Northern Ireland Office

Political failure in Northern Ireland will play into the hands of splinter groups using terror and criminality to destabilise efforts to restore devolved Government, Secretary of State Peter Hain MP has said.

Over the past seven months, dissident republicans have caused damage estimated to be in excess of £25M to commercial premises across Northern Ireland.

The Secretary of State has vowed that those splinter groups behind the spate of attacks will be hunted down and brought before the courts. He also condemned the recent gun attack on Keady PSNI station.

Peter Hain said: “Dissident republicans have shown that they are determined to halt political progress through terror and criminality. We are determined that they will not succeed.

“They have caused damage, estimated to be in excess of £25M, to commercial property across Northern Ireland over the last seven months. The financial cost of this destruction will have to be met by Northern Ireland’s tax payers through the Compensation Agency.

“The human cost is that workers have been bombed out of their jobs in the run up to Christmas by people who are opposed to progress.

“Politics must succeed, we cannot allow a vacuum to develop. What these splinter groups can not face is a permanent political settlement in Northern Ireland where there is full support for policing across the community.

“The future of Northern Ireland will not be held to ransom by splinter groups who are wedded to an outdated and violent ideology that has no support within Ireland, north or south.”