A north Belfast man was eventually charged for the bombing on 1 November 1996. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was reluctant to confirm whether or not the IRA was involved, and vowed for talks with the British government and the unionist parties. He warned however that "There has been a protracted political vacuum here. If we don't fill that vacuum with real talks then it will be filled with the sort of serious incidents we saw yesterday". John Bruton, then Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, called the bombing a "cynical betrayal of the peace process" by the IRA, while PUP leader David Ervine appealed to loyalists not to seek retaliation for the bombing. John Major, the British prime minister, made clear that "the IRA would not bomb its way into the Stormont talks". The attack was seen as a confirmation that the IRA had given up any hope of achieving a political breakthrough until the next British general elections in 1997.