THERE was right through this week a feeling of apprehension as to what might happen anywhere in these islands. Apparently there would have been a very serious explosion or series of explosions if the British police had not raided two houses in London on Monday morning.
There is the anguished and despairing feeling that we are back to square one that we will have to live through it all again and that sheer stupidity has caused the loss of all the gains that were made so painfully in recent years. We are back to a time when nobody in the North, the Republic or in Britain can feel entirely safe.
But it is the unionists who have garnered most attention over the past two weeks. The fall out from Drumcree will go on for a long time. If Drumcree `95 was the making of David Trimble, Drumcree 96 may be the breaking of him.
His initial show of hostility towards the RUC when it would not do what he wanted was remarkably personal and remarkably physical for the leader of the largest party in the North. His subsequent secret meeting, as disclosed by Panorama, with Billy Wright does not show Trimble in a very good light.
Around Leinster House there has been a distrust and dislike of Trimble since his election as Ulster Unionist leader. He is regarded as too smart by half and people began to feel this week their instincts were correct.
There is considerable resentment of the fact that the leading churchmen appear to have been hung out to dry by a previous agreement about the Orange march made the night before between the Orangemen and the RUC.
When Trimble and others were talking about light at the end of the tunnel, there was no public evidence of that, but, lo and behold, it now appears that there was an agreement at that time that the RUC would force through the Orange march the following day, as actually happened.
This was not conveyed to Cardinal Daly, Archbishop Eames and the others who were engaged in bona fide late night talks trying to broker an agreement. The thought that they had been betrayed must have occurred to them as well as to others.
Those who feel that the North and Britain are a long way away and not part of our problem had the realities brought home to them by the total closure of O'Connell Street and surrounding streets in Dublin this week.
The dreadful inconvenience and huge losses caused by an alleged UFF hoax bomb warning is a small taste of what the North and Britain have suffered for so long. The more active the IRA becomes, the greater the likelihood of a loyalist backlash. Perhaps that is what the IRA has wanted all along.
Gerry Adams and company must be very thankful to Trimble and the Orangemen for what they did at Drumcree. The IRA had never been more isolated until the Orange Order revived its fortunes and gave it a certain respectability in the eyes of even the most moderate nationalists who did not want to be left undefended and at the total mercy of an unpleasant looking bunch in Orange sashes.
The RUC did not give the impression it wanted to protect nationalists. Is it not remarkable that most of the goals scored in the North are own goals?
EVEN though the Twelfth has passed, the marching mania is not over. There are two other Protestant and unionist institutions which will be parading in fancy dress to keep our summer warm.
On Saturday August 10th the Apprentice Boys of Derry will march in celebration of their victory at the Siege of Derry, and later in August the Royal Black Institution will be parading around the North in sashes and bowler hats to declare their supremacy.
What a thrilling prospect. What other country is subjected to this kind of carry on?
Sir Patrick Mayhew looks as if he doesn't enjoy it all any more. His recent announcement that he would not stand again for parliament suggests he would be happy to retire as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Drapier believes that may happen quite soon.
John Major will probably take the view there is no point in keeping in the Cabinet someone who is not going to fight the next election.
The most likely successor will probably be Michael Ancram who is diligent and dedicated but who, like any other British politician, needs the Northern job like a hole in the head. From their point of view it is a total non winner. They find both sides equally mystifying and incomprehensible in their attitudes.
From a British perspective the Irish question is as troublesome at the end of the 20th century as it was at the end of the 19th. They see Northern Ireland as a political graveyard. They find it even more difficult when John Bruton and Dick Spring start to attack them.
There is no evidence a change of government in Britain would make much difference. The Labour Party never made any progress in the North and is basically uninterested.
It is hard to forget its failure to give any support to the power sharing executive in 1974 when it allowed the Loyalist Workers Council to run riot. Drumcree was not the first time the rule of law did not apply in Northern Ireland, and not the first time that a loyalist mob got its way.
The House comes back on Thursday for a long day when it is expected to deal with different stages of about six Bills. This is the Dail's response to the crime situation and it promises to be a long hot day in a long hot summer.