British prisons minister Ms Jane Kennedy was under new pressure today to separate republican and loyalist inmates at a Co Antrim jail as the row over a dirty protest intensified.
Ms Kennedy rejected claims that up to 10 "Real IRA" and Continuity IRA men were beaten and hosed down in their cells at the high-security Maghaberry complex. She also declared there were no plans to review segregation policy in the jail.
But a senior loyalist linked to the Ulster Defence Association hit out at her stance and warned the two sides could not live together behind bars.
Ulster Political Research Group spokesman Tommy Kirkham said: "These men are sworn enemies on the outside so how can they expect them to put up with a single regime inside?
"Republicans have already made an issue of this and loyalists will want to soon."
The row flared after the dissident prisoners smeared excrement on their cell walls during a week-long protest against being forced to share blocks with loyalists.
Senior dissident republican Ms Marian Price claimed the prisoners were beaten and hosed down when warders moved in.
She added: "These men are prepared to do whatever it takes to get segregation and I find that very worrying."
The Prison Service has denied the allegations, and Ms Kennedy accused the dissidents of trying to cause chaos.
"It is absolutely unacceptable and I am confident that everybody in Northern Ireland will stand four-square with the prison officers in carrying out their very difficult job," she said.
But with the UPRG set to announce a new prisons spokesperson to address loyalist concerns, Mr Kirkham claimed Ms Kennedy was bringing trouble on herself.
"Jane Kennedy has erected barriers throughout Belfast to keep the two communities apart and yet in prison she expects them to share cells and wings," he said.
"The authorities need to seriously look at the segregation before it becomes an issue.
"It's only a matter of common sense and this could be resolved diplomatically before it gets out of hand."
Sinn Fein's Mr Gerry Kelly said prisoners in Maghaberry were having to live in "unacceptable" conditions and called on the British government not to repeat the "mistakes" of the past.
"The prison system seems to have regressed to the draconian standards employed against republican prisoners pre-hunger strike," he observed. "Listening to the British Security Minister Jane Kennedy and the Prison Officers' Association it seems as if no lessons have been learned from the late 1970s and early 1980s."
PA