Claire Byrne's incisive interview with Mary Lou McDonald did our democratic State some service last week.
Byrne's steady probing flushed out the crucial fact that the leader of Sinn Féin would rather suffer political damage than condemn an IRA atrocity.
This seems to confirm that in the crunch Sinn Féin is directed by the IRA, which the security forces say is still active, still armed.
The IRA's project is no secret: to unite Ireland no matter what mayhem that project causes.
A major part of that project is to mobilise modern Irish history in the service of Sinn Féin.