Dissident threat - Destructive cycle must be broken

OUR history has many patterns but one of the most obvious and disheartening is the time-honoured scourge of violent minorities refusing to accept decisions reached by the most democratic and inclusive processes.

The “split” has cursed nearly every political and social advance seen on this island and too often the potential offered by new agreements has not been realised because of the anti-democratic opposition of a tiny minority prepared to use violence to pursue their ends.

Whether our enthusiasm for “the split” represents an unshakeable commitment to the highest ideals, as the keeper-of-the-flame minority usually imagines, or a rejection of democracy, is easily decided but that has not protected this country from the violence of generations of refuseniks. It seems we are at that sorry, tragically stupid point once again, or at least very close to it.