Two Lurgan Protestant men in their mid-30s just back from a fishing trip spoke to The Irish Times. One said: "Time will tell. I am very sceptical. It is a very cagey subject. No side is willing to give their guns over. If they would hand their guns over it would be a giant step forward but I can't see it." The other said: "It has been happening since 1969. As far as I am concerned there will never be any change." A local Protestant businessman in his late 50s said: "We loved the last ceasefire. It was delightful. People were very relaxed. We did not have to worry too much about who came into the bar and who was who because it was so relaxed. I believed it the last time. We believed it had a chance of surviving.
"I would not be so convinced this time that it would make any change at all.
"Unfortunately if it is not coupled by some permanent action towards peace it is not going to convince anyone. The last time they did not say it was permanent. The politicians were trying to tie them down on that. But a ceasefire is not worth a hang unless it's going to be permanent. It pleases me that there is hope of a ceasefire but I think it is a forlorn hope. I have always had a ceasefire because I don't kill anyone."
A Protestant mother-of-two, aged 29 said: "I hope there is a ceasefire. We would all like to see peace, especially for the kids but they said that the last one was a genuine one. There is no point in having a ceasefire and then starting it again. It's about time they all wised-up. I was brought up in New York and over there it was blacks and whites. When I came here when I was 15 I was asked what I was and I said I was a girl. I think all terrorists are out of order. I would be hopeful about it but still it would be hard to believe."
A Catholic local businessman in his 40s said: "It's excellent. I hope it comes without preconditions and just let them get on with it and get peace and everyone stop shooting, it's a simple as that. Everyone should stop killing each other. I would hope it would be permanent. It has to be permanent. Lurgan has suffered too much. Enough is enough. Finish it. It's over. Get round the table and thrash it out like human beings."
A Catholic mother-of-three, aged 36 said she was delighted: "We badly need this. There has been so much happening in Lurgan this last while - those two policemen murdered and that wee girl Bernadette Martin killed too. It's sick. It's been going on far too long. I wish they would all just sit down and talk and get this country sorted out. It's a great country. The people are great. If only there was peace. I hope the IRA calls a permanent ceasefire and the loyalists do the same because, really, that loyalist ceasefire has been a sham and everybody knows it."
A 38-year-old non-practising Catholic man said: "Anything for peace is a good thing. Whether it will work or not is a different matter. I think the IRA should do everything they [the British and Irish governments] want. They should call a ceasefire. They should go to the talks. They should put guns on the table as it goes along and they [the unionists] will make a balls of it. They [unionists] will bring something else out. The IRA should do everything that is asked of them and then when it collapses they can say, what else do you want. It's not going to work out. I hope it works out. They should try it and see what happens but I don't think it will happen they will make something else up."
An 18-year-old Catholic man said: "I have never really seen peace apart from the last ceasefire. About this ceasefire, well if it gets them into the talks, what good are the talks going to do. All the arms should be thrown into a big field and burnt. I`m no politician but they should just stop fighting. But as for that wee girl getting shot the other day, I would be happy if they retaliated. That was sick."