Let us brace ourselves for the IRA’s last sickening act of self-regard

THERE are moments on the journey which is the Northern Ireland peace process when a news story comes along that jolts us from the moral anaesthetic we must stay under in order to get through this process.

Some 18 months ago, many people south of the Border got such a jolt when the remains of Jean McConville, a west Belfast widow 'disappeared' by the IRA in 1972, were found near a beach in Co Louth. Interestingly, the relatives of many of the 'disappeared' took to the airwaves in the North last week to draw attention to what they saw as the cruel irony of Gerry Adams giving interviews to Arab TV stations appealing to the Iraqi terrorists for the release of the British hostage Ken Bigley.

We may be about to find ourselves discomfited by more of these jolts of morality in the coming weeks if recent media reports are to be believed. Apparently the IRA is planning a range of special gatherings and commemorative events as part of laying the groundwork for the winddown of its military operation.