THE Northern Ireland peace process has severe problems. It is distasteful to see convicted murderers back on the streets causing strife. It is distasteful to see men with shadowy pasts like Martin McGuinness in such respectable positions of power. It is distasteful that the IRA is still stumbling over decommissioning weapons it claims it no longer wants to use.

Yet, the bomb in Ealing shows why this flawed process must succeed.

The extremists of the Real IRA timed their explosion to cause maximum difficulty at a time of great sensitivity following this week's proposals from the British and Irish governments on how the process should proceed. The Real IRA wants to drive a wedge between Republicans and Unionists as they are struggling to come together.

This is no more than a snipe from the sidelines, quite literally a blast from the past. Even Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, admitted as much when he said: ''Any real republican would be involved in trying to build upon the opportunities for peace and justice which are part of this process.''

We cannot afford to return to the past as the Real IRA advocates. It was a miracle that no one was killed in Ealing. That should not fool us, though, because next time we could be dealing with scores of fatalities.

The bomb is not the most shocking event of the week in Northern Irish affairs. That was last weekend when Protestant gunmen shot dead an 18-year-old Protestant who was out with Catholic friends in a Catholic area. It is extraordinary that this sort of random violence can continue in the 21st Century in our country, and that it should pass with barely a murmur of outrage from the mainland.

But the peace process, with all of its flaws, is the only way of ensuring that the violence of last weekend in Glengormley and yesterday morning in Ealing becomes a thing of the past.