"There will be no return to the old days."

Life in Ireland is beginning to resemble the 1980s once again. With dramatic job losses, swelling dole queues and U2 releasing yet another successful album. The recent shootings in Northern Ireland are also a poignant reminder of the horrors of Irish life in the 1980s.

On Monday last, 48 year old Police Officer Stephen Carroll was gunned down in his unmarked police car while responding to a call at Lismore Manor in Craigavon. He became the first member of the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) to be murdered since its formation in 2001.

A dissident group, the Continuity IRA, have taken responsibility for the killing and released this statement via a coded message “As long as there is British involvement in Ireland, these attacks will continue.”

There has been a unified response to the killing. PSNI Chief Constable, Hugh Orde assured the Northern communities “This [shooting] will not put me off or any officers delivering the service we do to the communities we are paid to protect.” Talks have already been held, over the phone, between Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in which they confirmed joint commitment in dissolving this issue. Gordon Brown added; “There will be no return to the old days.”

Northern Ireland First Minister, Peter Robinson and his deputy minister, Martin Mc Guinness, who postponed a planned trip to Washington following the shooting, also showed their disgust with the attacks. Martin Mc Guinness said; “These people are traitors to the island of Ireland. They have betrayed the political desires, hopes and aspirations of all the people who live in this island.”

The shooting of Constable Stephen Carroll follows the shooting of two British soldiers; Patrick Azimaker, 21, and Mark Quinsey, 23 by another dissident group, the Real IRA, outside the Massareene Barracks in Co Antrim last Saturday.

This sudden outburst of attacks is the first from dissident IRA groups since the Omagh bombing in 1998 in which 29 people were killed. The Good Friday Agreement put what some thought was an end to the vicious killings in Northern Ireland which claimed over 3,500 lives over three decades of feuding.

Is it possible that Northern Ireland could once again plunge into the chaos that had claimed so many lives in the past? With a (generally) unified Government, a mixed police force and a more accepting and tolerant majority it would be difficult to imagine Northern Ireland ever falling to such brutal levels ever again.

As Gerry Ryan pointed out in his broadcast this morning, the one positive response that has come from these brutal attacks; it has shown the strength and unity of Northern Ireland in the Noughties.

We must only look at the recent demonstrations held throughout Northern Ireland in response to the shootings to see that Northern Ireland is much changed from the bleak 1980s. Silent demonstrations took place in Belfast, Lilburn, Newry, Downpatrick and Derry. A special vigil was also held in Craigavon, near the site of the recent shooting. “There was probably in excess of 10,000 people” said Eugene McGlone, of the Unite Union whom helped to organise the rallies. If anything this shows the united response of the people of Northern Ireland against recent violence. Surely such a united modern Northern Ireland could not revisit the horror tales of their past?