It seems churlish to write about the everyday pre-occupations of domestic politics in the wake of the terrorist massacre at New York and Washington DC. Unimaginable devastation has been visited on unknown thousands of citizens starting their ordinary day's work. The hope that September 11th was a nightmare from which the world would awake quickly evaporated.
The horror evocative of Hollywood's worst cinematic fantasies was all too real. The most vibrant, multi-cultural city at the heart of the world's only superpower was being attacked by an unknown enemy. The most powerful country in the world that believes itself to be invincible seemed all too vulnerable.
The headquarters of military dominance is destroyed and the White House evacuated. Firefighters and policemen, while engaged in stubborn heroism to rescue their countrymen, are engulfed in crumbling buildings and lose their lives. Inevitably Irish people and people of Irish descent are included in the massacre. Those who survive report the eerie silence that has enveloped the world's most exciting city. There is shock and disbelief at what has happened, and a reluctance to absorb the sheer scale of the disaster.
It may be a cliche, but instinctively people everywhere believe that things will never be the same again. There is apprehension about the events that will unfold as a result of this tragedy. The countless innocent victims yet to be recovered are unlikely to be the last of this madness. As long as fanaticism can dress up in the garb of martyrdom it is difficult to make the world a safe place. No matter what nuclear shield George Bush may have wanted, at a cost of billions of dollars, it would not have prevented this holocaust.
One result of the attack on the US is that it has swept away some of the ambiguity and ambivalence that has existed towards terrorism. The act of the suicide bomber who kills or maims three people is no less dastardly than the US attack, except of course in scale. Enniskillen was less serious than what happened this week, but every bit as serious for the families whose lives were devastated by it.
We still harbour people with murderous intent on both parts of this island. Some amongst us still speak of those responsible for waging terrorism as martyrs. Some of those who claim a more sophisticated "understanding" of Irish history demand tolerance for the double-think demonstrated towards the institutions of the State and towards democracy itself. For how long can the prevarication go on? What will be the impact of this week's atrocity on those who seem prepared to collapse the agreed institutions in Northern Ireland? They may find the water in which they swim is suddenly less congenial.
Certainly the US authorities will now take - and perhaps already had taken - a very dim view of the absence of any credible explanation for the Colombian adventure. As our Department of Foreign Affairs hint that further Irish casualties are almost inevitable, the Irish people are likely to again focus on why any party participating in democratic politics would want to retain the weapons of terror.
Whatever the merits of the democratic debate, nobody denies the special ties between this country and the United States. A glance at the names on the casualty list explains why these special ties exist. Bertie Ahern, Michael Noonan, Ruair∅ Quinn and Mary Harney gave clear expression to the thoughts of all right-thinking Irish people.
Needless to record the spectre of the attack on the US has dominated discussion here. In the main, committees have been unable to meet due to the Public Inquiry underway into CIE/ESAT contracts, chaired by Mr Sean Doherty. Even that committee adjourned on Wednesday in the wake of the American tragedy.
In a normal environment the proceedings of the so-called Mini-CTC Inquiry would have attracted extensive analysis. It is not often that the taxpayer gets the opportunity to look behind the curtains of bureaucracy to assess for himself the demeanour of those in positions of consequence in the Irish public sector.
In the present case, the interaction of the private and public sectors is at issue. Huge sums of money involved belong to the taxpayer. It is probable the transactions being examined have bestowed great wealth - but not to the benefit of the taxpayer. The inquiry may not be without its defects, but after one week this effort seems to have made valuable progress with minimal intervention by lawyers. If the committee sticks to its timetable, it will have concluded taking evidence before the separate Abbeylara Inquiry has its future determined by the High Court. Most colleagues will be anxious to learn what impact, if any, the decision will have for the future of parliamentary inquiry as distinct from the particular arguments in Abbeylara.
It would also be churlish at this remove to anticipate the economic fall-out of this week's acts of mass murder. But an American economy teetering on the brink of recession will have taken a further shock. Make no mistake, the effect will be felt on this side of the Atlantic.