CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: "The real reason that Prevent could never gain traction within Northern Ireland is because there is a hierarchy of violent extremism which cannot be disturbed because of the political demographics and cultural ambiguities of a place where violent extremism is not only tolerated, but glamourised. The largest political party in the NI Assembly, Sinn Fein, is inextricably, indeed proudly, linked to a terrorist organisation and police forces either side of the border believe it is still ultimately controlled by the IRA’s Army Council."