THE PEACE process in Northern Ireland is under violent attack. Dissident republicans from within this jurisdiction are lending tactical support to murderous activities that are designed to reignite widespread conflict and return this island to the status of a war zone. These individuals may not be directly involved, but their behaviour cannot be tolerated in a society that has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new constitutional arrangement.
In recent weeks, republican splinter groups in the North have orchestrated a campaign of murder, bombing and public riot in their efforts to intimidate local communities while testing the professionalism and restraint of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. It is a very dangerous time. A near-breakdown of relations between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, while they negotiated the transfer of justice and policing powers and discussed new arrangements for contentious Orange parades, provided a fertile atmosphere for these advocates of physical force.
The situation carries an unavoidable message for political parties. Grudging accommodations and minimal co-operation will not provide sufficient momentum to escape from the failures of the past. A generous political approach and an inclusive social agenda will have to be adopted by the Executive and the Northern Assembly if destructive forces are to be contained. That will be difficult to achieve because of the economic recession.
Resentment felt by the Ulster Unionist Party over the way it has been treated within the Executive by the DUP should not lead to a withholding of support for the transfer of justice and policing powers. That development, opposed by some loyalist and republican groups, is urgently required in order to generate cross-community support for normal policing and to close down paramilitary-style fundraising activities. As former police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan warned: complacency is the enemy of peace and the process may unravel if politicians and local activists do not work together. Smuggling and diesel-laundering along the Border generates much of the funding for dissident republicans. It must be stamped out.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern warned at the weekend about the worsening threat posed by dissident republicans and suggested the various splinter groups were beginning to pool their resources and plan attacks. These organisations have networks of support on this side of the Border. Their intention, he said, was to bring British troops back on to the streets in the North and destabilise the peace process.
There are those within both communities who are so driven by tribal allegiances and ingrained hatreds that they cannot bring themselves to tolerate the terms of the constitutional settlement agreed more than a decade ago by the political parties and endorsed by the two electorates. Some are determined to bring down the powersharing Executive through political pressure. Others have reverted to violence. These small and unrepresentative groups cannot be allowed to succeed.