A Spectator's Notebook
THE IRISH HAVE long been expecting an outbreak of terrorise' by the extremist republicans; what they did not foresee '0 the form it has taken—scattered raids around the Border. rather than concentrated efforts on selected objectives. Tb! reason, I suspect, is that the republicans were more interested at present in impressing public opinion in the South than to committing themselves too deeply in the North. The IR' abandoned the use of violence in the South some years ago, the hope of restoring its reputation; but the only result 0 to leave an impression of weakness. Wednesday's outbreas was presumably designed to show that the organisation is 0 strong enough to mount a number of well-synchronised attacks Had the attacks been more effective, they might indeed have shaken the belief, common in the South, that the variow extremist groups are too divided, and have too many spies ill their ranks, to be capable of effective action. But the coralne° assumption is that the authorities in Dublin, though the) knew what was brewing, preferred not to take preventive action. The Prime Minister, Mr. J. A. Costello, boasted when he took Ireland out of the Commonwealth that he was `takill, the gun Out of politics' : naturally he does not want to the gun back again by taking severe measures, which IMF lead the IRA to resume its violence in the South. Besides. Me: Costello is not really master in his own house. He preside; over a rickety coalition, some of whose members would no support him in preventive action; and as his majority 113 dwindled to a handful of votes, they could bring the Govelll, ment down. In the circumstances, it is unlikely that any decisn' action can be expected from Dublin—which is awkward fe't Stormont.
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