The peace process has led to large parts of Northern Ireland and even some areas in the Republic no longer enjoying the rule of law, according to Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien.
Addressing the annual conference of the Irish Association in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, last night, Dr O'Brien said the British government's decision in August that the IRA ceasefire had not been breached had given paramilitaries a licence to carry out their own brand of justice.
"Dr Mowlam was defending her own decision not to treat a recent murder, which she acknowledged to have been committed by the IRA, as a breach of the IRA ceasefire. Rather the killing was covered by this novel doctrine of `internal housekeeping'. This is a nauseating euphemism," Dr O'Brien said.