THERE MUST be a concerted effort to tackle community division and sectarianism in the wake of the Coleraine murder, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister have said.
Standing alongside chief constable Sir Hugh Orde, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, as heads of the Stormont Executive, issued their strongest comments to date about the need for healing sectarian divisions.
Mr McGuinness said an initiative was being prepared following the murder of Kevin McDaid, the 49-year-old father of four who was beaten to death outside his Co Derry home last Sunday.
Another Coleraine man, Damian Fleming, remains critically ill in hospital after he too was attacked on the street.
Mr McGuinness said it was vital “that all of us are seen to be standing together”. He was standing on the same spot at Stormont where he condemned the murders in March of two British soldiers in Antrim and a PSNI officer in Craigavon, Co Armagh, and denounced their murderers as traitors. “We are outraged at the incidents two months ago, but we have to be equally outraged at these actions that we have seen in recent days,” he said.
“There is a huge responsibility on all of us to face up to the deep-rooted sectarianism that is there in some parts of the North.”
Mr Robinson echoed the condemnation, saying: “While we have made great strides forward in Northern Ireland and everyone can see the progress that has been made, it is very clear that there is much still to be done.” He said the killing demonstrated that there remained a great deal to do in dealing with sectarianism. Sunday’s murder “must alert us to the need to redouble our efforts”, he added. “We have responsibility in our department for a number of issues that relate to community relations .
“We have had an initial discussion about a particular initiative that we can take with the Coleraine area. We want to see that going forward.
“It is vital that we get everybody in our community to recognise the benefits of making progress and going forward together as a shared society. That’s our aim and objective as an Executive and anything we can say or do in order to reduce tensions, particularly in that area, and over the next number of days we will say and we will do.” Mr Robinson urged everybody “to think very carefully before they say [anything] and take any steps over the coming days and weeks to make sure that whatever they do is a step to rebuild the community in that area rather than to cause further division”.
A large loyalist band parade has been given permission to march in Coleraine this evening.
Organisers decided voluntarily to re-route a section of the parade away from the Heights area of the town where Mr McDaid’s murder was carried out.