THE less-than-euphoric reaction to the new IRA ceasefire underlines how hard it is to be optimistic for a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

For ominously, once again, there is no mention of a permanent ceasefire.

And the fact that it has taken 30 years of murder and terror to reach even this tenuous juncture shows how daunting a task lies ahead.

Yet, despite the uncertainty, hopes must be kindled simply because IRA/Sinn Fein is ready once again to talk - and is to be allowed to.

But if it wants a serious hearing and if there is to be progress towards peace, the IRA must this time display credible goodwill. For though the previous ceasefire lasted 17 months the IRA's lack of sincerity was evident throughout as it used the truce to plan future bomb attacks and still carried on its so-called punishment beatings in Ulster.

This time, if a negotiated settlement is truly their goal, there must be none of that.

But they are not the only ones who must offer indulgence.

That must also be forthcoming from the other side of the of the Republican-Loyalist divide.

Unlike John Major, Tony Blair has a powerful Commons majority so he need not be as accommodating towards the Ulster Unionists. But despite that he must convince them that the IRA will be required to hand over weapons while Sinn Fein is at the talks table.

And unless the Unionists accept that bargain and decide not to block the talks on Wednesday on the London-Dublin draft for arms decommissioning, it is unlikely that the peace process will get beyond this week, let alone the difficult months ahead.

Those hurdles - the missing word "permanent," the terrorists still holding on to their arms and, above all, the generations of hate and mistrust in Ulster - explain the nervous response to this new ceasefire.

But at least they are talking - and the longer they do, the more hope will overtake the doubt.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.