The Troubles

Northern Ireland has been relatively quiet since the 1997 cease-fire agreement, a positive dividend fueled by an extended period of sustained economic growth and relative political stability in the UK. But the Celtic Tiger is now licking its wounds in the wake of its own mortgage crisis, and the numbers of unemployed and disillusioned hooligans on the dole increases daily.

In downplaying the possible resurgence of the IRA, the Lurgan police chief says that only a “very small group” of about 300 people was involved with the Irish Republican Army dissident groups that had claimed responsibility for recent killings of two British soldiers and a police officer. Even if this “very small group” was comprised of one, I’d be concerned.