Alliance meet PM over policing issues

Published Wednesday, 06 March 2013
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Alliance Leader David Ford and Naomi Long have discussed the security situation in Northern Ireland with Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday.

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Ms Long said they highlighted a rising dissident threat from dissident republicans.

On Sunday, police foiled a plot to fire four mortar bombs at Londonderry's Strand Road police station.

Two men have been charged in connection with the planned attack, which has been linked to dissident republican activity.

She said that they did not request additional resources to deal with the security situation, but had made their concerns known to Mr Cameron.

Months after protestors took to the streets following a Belfast City Council change in flying the Union flag, the continued unrest was also on the agenda.

The East Belfast MP said they also discussed wider implications of the recent developments in terms of loyalist violence and "deteriorating political relationships".

Speaking to UTV, she condemned recent criticism from politicians over the PSNI's handling of flag demonstrations.

The First Minister Peter Robinson claimed on Monday that there is a "perceived unfairness" in how loyalist protestors are being treated.

"I think in a week when police have foiled such a significant dissident threat, when they have really been holding the line between rule of law and mob rule, it was a deeply and profoundly unhelpful comment to make," she said.

"I believe it is incumbent on ministers in the Executive, in particular the First and deputy First Ministers to lead Northern Ireland in a way that is line with the conditions that they placed upon themselves in the St Andrew's Agreement.

"They should support the rule of law and the PSNI, they should do that in an unequivocal way and in a way that builds confidence in the community, and I don't believe that in simply echoing complaint from certain sections of the community was necessarily building that confidence."

The Alliance representatives also discussed events taking place in the region this year which will put a spotlight on NI, including the City of Culture, World Police and Fire Games and the G8 summit.

The MP added: "There are huge opportunities this year to showcase the positives of Northern Ireland on an international stage, but they also each provide security and policing challenges, particularly in the current context."

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16 Comments
Sean in Belfast wrote (78 days ago):
@Mark in NI, the DUP to nationalists are an extremist paty. Unionists have to get use to power sharing. Something they are finding very hard to do. Nationalists will be the majority very soon.
Mark in NI wrote (78 days ago):
Mike in Belfast - what hope is there for a shared future when the majority of nationalists vote for an extremist party like Sinn Fein?
realistic in planet earth wrote (79 days ago):
@john in n'abbey. agree with you, the next election in Naomi's area will be a gage of wether the people there want to move on, or stay stuck in the past.....
Butterfly in East Belfast wrote (80 days ago):
Im a resident of east belfast and im a alliance voter. When the next election comes along will i be voting alliance again? 100% yes, i will be. The silent majority in east belfast maybe didnt like the union flag having its days reduced but alliance didnt get it took down, they just got it reduced to designated days, the same thing DUP do in lisburn and other councils, it wasnt anti british, the queen flys her flag on designated days in many councils in the mainland. At the start i supported the loyalist flag protests, that was until they started blocking roads, attacking alliance party councillors, issueing death threats and other stuff. im not a supporter of violence and im sure the vast majority of those of northern ireland dont support violence either. Alliance has done more for my community than DUP or UUP ever have done. When do we ever see DUP in our community? only at election time then their gone for another 3 years. I wish Noami Long luck and think the death threats against her are very anti-british and just wrong. The ones who sent her the death threats dont represent me or the protestant community.
John in Newtownabbey wrote (80 days ago):
For one minute, put yourself in Cameron's position having to listen to Norn Iron politicians again. Who is he going to give credence to? Peter Robinson whinging about perceived unfairness or Naomi Long relating how the fascist mobs attacked her offices (Shades of 30s Germany). Sorry but Peter has lost all pretence of statesmanship over the last lot of weeks. OK so Naomi may well be voted out by bigots, but I'd rather have her integrity any day in preference to the double speak of others.
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