Dissident republicans have claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on a police car near Downpatrick, Co Down, early yesterday. The "Real IRA" said it would "continue to use physical force or any other means necessary until the British occupation of our country is ended once and for all". Two PSNI officers were shocked but unhurt in the attack.
This latest incident was condemned by political representatives on all sides, including Sinn Féin. The South Down MP Mr Eddie McGrady, speaking in the House of Commons, asked Mr Tony Blair if he saw the attack as an attempt by those opposed to the Belfast Agreement to undermine the political process. The Prime Minister agreed.
Dissident paramilitary activity has continued but organisations claiming to be on ceasefire have also been involved in violence.
The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, declared the UDA ceasefire was bogus last October. The organisation was implicated in violence in north Belfast late last year. It claimed responsibility for the murder of post office worker Danny McColgan in Rathcoole near Belfast last January. Threats were also issued to Catholics working in the public sector.
Public reaction to Mr McColgan's murder was channelled by the trade union movement, culminating in a day of action to protest at attacks on workers.
Since January, loyalist violence had subsided sufficiently to allow Dr Reid to tell The Irish Times in March that a further, positive review by him of the UDA ceasefire could not be ruled out. The ceasefire question is subject to continuous review.
The loyalist leader Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair was released from Maghaberry prison in May following his sentence for directing terrorism. He later had an unprecedented meeting with Dr Reid, during which the ongoing trouble on the streets of Belfast was discussed.
All paramilitary organisations were implicated in street disturbances, which have continued in north Belfast for more than 12 months and which spread to sectarian interfaces in the east of the city in May.
The Provisional IRA is still held to be on ceasefire by the British and Irish governments, although it continues to be mentioned in connection with the murders of suspected drugs dealers and a spate of so-called punishment beatings, especially in Belfast.
The IRA has also been accused of involvement in the cases of three Irishmen held in Colombia following allegations of links with Marxist FARC guerrillas and in the theft of intelligence documents from Special Branch offices in Castlereagh in March.
These incidents have led many unionists to assert the British government has a working definition of ceasefire that excludes intelligence gathering, paramilitary beatings and attacks on those allegedly involved in drugs.
Mr Blair will address this when he makes a statement next week before the summer recess.