Politicians in the North continued to express their widespread horror and revulsion at the Omagh bombing, but unionists voiced criticism of the British government, amid concern that the Ulster Volunteer Force might end its ceasefire.
Both the DUP and some Tory members said the government must bear some responsibility for the bombing, and urged the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to put the early release of prisoners on hold and increase security measures.
Mr Ian Paisley jnr, of the Democratic Unionist Party, said it was a disgrace that Mr Blair had not postponed the release of paramilitary prisoners.
However, Sinn Fein's Mr Mitchel McLaughlin cautioned against a rush to introduce new security measures. "The peace process has been severely dented by Saturday's events, but it hasn't been destroyed, and we have to be careful about knee-jerk reactions which could actually do the work of those attacking the peace process when they planted that bomb," he said.
But the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, Mr David Ervine, has warned that the loyalist paramilitary group, the UVF, may end its ceasefire following the Omagh attack.
Mr Ervine said his party, which has links to the UVF, might not be able to keep the loyalists attached to the "democratic process". "We have been an anchor and they [the UVF] have been on the hook of that anchor and I think they are extricating themselves off the hook, which leaves them unfortunately as loose cannons," he told ITN television.
"We have been the anchor into the democratic process. I think if they manage to fully unhook themselves from the Progressive Unionist Party that will not be good news."