The shootings of two soldiers and a policeman in Northern Ireland were “not surprising”, a Kingston University lecturer has told CNN and Channel 4 news.

Dr Paul Dixon, senior lecturer in Politics and International Studies at Kingston since 2005, was interviewed on the news programmes as an expert, based on his extensive research on the Northern Ireland conflict.

He emphasised that, for those that have been observing Northern Ireland over the years, the attacks were one of many in an ongoing peace process.

Of these most recent attacks, on Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar outside the Massereene Barracks in Antrim and Constable Stephen Paul Carroll in Craigavon, he said: “The reason these have received so much coverage is that they have been successful, they killed members of the security forces. It is obviously very significant that they have killed people, but other incidents could also have proved fatal.”

He accused the British press of jumping on the bandwagon and sensationalising the situation with stories of ‘the troubles’ returning, explaining that “the peace process is continuous, it is not a final incident where you can wash your hands and walk away. It didn’t suddenly disappear. The peace process has brought about great changes over the years and Ireland is in a much better place than it was post 1998. These sensational stories do not do justice to the situation.”

He also noted that the attacks placed Republicans Sinn Fein in a difficult position: committed to the Good Friday agreement and forced to condemn attacks on an army that they want out of Ireland. 

He said: “They may not have condemned the attacks in the way papers such as the Mail and the Telegraph would have liked, but they condemned them nonetheless. They have gradually moved to a position where they can support the police and I was impressed by the way Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness expressed sympathy to the families of those involved in the attacks.”

Dr Dixon, who taught at the University of Ulster before coming to Kingston and has been collaborating with the LA Times with his research for around eight years, grew up as a Catholic in London during the Troubles and watched as events such as the hunger strikes unfolded in Northern Ireland.

He said: “It all seemed, while devastating, also a fascinating situation. While I have never regarded myself as Irish, I went to an Irish Catholic school and the majority of my classmates had that background.”

He estimated that, unless there is another attack or a big step forward in the police investigation, the story will eventually fade from the press.

Picture credit: Alan Lewis /Rex Features