In the absence of any claim of responsibility for the failed bomb attack on the Co Fermanagh hotel, it is generally believed that it is the work of the group calling itself the Continuity Army Council (CAC).
This, gardai say, is the paramilitary wing of Republican Sinn Fein, the small political party which was created in 1986 when it left the mainstream Sinn Fein party. RSF denies it has a paramilitary wing, in much the same way as Sinn Fein or the fringe loyalist parties maintain that they do not.
The CAC has not killed anyone yet but it has launched a number of bomb attacks in the North. An indication of a link between the CAC and RSF, however, emerged when an ardcomhairle member of RSF, Michael Hegarty, was imprisoned for making two large bombs in Co Monaghan in late 1994. Hegarty, a former IRA member who had affiliated to RSF when it split from Sinn Fein in 1986, was probably one of the leaders of the CAC, gardai say.
The only bomb which the CAC successfully detonated in Northern Ireland was at the Killyhevlin Hotel, outside Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, in July last year.
This bore considerable similarities to the unexploded bomb at Carrybridge. The staff at the Killyhevlin had cleared the hotel with only minutes to spare before the building was wrecked by the blast. If the staff had not acted as quickly as they did there would have been multiple injuries.
Both the Killyhevlin and Carrybridge hotels are owned by Protestant families and it is accepted locally that there is a clear sectarian motive.
The other bombings attempted by the CAC in Northern Ireland were in Derry and Belfast last October and November. Neither device exploded. After the Derry bomb attack on November 21st last, the bombers hijacked a taxi and forced the driver to drive them to Co Sligo. It is believed the man who is "chief-of-staff" of the CAC lives north of Sligo.
Another unsuccessful CAC bomb attempt in Belfast earlier this year also led to the Co Sligo area. A device partially exploded and some hours later a man was admitted to hospital in Sligo. He was arrested by gardai but released without charge.
The geographic proximity of the south Fermanagh hotels to the home of the CAC leader might suggest that this man, who is in his 60s, may have had a hand in the attacks.
The CAC and the splinter loyalist assassination group, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), are now emerging as the main threats to the peace in the North. The LVF is believed to have carried out four sectarian murders in the North. In a statement yesterday, the group rejected newspaper reports that it was about to call a ceasefire.
It said: "It is plain to see, now more than ever, that the pan-nationalist front is in full wing. The LVF has stated in the past that the Irish Government will pay heavy prices for interfering in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland. The LVF will remain in place until Dublin removes itself from Stormont and the Irish Government removes Articles 2 and 3 from its Constitution."
There are now fears that the LVF is drawing together extreme loyalist elements in rural areas which may be intent on vicious sectarian murders. It said a ceasefire "would not be in the interests of the Protestant people".
The LVF is believed to be responsible for a number of sectarian killings which cannot be detailed as court proceedings are in train against named people.
It is also believed responsible for the torture and murder of a Co Derry GAA official, Mr Sean Brown, on May 12th. Mr Brown (61) was abducted, beaten, stabbed and suffered burns before being shot dead.
Last year the LVF was also blamed for the shooting dead of a Co Armagh Catholic taxi-driver, Michael McGoldrick, who was shot dead during the first major Drumcree stand-off in July 1996.
The extent to which the LVF has grown since its formation in Portadown last year is not clear. Senior sources in the main loyalist paramilitaries claim the LVF is still a very small organisation. However, it is possible that the LVF core group has developed links with other pockets of extreme loyalists and that it may engage in purely sectarian acts of violence.