Northern Ireland has been transformed in the last decade. When I last visited Belfast, just over a year ago, I was struck by how much the city centre resembled the newly revived post-industrial city centres of Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester. But despite all the spin, the glossy veneer still conceals some uncomfortable truths.

We on the UK mainland were shocked when PC Ronan Kerr of the PSNI was killed by a bomb in his car in Omagh on Saturday. Rightly so – it was a shocking and sickening act of murder perpetrated by truly evil people.

The character of much of the shock expressed was very much along the lines of “how could this happen now that we have peace in Northern Ireland?” The simple and sad truth is that those of us outside Ulster are routinely misled by politicians and the media about what the situation is really like. It is true that things are far better than they were when the Troubles were at their height, and that the Peace Process, with its attendant ceasefire by the Provos, UVF etc has made people much safer.

But – and it is a massive but – terrorism has never stopped. Shootings, bombings and beatings have remained a regular occurrence, as have failed attacks.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland publishes regular statistics on what they call the “Security Situation”. The latest data release shows that from 1st April 2010 up until the end of February 2011 there were:

68 shooting incidents (this includes when the security forces open fire)

30 casualties caused by paramilitary-style shootings

96 bombing incidents, involving 98 bombs (which includes defusings, but not hoaxes)

48 casualties caused by “paramilitary-style assaults” (ie beatings)

85 firearms found

Over 2.72 kg of explosives found

Call it what you like, but that is far from a state of “peace”. If a situation like this arose from nothing in, say, Manchester, then we would view it as a serious and active terrorist movement.

Of course, by contrast to what went before things are a lot better. The reasons for the cheery consensus that Northern Irish terrorism is a solved problem are understandable – everyone wants it to be solved for good, but just pretending that it is helps nobody.

PC Ronan Kerr’s murder should be a wake-up call that this issue demands all our attention, and cannot be swept under the carpet.

Tags: Belfast, Bombing, Britain, Northern Ireland, PC Ronan Kerr, policing, PSNI, Security, Terrorism, Ulster

Categories: Opinion

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2 Responses

1. 

   Sarah:

   A lot of the “paramilitary-style” beatings and shootings which are being carried out are more about these groups retaining control of “their area” than a continuation of, or return to the situation we had here before. Many of them had moved into the drug trade even during the Troubles as a means of providing income and a lot of the violence is now more like a “turf war” between rival drug gangs than anything else (and, just to be clear, I’m not arguing that this is a good thing or that it should be ignored). You’re right that there is still a lot of residual violence but I think the hope for everyone is that it will fade away eventually, although it is obviously important for the security forces to keep up the pressure on these groups to prevent any escalation.
   There are some positive signs in the current Assembly election campaign that Sinn Fein and the DUP are starting to reach across the religious/community divide in the hunt for votes (the Shinners are appealing – or trying to appeal – to left-leaning Protestants, with the DUP attempting the same with right-leaning Catholics). The Slugger O’Toole blog here: http://sluggerotoole.com/2011/04/07/sinn-feins-village-voice/ has more details of these efforts. It’s unlikely that a major shift will happen at this election, or even in the *near* future, but the baby steps which Northern Ireland is taking towards full peace and normality are encouraging.

   07.04.2011 08:17 Reply

2. 

   Louise:

   I do not think that saying that the beatings drug dealing and money lending will go away eventually is good enough! Do you know what it feels like to watch your child recover from the trauma of having their arms and legs smashed with slabs of concrete, obviously not. This is against the law and is child abuse. This would not be said if a parent was abusing their own child. So why should these people get away with it? Communities are being terrorised by paramilitaries. In my own community five young people have lost their lives in the past three years. Two of them committed suicide due to being under threat from local paramilitaries. A third was delt drugs by these people and overdosed. Finally the other two died in a car crash after stealing a car, a talent learned from doing this for local paramilitaries fro a young age. Tell their parents that its ok it will fade away!

   18.07.2011 17:50 Reply