The security forces were there to help maintain law and order, keep the two sides apart and convince them that neither side was going to attain their goals through violence. The OIRA bowed out 6 weeks after the death of Joe McCann in 1972 when they declared their ceasefire stating that they would only resort to violence in "self-defence". The PIRA were fought to a standstill, according to Martin McGuinness, by 1984/85. In your indignant rants Jim, you never mention that the intelligence services colluded with BOTH sets of paramilitaries operating in Northern Ireland (Loyalist and Republican).