An active PIRA would be an appalling vista

IF it is established that the Provisional IRA is still a functioning, active entity, happy to murder to achieve its aims or protect its criminal activities, then the people of this island will have to come to terms with one of the greatest betrayals foisted on it by violent nationalism in many, many decades.

It would be an absolutely unacceptable attack on our democracy and this Republic’s — and this entire island’s — rejection of violence as a means of realising political objectives.

If confirmed it would probably sound the death knell for the Stormont assembly as it is constituted today, threaten Anglo Irish relations and be a dramatic reversal for the peace process. It would undo the painfully slow process of “normalisation” in the North and damage the trust being built between once-divided communities. It is hard not to think too that the North’s economy, already disproportionately dependent on government as an employer, would find it harder to attract international investors. Inevitably, it, if established beyond any doubt, must have profound implications south of the border as well. It would, like it or not, cast a dark shadow over plans to mark the 1916 centenary next year.