THE new RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, has repeated his warning that the IRA is planning further attacks against high profile targets.
Speaking yesterday as he took over his new post, Mr Flanagan said the IRA's future operations would be aimed primarily at "grabbing the headlines".
"I sadly expect that there will be further attacks both here in the province and on the mainland", he said. "We have nothing to suggest a restoration of the cessation of violence is imminent."
Mr Flanagan admitted he had been a Freemason but had left so that people would trust him to be impartial. He said he would not ban his officers from joining the Masons or the Orange Order but would be advising them to be aware of the need to appear impartial.
He promised the RUC would be ready to "deal with any eventuality". Arrests in Britain, the North, and the Republic were significant in that they reduced the IRA's capability but they also, perhaps, increased its determination to show that it had not been substantially weakened.
Mr Flanagan said there would eventually be an end to violence and he questioned why more people must be killed in the meantime.
He believed an internal debate was taking place in the republican movement which, above all else, wanted to avoid a split. He thought that there were republicans who genuinely wanted a ceasefire.
The loyalist ceasefire had been "surprisingly resilient", he said, but every IRA attack increased the likelihood of a resumption of UDA and UVF violence.
The North's Police Authority yesterday wished Mr Flanagan well in his new job. Its chairman, Mr Pat Armstrong, said he looked forward to working with the new Chief Constable and recognised the "magnitude of the task" he faced.