This loathing is largely reciprocated. People in the Republic do not like the IRA, which they associate with the savagery of the Irish Civil War, 1922-27. They especially do not like the way the IRA has been able to corrupt Irish public life and the administration of justice. Like much else in Irish life, though, these attitudes are shifting. Following the Belfast Agreement and the obvious desire of the British to get rid of Ulster by any means that can be devised, the decades of IRA terror are beginning to seem justified.
Polls show that more Irish people are now inclined to do so.
Only, says Gerry, if the IRA gets its way on prisoner releases. So shed a tear for Bertie Ahern. He also loses the support of Gerry Adams, which he may soon need in order to stay in power. Present signals are that Bertie is deperately trying to punt the whole thing off into the courts.