Chance for a lasting peace in North

THE horrifying images from Beslan pulled at the heartstrings of every parent with a child gone back or starting at school during the week.

Yet it was not so long ago that paramilitaries on this island felt it was acceptable to sacrifice innocent children to advance their political cause.

While on a different scale and under different circumstances to the carnage in North Ossetia, the atrocities carried out in Northern Ireland will linger long in the memory.