ABSTRACT
Despite the current level of dissent republican terrorist actions and internecine loyalist violence, Northern Ireland is a society emerging from conflict. The last 33 years of what is euphemistically referred to as ‘the troubles’ have claimed the lives of 3,636 people in a province of just 1.5 million people. To place those figures in perspective, they would equate to a loss of life of 11,000 in Great Britain or 410,000 in the United States. The conflict has involved armed and highly organized and opposing terrorist groups. Terrorist action in Northern Ireland has claimed the lives of 302 police officers and 644 British soldiers. The last soldier killed was Lance Bombardier Restock; he was shot by a .50 calibre sniper rifle in 1997 whilst speaking to a motorist at a vehicle checkpoint. The last police officer murdered was Constable O’Reilly, killed as a result of an improvized grenade thrown during loyalist rioting in 1998. Of the 3,636 deaths that occurred during ‘the troubles’, 315 have been attributed to the military and 52 to the police.1 Over the last 30 years the terrorist campaign has affected nearly every family and has resulted in violence and acts of terrorism and counter-terrorism in many countries throughout the world.1
