On Monday, April 12, 2010, The Guardian reported:

A car bomb exploded early this morning on the outskirts of Belfast, timed to coincide with the transfer of power as the Stormont parliament took over judicial and policing powers at midnight. Northern Ireland now has its first justice minister in nearly four decades.

A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: “A device has exploded in a vehicle at the rear of Palace Barracks, Holywood. The explosion occurred at approximately 12.24am. The investigation in ongoing, and there are no further details at this stage.”

It was reported that one person was injured in the blast.

Read the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/12/northern-ireland-justice-minister-david-ford.

The MI5′s office in Northern Ireland is located in the British Army Palace Barracks in Holywood, on the outskirts of East Belfast. During the high time of the Irish troubles, the Palace Barracks were the site for in-depth interrogation of Republican detainees. There they were beaten and subjected to noise and sleep deprivation. One of the more popular detainees was Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, who was arrested and interrogated there in 1972. The official establishment of an MI5 office in Northern Ireland was, and still is, highly controversial.  See also Gerry Adams’ article No room for MI5 in the North.

While any violent act in Northern Ireland these times is a futile attempt of dragging it back to its past, the perpetrators, the Real IRA, tried to make a valid point, even if they chose the most useless means to make that point.

In another article on April 13, 2010, The Guardian reported:

Although no one was killed or seriously injured, the bombing was a highly symbolic attack. The Real IRA chose the MI5 headquarters to make a political point – that Ford and the devolved justice ministry have no control over the British agents stationed there. MI5′s operations are independent of the power-sharing executive in Belfast and are only answerable to the home secretary in London. The security services now play the lead role in counter-terrorism both in Britain and Northern Ireland.

Read the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/13/northern-ireland-justice-minister.

Let me also quote from the previously referenced article by Gerry Adams:

MI5 is a not a new player on the intelligence scene in the six counties. No more than MI6 in the 26 counties.

It is true, British Intelligence Services were instrumental in supporting terrorist acts in the Irish Republic as well as Northern Ireland, and, as I have pointed out in previously published posts, the political system in the United Kingdom has still not managed to take control of MI5 and MI6.

Let me close with a quote by George Bernard Shaw (and that quote is addressed to all sides in the conflict):
If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.