ON Thursday, the Northern Ireland Office minister, Mr Michael Ancram, accused the IRA of issuing a "slap in the face" to the people of Northern Ireland by its statement that the necessary dynamic was not present to allow for a resumption of its ceasefire.
Early this morning, the IRA - if it was responsible for this latest- London bombing - issued a similar slap in the face to the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, to the Government, and also, it must be said, to Sinn Fein leader Mr Gerry Adams.
As an attempt at justification for its Canary Wharf bomb, the IRA claimed that British and unionist intransigence had forced it to that pass. Give us inclusive negotiations without preconditions and the ceasefire will be restored, the IRA effectively stated.
They were promised just that all party talks without preconditions by Mr John Major and Mr John Bruton in last week's AngloIrish communique.
Sometime after midnight, the IRA - if it was the culprit - stated it wasn't prepared to put any more faith in Mr Bruton or Mr Major, despite the solemn assurances of the London communique.
So, it may be back to war war instead or jaw jaw, a horrific prospect bearing in mind the trauma of the past 25 years.
Today, the shock waves of this bomb attack may be causing particular distress to Mr Hume. He was prepared to gamble much, if not all, to engage directly with the IRA as he did again last week.
Even this week at Castle Buildings, Stormont, he was still stating he was hopeful of progress that if an all inclusive peace talks package could be guaranteed, the IRA would back down.
This hope was against a back drop of IRA utterances that it was prepared for another 25 years of war if necessary. This morning the IRA may have given Mr Hume its final answer. This latest bomb, if it is the work of the IRA, will also create anxiety among loyalists.
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, at Castle Buildings earlier this week seemed also - perhaps reluctantly - prepared to give the republican movement the benefit of the doubt despite hardline IRA utterances quoted in the US Irish Voice in New York, and in the Sinn Fein and IRA weekly An Phoblacht.
If the latest bomb was an IRA attack, it could signal the Government moving back behind the old, safe defence lines of keeping away from imaginative, but potentially dangerous adventures, that could leave the Government exposed to accusations of being pro the Provos.
Equally, if this was an IRA attack, it exposes the position of Sinn Fein president Mr Adams who, whatever his critics say, attempted to bring the provisional republican movement into accepting - or at least viewing with equanimity - the advantages of democratic politics.
Early this morning all that earnest work may have been blown apart.
