29 July 1999 Edition
GAA in bomb alert
Loyalist paramilitaries could have killed schoolchildren had a device left outside a GAA club in Dungannon at the weekend exploded, says Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew.
The Assembly member for Fermanagh/South Tyrone says that a loyalist bomb placed at the doors of O'Neill Park, home of Dungannon Clarkes GAA club, near the Lisnahull housing estate on Friday 23 July, was ``a blatant attempt to provoke republicans into reacting and to intimidate nationalists into accepting less than they are entitled to''.
The explosive device was discovered by a passerby at the ground at about 7.30am.o
The is not the first time the club has been targeted in a sectarian attack. The entire premises was destroyed by loyalists in the early 1970s.
Gildernew highlighted the fact that this device was highly sophisticated and had the capacity to endanger life. She also slammed those who are using the issue of the decommissioning of IRA weapons to stop the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, saying: ``What is particularly striking is that the violence in our communities is coming from loyalists, yet the whole political process is being sacrificed over the decommissioning of IRA weapons, weapons that are silent. This attack is further confirmation, if confirmation were needed, that the loyalist ceasefire is over. This bomb attack demonstrates the urgent need for the immediate implementation of the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement to ensure a future free from this kind of sectarian attack.''
The Assembly member for Fermanagh/South Tyrone says that a loyalist bomb placed at the doors of O'Neill Park, home of Dungannon Clarkes GAA club, near the Lisnahull housing estate on Friday 23 July, was ``a blatant attempt to provoke republicans into reacting and to intimidate nationalists into accepting less than they are entitled to''.
The explosive device was discovered by a passerby at the ground at about 7.30am.o
The is not the first time the club has been targeted in a sectarian attack. The entire premises was destroyed by loyalists in the early 1970s.
Gildernew highlighted the fact that this device was highly sophisticated and had the capacity to endanger life. She also slammed those who are using the issue of the decommissioning of IRA weapons to stop the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, saying: ``What is particularly striking is that the violence in our communities is coming from loyalists, yet the whole political process is being sacrificed over the decommissioning of IRA weapons, weapons that are silent. This attack is further confirmation, if confirmation were needed, that the loyalist ceasefire is over. This bomb attack demonstrates the urgent need for the immediate implementation of the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement to ensure a future free from this kind of sectarian attack.''