The apology was to the family of a Newry man who was killed in an IRA explosion in 1974. Eugene McQuaid was in the wrong place at the wrong time when the IRA bomb exploded. Yet, for 30 years, the IRA refused to clarify security force suggestions that McQuaid was one of its members. Now after pressure from his family the IRA has finally admitted that the father of three was a totally innocent bystander. "The IRA leadership offers its sincere apologies to the McQuaid family for the death of Eugene and for the heartache and trauma that our actions have caused."

The condemnation related to those republicans involved in criminal activities. It followed the arrest last week of three men in connection with the hijacking of a truck in Co Meath carrying �?�300,000 worth of vodka. A former IRA prisoner, who was released under the Good Friday agreement, was among those charged. "The IRA has no responsibility for the tiny number of former republicans who have embraced criminal activity. They do so for self-gain. We repudiate this activity and denounce those involved."

The emphatic condemnation included in the IRA's traditional Easter statement will bolster the Sinn Féin leadership as it seeks to convince unionists and others that a stable government should be established in Northern Ireland.

The statement is also a significant psychological advance on the crucial republican statement of 28 July 2005. Last summer the IRA ordered its units to dump arms. All IRA members were instructed "to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means.

Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever." Crucially, however, the ?c-word' was not mentioned. There was no reference to 'criminality'. But now nine months on, the IRA is willing to admit that some of its clann are active in criminal activities.

The Easter 2006 statement claims that the majority of IRA Volunteers "have adhered, in the spirit and the letter, to the decisions and instructions outlined by the leadership." P O'Neill's statement calls for "maximum unity" but acknowledges that "many republicans are frustrated and angry" with the positions adopted by the Dublin and London government in recent months.

Frustration with the republican leadership itself is evident on the letters pages of the current issue of An Phoblacht, the weekly republican newspaper. Richard Brennan from Dublin is critical of a recent editorial decision to give prominence to Gerry Adams's trip to Washington while "a mere seven lines" were allocated to a commemoration gathering for a deceased IRA member.

"Are we, in this current climate, as republicans, afraid, ashamed or just too caught up in the political process to fully and proudly acknowledge our fallen comrades?" the letterwriter asks.

The past, Mr Brennan, is now another country for the Sinn Féin leadership. The IRA and its 30-year campaign is history. The republican movement is exclusively focused on the brave new world of electoral politics and the prospect of governmental office in Leinster House and at Stormont. Former IRA men who wish to feather their nests for personal gain will be cut loose and, as last week's statement showed, P O'Neill will issue condemnation of any activity that endangers the Adams project. As ever with the current republican leadership, pragmatism reigns supreme.

The IRA now bows to Sinn Féin, which has finally emerged as the leading component of the republican movement. The inactive military organisation effectively said so in its Easter statement. "The leadership of �?glaigh na h�?ireann believes that it is possible to achieve the republican goal of a united Ireland through the alternative route of purely peaceful and democratic means." Politics is now the mainstay of republican activism and politics is Sinn Féin's business, not the IRA's.

So the question remains unanswered - why is the IRA still in existence? It's a defunct military organisation with only former members, with no arms and with no purpose. Several years ago, Martin McGuinness suggested that the IRA could evolve into a body that held commemorations and other anniversary events. In short, an old boy's club.

That day has now arrived. Having cut loose its former members engaged in criminal activity, and having ceded authority to the Sinn Féin political agenda, it is now time that all IRA members handed in their membership cards, and that the organisation was fully wound up.