The IRA Marches on
The recent discovery of 108 rifles and 18 automatic weapons in a van at Bishop's Stortford fits into a wider pattern of events. There have been vague rumours of an organisation engaged in smuggling arms from England to the Republic of Ireland, and still vaguer stories of a plan for a raid against the Ulster border by members of a militant anti-partition organisation. The discovery of the stolen armoury in Essex would seem to make them somewhat less vague. However that may be—and the Northern Irish authorities are said not to be taking the threat too seriously—what remains necessary is a modicum of tact and understanding on both sides of the border. These endemic disturbances, whether the work o; isolated fanatics or of an organisation like the IRA (whose staff cadre is still intact and efficient and well capable of creat. ing trouble), are bound to take place from time to time, and perhaps the best thing that can be done is to forget them as quickly as possible without forgetting the force of feeling that produces them. It must be remembered that the greater part of Irish opinion has never accepted partition, and that although violent protests may be sporadic, such incidents in themselves serve to keep the issue emotionally explosive. That is their chief purpose. And so any exaggeration of their significance only leads to more bitterness. The situation in Ireland is frustrating enough without that.
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