The shocking revelation of the string of teenage suicides in Belfast has focused attention at last on the dirty secret of the Northern Ireland peace process. This is that 'peace' in that troubled province is of the most bitterly pyrrhic kind. Instead of bombs on the streets, there is now intimidation and terror as the rule of law, in certain areas, has simply collapsed. The reason is that terrorism was not defeated but appeased and brought into government, in exchange for the emasculation of the police and the erosion of justice with the release of terrorists from their prison sentences. The rule of law has thus been extinguished in certain areas by a mafia state, in which paramilitaries have merely moved from political terror into drugs, organised crime and gun law on the streets to replace the police. The suicides follow punishment beatings and other paramilitary violence which is rampaging apparently unchecked. As the Telegraph reports, there have been eleven such deaths in north Belfast since the new year:

'The area, which has a myriad of streets, is near impossible to police. With Sinn Fein refusing to sign up to police reforms the INLA has stepped into the power vacuum. The INLA, the group responsible for 127 murders in the Troubles, appears more interested in drug dealing than republican ideals, security sources say. For the last two years its leader, who allegedly murdered an RUC officer, has claimed to act for the community.

'Last year the group's political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, said: "Young individuals in Ardoyne were punished for a range of anti-social actions that warranted and deserved a response." The group claimed it did not torture teenagers, but the evidence is to the contrary. A troublesome 14-year-old boy was tarred and feathered last summer and last month had his shin shattered in an INLA shooting.

Kieran, 19, was another victim. Two years ago he was abducted, tied to a chair, beaten and interrogated for two hours about a stolen car. "I felt worthless, less than nothing," he said. "If they had done it again I would have thought about suicide." He also spoke of a friend who was put in a bath and threatened with electrocution with a hairdryer. The teenagers have few means of support to turn to although a 24-hour helpline was set up on Monday. The paramilitary beatings coupled with adolescent anxiety, drink and cannabis induced paranoia are thought to be the main cause of the deaths. "It's a lawless society policed by the lawless," said one resident.'

Note, in passing that 'cannabis-induced paranoia', along with alcohol and adolescent angst, is also a factor in these awful deaths. Clearly, all suicides result from complex combinations of pressures. But in the Ardoyne, the external breakdown of codes of behaviour appears to be combining with an internal breakdown with catastrophic effect. And repsonsibility for that external breakdown lies squarely with the paramilitary thugs and their political appeasers, who have simply sold the pass.