GAA 'Bombing' Condemned

The Ulster Unionist Party has condemned a failed bomb attack on a GAA club in Antrim.

Following the discovery of a device, Ulster Unionist Mayor of Antrim Adrian Watson said: "The news of this attack is very sad – particularly as we are very aware that a member of the PSNI Peadar Heffron is still lying critically ill in hospital.

"Like the attack last week, this latest incident is a disgusting attack by mindless thugs who have absolutely nothing to offer the community of Antrim or Northern Ireland," he said.

"These are young men training in a community centre surrounded by hundreds of homes – if this device had of gone off the consequences could have been grave indeed. Those who were targeted where targeted simply because they belong to a GAA club."

Ulster Unionist MLA for the area Danny Kinahin added: "This kind of activity must not be tolerated in our society.

"Those that chose to attack this community hall are a minority. They are trying to undermine the work of many who have brought Northern Ireland to this stage – we have gone past the days of bombs and bullets and we must ensure that they never return.

"No-one ever has the right to take matters in to their own hands and these incidents are never justified," he said this morning.

"I would therefore urge members of the public to come forward and contact the PSNI and ensure that they are brought before the courts," he added.

Earlier, the SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns also strongly condemned those responsible for leaving the pipe bombs in Antrim where players from St Comgall's GAA club were training.

He said: "It is hard to get into the minds of the thugs who would do this sort of thing, but it cannot be excluded that the GAA use of the community centre motivated the attack.

"Logic is not their strong point so they may not have worked it out that they would then be hand in glove with the dissident republicans who tried to kill GAA player Peadar Heffron a week ago.

"Whatever they were trying to do, they put lives in danger and they are a threat to the peaceful society which almost everyone has now signed up for.

"The forthright condemnations from all political quarters are proof of that.

"We all need to help the police put both groups of thugs out of business before they create new tragedies," he said.

The PSNI said the attack took place at a community centre in the Stiles estate, from where two devices described as "crude" and "non-viable" have been recovered.

GAA players who were training at the community centre were escorted from the building during the alert by police, who believe the attack was sectarian.

The building was cordoned off for a time on Thursday night and Friday morning but the security alert is now at an end.

(BMcC/GK)