Picking up the dissident pieces

DISSIDENT republicans have stepped up their campaign of violence this month. A spate of attacks more frequent and reckless than before has seen the deployment of booby-trap and car bombs, as well as other devices. Although the prime target is police officers, the bomb-planters have not hesitated to put the lives of children at risk. On August 13th the Northern Ireland Office's home-protection unit offered to provide prominent political and legal figures with mirrors designed to check for bombs under vehicles.

On August 14th three young girls narrowly escaped serious injury in Lurgan, County Armagh, when a bomb intended for the police exploded in a nearby rubbish bin. Four days earlier a booby-trap bomb went off under the car of a former policeman in Cookstown, County Tyrone. On August 8th another bomb was planted in Kilkeel, County Down, which almost cost the lives of a Catholic policewoman and her daughter. The officer had just strapped the child into her car when she spotted the booby trap and managed to scramble her daughter to safety. On August 4th a booby-trap bomb was found under a soldier's car in Bangor. The day before, a vehicle containing 200 pounds of home-made explosives blew up outside a police station in Londonderry. And that was only August.

Extreme republican views were starkly on display in the remarks of councillor Martin Connolly, a hardliner. Though he is uncle to the policewoman who escaped death, he refused to condemn the incident. “While there's British occupation in Ireland there will always be opposition to that, whether you agree with it or not,” he said calmly. His attitude shocked many, who saw it as a new low even for Northern Ireland extremism. The family said his comments beggared belief.

The problem is that the dissidents' ruthlessness is matched by a growing expertise in the use of explosives. A few republican veterans have re-emerged, bringing with them decades of experience in terrorist techniques. None of the three significant splinter groups—Oglaigh na hEireann, the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA—can match the menace of the Provisional IRA during Northern Ireland's full-scale “Troubles”. Security folk and mainstream republicans agree on the character of the few hundred activists in their ranks: a ragbag of proficient terrorists, idealists, amateurs, criminals, impressionable and unemployed young people, and the politically or personally disaffected.

But they also agree that the dissidents can be lethal. It was the Real IRA who killed 29 people in the Omagh bombing of 1998, and there is general dread that the disregard for human life which they continue to show could lead to such carnage again.

It is assumed in Belfast, despite official denials, that the authorities in London and Dublin are in clandestine contact with at least some dissident elements. Years ago the idea of talking to terrorists was controversial; today it is widely regarded as worth a try, not least because similar contacts played a big part in producing the relative peace that now prevails. Even the police have signalled their approval.

But today's dissidents are a politically primitive bunch, who apparently believe they can defeat Britain and unite Ireland through explosives. There is no sign that they think in terms of compromise, as the old IRA eventually did; in fact there is no sign of any strategic thinkers in their ranks. It may make long-term sense to talk, but for the moment little is likely to emerge from dialogue. The priority is protecting the police and the public from their attacks.