Danger signs cannot be ignored

Last evening’s terse statement from the IRA is ominous and it could be political folly to vest it with a benign interpretation.

In warning both governments not to "underestimate the seriousness of the situation", the organisation expressed not just frustration at the impasse over the Northern Bank controversy, but a hardly veiled threat. It came in the wake of another statement it issued on Wednesday night in which it said it was withdrawing its offer to complete the decommissioning process.

That declared the organisation's intention not to remain quiescent in the face of what it referred to as "this unacceptable situation", meaning the attacks on the republican movement, despite its initiatives in regard to the peace process.