut and I don't believe that there are 
any outstanding difficulties in relation to where we've arrived at and 
how we've contrived the situation which permits all of us to effectively 
proceed in a harmonious way to raise up the issues of equality of justice, 
of policing, of demilitarisation, of the Irish language and many other 
aspects of the Agreement which have effectively for the last two years 
been lost in this nonsensical debate that has gone on and dominated the 
political agenda for the last two years.

HUMPHRYS:                    Well you may believe 
that but clearly very many people, including David Trimble, do not accept 
that the nut has been cracked.  There are cracks appearing perhaps but 
the nut hasn't actually been cracked yet and there are clearly 
a lot of worries that they have, one of them obviously has to do with 
this notion of inspecting IRA arms dumps and they wonder how they can be 
sure what happens to those arms between inspections, or maybe they'll be 
inspected three times a week or something, but if they're inspected once 
a week or once a month what happens to the arms dumps in between?  These 
are crucial areas aren't they?  I mean that is a problem itself isn't it?

McGUINNESS:                Well I actually don't believe 
that it is a problem.  I think that the fact that there are agreed third 
parties in the shape of the former Finnish President and Cyril Ramaposa 
of the ANC.  Clearly these are people with a huge international reputation. 
 Cyril Ramaposa was very much at the heart of the South African negotiations, 
was a very successful negotiator and I think that obviously it is my view 
that these people are of the highest calibre and the fact that they're 
involved or will be involved in this process I think certainly should allay 
the fears and concerns that Unionists may have.

HUMPHRYS:                    So I mean if they were 
to say, for instance, and who knows what they will say but if they were 
to say 'we want to inspect them or have somebody inspect them on our behalf 
every day of the week' then that wouldn't, as far as you understand it, 
cause a problem?

McGUINNESS:                Well I mean that's a matter 
for the IRA to work out with the third parties and of course the third 
parties will be reporting to the International Decommissioning Commission 
under General De Chastelaine.  So I actually don't think that we should 
waste time dealing with nuts and bolts of all of this.  I think that... 
let's focus on the reality that the IRA have made a very powerful contribution 
that will cause obviously great difficulties for Republicans and I think 
that what I would want to do at this time is pay tribute to the leadership 
of the IRA and to IRA volunteers all over Ireland who are yet again showing 
themselves willing to enhance the peace process and I think that Unionists 
need to sit back and consider and reflect very much on the words used by 
the IRA in their statement and I think you know there has been a huge welcome 
for those words, I think that people believe that these words do give confidence 
to the Unionist people, to Unionist political leaders who are progressive 
and give us all a real opportunity to press on and implement the Good Friday 
Agreement.

HUMPHRYS:                    What they said in that 
statement was that there would be a confidence building measure to give 
reassurance that the weapons remain secure within a matter of weeks.  Now 
is that going to happen, do you believe, before the setting up again of 
the Executive and the Assembly?

McGUINNESS:                Well I don't know what time 
span is on that.  I do believe that it will happen and that it will happen 
over the course of the next couple of weeks.  I don't really think it's 
that important to tell you the truth..

HUMPHRYS:                    ...not essential that 
it happens, that the executive gets set up.. the Assembly gets set up before, 
not essential from your perspective?

McGUINNESS:                I don't think so.  I think 
the fact that the IRA have said in a public statement that they are prepared 
to facilitate this within weeks I think you know we can take for certain 
because the only statements that they've made in the past they've always 
fulfilled what they've said.  So that's not a difficulty for me.  I don't 
believe it's a difficulty for David Trimble or for Tony Blair either.  
I think our focus needs to be on the fact that there is now a powerful 
development. What we obviously want to see from our point of view and the 
Nationalist Republican community is you now the commitments that have been 
made by the British government in the course of recent days fulfilled in 
the coming days and I hope that they will be announcements from the British 
government which will deal with and tackle the whole issue of equality 
of justice, of human rights, the Irish language, the need for demilitarisation 
and of course the need for the Patten Report to be implemented in full.

HUMPHRYS:                    One question that David 
Trimble has raised, he raised it again this morning is - 'Is this, the 
IRA statement and all it contains, is it a gesture, the beginning of a 
process, or is it just a token gesture, is it something really important 
that you now move on from here towards decommissioning, proper decommissioning 
or is it simply a gesture'?

McGUINNESS:                I think it's absolutely huge. 
 I think it's massive........

HUMPHRYS:                    ....the beginning of 
that process..

McGUINNESS:                Pardon?

HUMPHRYS:                    ..the beginning of that 
process of decommissioning.

McGUINNESS:                Well from our perspective as 
you know, and you and I have talked about this on many occasions over the 
course of recent years, the Sinn Fein project from the very beginning was 
to remove injustice, was to remove the causes of conflict and was to remove 
all of the guns from Irish politics so we are trying to do that in a very 
determined way and many parties to that process have contributions to make. 
 I think from our perspective in Sinn Fein we have been at the coal face 
of trying to resolve these difficulties and I think that the announcement 
this week by the IRA has been an absolutely huge and mighty step forward.

HUMPHRYS:                    But that is it is it? 
 That is what we now have to understand is going to happen as opposed to 
decommissioning, handing over or destroying of weapons, this notion that 
they are buried in some arms dumps, that they will be left there to rust 
and rot away - that is it is it as far as you can see it?

McGUINNESS:                Well in relation to all of 
that and I don't want to go into the details of all the points which you 
raised I think in fact what we need to get to is a situation where all 
of these matters can be left to John De Chastelaine and his international 
commission, left to Cyril Ramaposa and the Finnish President and to the 
armed groups and I think from our perspective what we have to do as politicians 
is obviously deal with that issue but it's my view and I think that there 
is much agreement about it, what we have to do in relation to being successful 
in removing all of the guns from Irish politics is that we actually to 
put up a political project.  Now what is this political project?  A political 
project from the beginning is about power sharing in the North, is about 
those Unionists who say they're for the Good Friday Agreement, who do want 
Catholics about the place getting into government with Republicans and 
Nationalists.  It's about those rejectionist Unionists who are out there 
who are trying to destroy all of the work of the last number of years being 
told very firmly by the British Prime Minister and Pro-Agreement unionists 
that they are not going to win.  It's about setting up a power sharing 
executive, an All Ireland Ministerial Council, all Ireland implementation 
bodies.  It's about ending division in the North.  I want to stretch out 
the hand of friendship to David Trimble.  I want to work with David Trimble. 
 It's about ending division on the Island of Ireland.  I think when you 
consider the new economic age that we're moving into it makes eminent sense 
for all of us to work together to end divisions on this island once and 
for all.

HUMPHRYS:                    But to what extent does 
what was promised yesterday and the sorts of things you've been talking 
about to what extent do they depend on reciprocal gestures from the British 
government?

McGUINNESS:                    Well over the course 
of the last number of days the British government have outlined along with 
the Irish government the steps which must be taken not just by others within 
the process but by themselves and of course the British government is addressing 
at this moment in time, I hope they will do it satisfactorily, the issue 
of demilitarisation, the issue of equality, the issue of justice, the issue 
of human rights, the issue of the Irish language and these are all huge 
issues that need to be dealt with because one thing that is absolutely 
certain, and this is a message for the rejectionist Unionists out there 
- Sinn Fein isn't going to go away.  Sinn Fein is becoming bigger.  Sinn 
Fein is becoming stronger and the people that we represent have a very 
real confidence that Nationalists have never had before in the North of 
Ireland as a result of the efforts that have been made by people like Gerry 
Adams and by John Hume and by the fact that we are involved in a process 
which they see can bring great change to their lives.  So you know we are 
no longer John going to be treated like second class citizens in our own 
country and we now need people from the British end of things in the shape 
of the British Prime Minister and pro-agreement Unionists to publicly agree 
with us that we are no longer to be treated like second class citizens 
and Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson have made remarks about that in the 
course of the last week or so.  So things are changing.  We are moving 
forward, hopefully to new times and there is a real opportunity now for 
politicians, Unionists, Loyalist, Nationalist and Republican to build a 
new future for all our people,  I think we're going to get there.

HUMPHRYS:                    Martin McGuinness, thank 
you very much indeed.