AFTER every IRA attack there are renewed fears that we are returning to the bad old days, with warnings from security sources and some politicians that the Provisional IRA are about to unleash a ferocious campaign of violence.
It was no different yesterday when bombs exploded at Wilmslow in Cheshire. But republican sources insist that the explosions - however reprehensible people might find them - were aimed at causing disruption, not loss of life.
The IRA remains committed to restarting the peace process and is not planning another long war, they say. "The bombs in England were most definitely not intended to kill or injure anyone. Adequate warnings were given and the area was cleared," a republican source in west Belfast said.
The source said the main reason for the sporadic IRA attacks was to pacify grassroots members and so avoid a split in the movement. "There is stalemate regarding the peace process at the moment. When there is a political vacuum, and no visible political dividends, then the base grows restless," the source said.
"The vacuum must be filled by military operations. Bomb attacks like those in Wilmslow shut up dissidents and get them off the leaderships back. They give the leadership the space to continue with the peace process.
"The British are, seen to be humiliating Sinn Fein by excluding them, from talks, and the IRA cannot be seen, in the eyes of its members or supporters, to let that go unchallenged.
"It is a very knee jerk, simplistic reaction to interpret these attacks as being the work of bloodthirsty militarists determined to destroy the peace process. It is much more the case that the IRA has become the armed wing of Sinn Fein's peace strategy.
A former prisoner pointed out that even though the vast majority of people opposed bombs, in England they were popular with republican grassroots. "Republicans would rather see attacks in Britain than attacks in the North, because Britain is the enemy.
In its Easter message yesterday, the IRA said that since it restarted its campaign in the North six months ago it had shown "again and again that we retain the capacity and resources to continue to strike against those maintaining British occupation".
Yet even a cursory glance at IRA attacks over that period contradicts the claim. Failure has followed failure. Planned attacks have been aborted, personnel have been arrested, weapons have been recovered and bombs have failed to explode.
It seems the IRA grew rusty during its ceasefire and that MI5, had major successes in infiltration and intelligence gathering.
However, the Provisionals also seem to lack the will to return to full scale conflict.
The main reason would seem to be that such a development would scare moderate nationalists away from Sinn Fein and make Mr Gerry Adams once again a political pariah.
Sinn Fein is the firm favourite to regain West Belfast in the Westminster election and is given a fighting chance in Mid Ulster and West Tyrone. Attacks which resulted in a serious loss of life as the election approached would be viewed as disastrous.
Regardless of the electoral effect on Sinn Fein, the IRA leadership might deliver the occasional punch to the peace process but doesn't want to knock it out. The Provisionals Easter message reaffirmed their commitment to facilitating a process aimed at securing a lasting resolution to the conflict".
The IRA isn't opposed to the peace process, but to what it sees as its non inclusive nature. Yesterday's attacks in England do not mean that hardliners are in control and are returning to an old style military campaign aimed at nothing short of a British withdrawal.
Sinn Fein politicians are not pessimistic about the future after the British general election. Speaking as he announced his party's candidates on Monday, Mr Adams was very positive about political movement under a new British government with a fresh mandate.
Even in terms of their reaction to IRA activities, Sinn Fein leaders have come a long way. Responding to yesterday's attacks, Mr Martin McGuinness said the responsibility lay with those who planted them.
He attributed the failure to resolve the conflict to the British government but, repeated that the opportunity still existed to rebuild the peace process and that dialogue was the key.
It was a diagnistic and uncompromising, Martin McGuinness who addressed Sinn, Fein's ardfheis 11 years ago: "Our position is clear and it will never, never, never change. The war against British rule must continue, until freedom is achieved."
The huge change in the sentiment and stance of such an important Sinn Fein figure shows how the Provisionals have moved from the old militancy of the past and should alleviate fears for the long term survival of the peace process.