Former SDLP deputy leader Séamus Mallon has warned that the DUP and Sinn Féin dominating Northern Ireland politics after the Westminster and local elections could create a "Balkanised", polarised, sectarian society.
Mr Mallon spoke at SDLP headquarters in Belfast yesterday with Dominic Bradley, who is battling to hold onto the former Deputy First Minister's Newry and Armagh seat against the challenge of Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy.
He said that republicans were destroying the idealism and vision of the Belfast Agreement by "playing with peace", while the DUP was at the heart of every sectarian confrontation in Northern Ireland.
There was a "potential Balkanisation of Northern Ireland where you have two power blocs rooted in sectarian power, whose rule is not to work together as partners to administer Northern Ireland but to look after their own sectarian power blocs".