Well, Gerry Adams has said so. At the Sinn F�in ardfheis yesterday, Adams hammered what is probably the final nail into the coffin of the Provisional IRA. "The war is over. The peace must be built. We are the peace builders, " he told his party's delegates. In the last two years, the IRA has ordered its members to dump arms and then those arms were decommissioned. Now it seems that the IRA is really on its way to becoming an organisation that oversees commemoration events. Several speakers from the conference podium made reference to this May's twentieth anniversary of when British soldiers shot dead eight IRA members at Loughgall in Co Armagh. Looking back is now the lot of many republicans, and while their war may be over, SF members still thrive on the last 40 years.

Adams paid the traditional tribute yesterday to the activities of IRA members. "Our struggle is rooted in their sacrifice. But these heroes were always about the future . . . They are the wind that shakes the barley."

Listening to the delegates debate, it became clear that two languages were being spoken.

There was the language of the party's northern supporters. They mentioned unionism, sectarianism and British Direct Rule ministers. Those members from the Republic - the one declared in 1949 - talked about MRSA, A&E reform and pupil-teacher ratios. The glue that keeps these two Sinn F�ins together is their desire to end partition and see the two jurisdictions on the island united into a single Irish state. Now, it's a long-term project with greater attention paid to being in government on both sides of the border.

In the short term, SF has more favourable prospects at Stormont. The Assembly elections this week - followed by agreement from the DUP - should see Martin McGuinness becoming Deputy First Minister. South of the border the political landscape is far more challenging.

A small party with five outgoing TDs, SF could gain a maximum of five seats at the forthcoming election. That would be their best day out but for now it will not bring SF TDs into Government Buildings. Their war will have to be over for a few more years yet before that day arrives.