Willie Frazer plans loyalist Dublin march during February

Loyalist campaigner Willie Frazer will meet gardaí on Monday to discuss a planned march in Dublin.

Loyalists are planning a march through Dublin city centre this month to “demand justice” from the Government for people killed by the IRA in Border areas during the Troubles.

Mr Frazer will meet gardaí to discuss the route of the parade and any potential trouble that might arise from it.

He said the parade will take place on a Saturday and will go from O’Connell street to Leinster House, on Kildare Street.

Mr Frazer said “numbers is not a problem”, and expects a couple of hundred people will attend.

“I don’t think the majority of people in Dublin would be happy enough with us coming down. They’re not interested one way or the other. Unfortunately there will be a section there who will try to stir it up,” he said.

Love Ulster

In 2006, a Love Ulster march ended with a riot in Dublin city centre when around 300 protesters clashed with gardaí.

Fourteen people, including six gardaí, were treated in hospital, and there were 41 arrests.

Mr Frazer said this march would not be a repeat of what happened in 2006.

“We are trying to have a parade that is as respectful and dignified as possible. We are not demanding that we have the right to march through Dublin. If the guards come back to us and say no, we will have to reconsider.”

Mr Frazer said if he is advised by gardaí not to go ahead with the march, he will call it off.

“The protest will involve families carrying photos of their loved ones, and some will be carrying banners calling for the Irish Government to hand over the information.

“There will be a few bands but they will not be playing any sectarian tunes. There will be not paramilitary trappings, or sectarian slogans shouted.”

Government criticised

Mr Frazer criticised the Government for taking the British government to the European Court of Human Rights in relation to the “hooded men”, a reference to the Government’s decision to ask the court to revise its judgment in a landmark case taken by the State over alleged torture by British forces in Northern Ireland in the 1970s.

“The Government talk about equality, justice and respecting difference, but it’s a two-way sword. If they’re going to raise issues about hooded men, so be it, but don’t ignore the fact that people living in the Border region have suffered greatly at the hands of IRA.

“We met Enda Kenny two years ago and he promised to visit the families affected within a number of weeks - but he won’t even acknowledge the letters we wrote to him.”

Mr Frazer said the Government is sitting on a “mountain of intelligence” which could convict a number of individuals or bring closure to families who had family members killed.

On Monday, Fianna Fáil councillor Jim O’Callaghan tabled a motion at Monday’s meeting of Dublin City Council in a bid to have the march blocked.

Mr Frazer called on Dublin councillors to meet him and address their concerns.

“Why don’t they ask us why we feel the need to come down? Why don’t they ask the Government why they won’t give us the information that we have requested?” he asked.