After the Dail debate on Thursday and Mr Major's speech at the Conservative Party conference yesterday, the uncompromising response of the governments in Dublin and London to the Lisburn bomb is firmly on the record. If the IRA hoped that there would be concessions, such as they believed they secured after the Canary Wharf bomb in February, they must now be aware that the mood of anger and exasperation over their persistent militancy is deeply entrenched in public opinion. That attitude is accurately reflected in the determination of the two governments not to admit Sinn Fein to the political process until violence has been permanently given up.
When Mr Bruton describes the IRA as fascist, and the British prime minister questions the commitment of Mr Gerry Adams, they use language with which the great majority of people in both islands, and on both sides of the border, find little difficulty in identifying. There are no concessions to be given to violence. The IRA makes a mistake if it thinks the removal of weapons from the political equation is not the fervent desire of most of the citizens of this State, and in the North: yesterday's rally in Belfast, and the overwhelming "Yes" to the Irish News telephone poll on the calling of a new IRA ceasefire, only confirm what has long been generally acknowledged.
This weekend, the loyalist paramilitaries mark the second anniversary of their ceasefire. They have had effective political leadership which has secured them a niche in the political spectrum not properly represented until now and is aware that a return to tit for tat killing on the spurious grounds of "defence" or to score political points, is not sustainable. These are solid gains for the political process which are backed by a new realism and flexibility, still untested in dialogue but potentially a vital element in negotiating an agreed settlement.
If republicanism could have made such a fundamental change in its own strategy, without equivocation, the current state of anxiety and frustration would not have evolved. Instead, its contribution - with a political leadership that has not been able to impose its authority - has been to challenge the stability of the loyalist paramilitaries and to raise doubts about the viability of their ceasefire. Everything that has happened since last February can be linked to the return to violence by the IRA - the deterioration of the political climate, the stalemate in the talks, the sense of foreboding and the renewed distrust in community relations. It is a sad political legacy to which the murder of a British soldier this week has been a terrible but predictable addition.
In his speech in Bournemouth yesterday, Mr Major, like Mr Bruton on Thursday, made it clear that Sinn Fein can still acquire a democratic role in the political process if it succeeds in bringing about a renewal of the IRA ceasefire with a convincing guarantee of permanence. There is no evidence of a readiness to agree with that condition in a statement yesterday attributed to a Belfast Sinn Fein councillor, Mr Paddy McManus, that "until all factions involved in the situation come round the table and become involved in meaningful negotiations and come up with a lasting resolution to which we can all lend our support, then things are just going to repeat themselves".
Negotiations under duress simply will not take place. That is the core of the present impasse. Decommissioning is an essential part of the process and not something that results from it. If Mr McManus is reflecting the unchanged position of the Sinn Fein leadership, and really believes that he is talking practical politics, he and they must think again.