Quote Unquote

What they said was 'a complete cessation of military operations'. They never mentioned violence. That's what they said. That's what they mean - Gerry Adams, on the IRA's ceasefire announcement

Sinn Fein does not advocate violence, therefore it has no need to renounce it - Gerry Adams

We need to be clear that this is indeed intended to be a permanent renunciation of violence - that is to say, for good - John Major

Peace will take time - Albert Reynolds

I do believe this is the beginning of the end. That proves to my wife and I that Tim's life may not have been lost in vain - Colin Parry, whose son died in the Warrington atrocity

I, like most people at this stage, am holding my breath - Sir Paul Condon, Metropolitan Police Commissioner

It is a ray of light on a par with events in South Africa and the Middle East - Jacques Delors

I'm bloody sure I won't be celebrating, I'm sitting at home wondering what they're up to - Nancy Gracey, Catholic founder of Families Against Intimidation and Terror

What we are witnessing today are the wheels of blackmail, political blackmail, rapidly turning - the Rev William McCrea, Democratic Unionist MP for Ulster Mid

They can always break it - look at all the ceasefires in Bosnia - Charlie McHugh, an American IRA sympathiser

I give this peace 10 years, no more. And then the children who have never known anything but the militarist thinking will be the leaders - Ruari O'Bradaigh, ousted from the leadership of Sinn Fein by Gerry Adams in the Eighties