Although it is now two weeks since Omagh it simply will not go away, nor is it likely to for quite some time to come. This island has been afflicted with a long succession of appalling atrocities for almost 30 years now, but none of them had the effect that Omagh had.
The sheer enormity of the massacre, deliberately targeted at a wide cross-section of civilians including children and even babies, has sickened everybody so much that even the brave men of the republican movement, whether on an ostensible ceasefire or not, are frightened by the strength and unanimity of public opinion.
At long last ordinary people have been stirred into asserting themselves and into asserting their opinion of this barbarism and of those who perpetrated it. Even if this strength of feeling cannot prevent further atrocities at least it makes them less likely.
Now that Adams and McGuinness have engaged for the first time in "the politics of condemnation" let us hope that they and their agents will exert sufficient pressure on the various splinter groups to ensure that they all permanently desist from violence. Perhaps they could begin with Mr Adams's friends in the Provisional IRA who might start with a public declaration that they have irrevocably, unequivocally and permanently abandoned all forms of violence and intend to pursue a political path only from here on.
Drapier feels that public indignation should extend to the lesser crimes also. It was startling to read during the week RUC figures showing more than 50 punishment shootings and beatings in the North since the signing of the Good Friday agreement.
None of these is trivial. At least one person is dead as a result, and all the others are maimed for life, some very seriously. The toleration for so long of this kind of activity on the part of both Sinn Fein and various loyalist organisations is an example of what people will put up with if it is repeated often enough.
So numbing has the Omagh outrage been that two weeks later the natural feelings of anger are only beginning to assert themselves. Even where anger is felt it has been well controlled up to now as shown by the powerful peaceful demonstration in Dundalk where ordinary citizens felt they had endured enough by being constantly described as the headquarters of the `Real IRA'. The anger was fully controlled. No injuries were caused and no damage done but the message was powerful and far more effective than if things had got out of hand.
August has again proved that it is an illusion to think of it as a quiet month when most people are on holiday. The Dail is being recalled specially next Wednesday for a 13 1/2-hour session to deal with the Bill amending the Offences Against the State Acts designed to cope with the post-Omagh situation and to discourage a repetition.
We now have the interesting spectacle of the Irish and British governments trying to outdo each other in what they describe as "draconian legislation". On this as on so much else relating to the North there is now broad agreement between the two governments.
What a remarkable change in the times that the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, drops in to see the Taoiseach in Ashford Castle for a couple of hours so that they can put the finishing touches to their respective pieces of legislation and arrange to recall both parliaments. The unionists must be feeling more than a little sidelined by all this Anglo-Irish friendship and co-operation. Likewise Fianna Fail, who were traditionally so anglophobic, hardly know what hit them with all these cross-channel love-ins.
The follow-through to all this should logically be the fullest possible implementation of the Belfast Agreement. The success or otherwise of the two governments in trying to get it implemented by the parties in the Northern Assembly will be dependent on the degree to which they can get Sinn Fein to decommission and the unionists to sit down with them in an Executive.
This is no small task and will require great powers of persuasion, but it is within the grasp of both governments in their present co-operative mood and is well capable of achievement. Its achievement will transform the whole situation, and the opportunity will never come again. Paradoxically, the horror of Omagh will help rather than hinder, contrary to the intention of the disaffected Provos who set it off. At least, if it does come about, for once it can be said with truth that some good came out of deaths.
Next week sees President Clinton's second visit here, but it is likely for a variety of reasons to be more low-key than his first. First of all there is the pall of Omagh hanging over the whole island and secondly there is the Monica problem destabilising Clinton just at the same time as Boris Yeltsin has been destabilised by the failure of his economic policies in Russia. If Paddy Power offers odds on both Presidents being gone by the end of the year it might be worth a nibble at the double.
At the time of writing Clinton's programme seems slightly vague and unconfirmed. The only venue about which the organisers speak with certainty is Ballybunion Golf Club where the cares of the world and the evidence to a grand jury will be laid aside for a few hours while the challenges and difficulties of that great links will be negotiated.
The symbolism of Bill Clinton driving into the graveyard at the right of the first hole in Ballybunion would be disastrous as the terrible image spread like wildfire from continent to continent on CNN. The CIA advice on the first tee will be: "It is OK to hook here, Mr President, but above all do not slice."