At Boston College yesterday, where she was launching a US programme to prepare the North's politicians for government, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mowlam, cautiously welcomed the ceasefire by the "Real IRA".
"It's unfortunate, to say the least, that it didn't happen before the Omagh atrocity. I'll be watching very carefully whether by word and deed, the words that have been announced mean something," she said. "I hope they do. But we'll need a lot more evidence before people feel easy with what has been said in the last 24 hours."
She warned that the ceasefire announcement would not mean "that those who committed the Omagh atrocity will be treated any differently. We made it clear when the Good Friday Agreement was agreed first by the politicians and then by the people that anybody after April 10th who committed acts of terrorism would be treated with the full force of the law."
She was unapologetic about the recent security legislation passed by the British and Irish governments. There were splinter groups "still in action", and the two governments were doing everything they could "to take them off the streets". In this, they were responding to the wishes of the people, North and South, who had voted overwhelmingly for the Belfast Agreement and for peace. This had to be set against the 100 or so people in the "Real IRA" who wanted to destroy the agreement.
Dr Mowlam said she would have to wait and see if splinter groups were merely trying "to get the goodies of the Good Friday Agreement without the commitment."