Time to take the gun out of politics

FOLLOWING the return of US President George W Bush’s envoy Richard Haass to Belfast, pressure is mounting on the IRA to break the deadlock in the peace process

Not for the first time, hope has given way to frustration as prospects fade for an early resolution of the latest hitch in the tortuous search for peace.

It is time the Godfathers of the IRA realised that the vast majority of people in the Republic as well as Northern Ireland are fed up to the teeth of their brinkmanship. In the long run, such tactics are certain to damage the political aspirations of the republican movement.