REACTION:REPUBLICAN DISSIDENTS responsible for the bomb explosion which damaged a hotel and bank in Derry late on Monday are "political Neanderthals" with "absolutely nothing to offer" to the people of Ireland, Northern Ireland First Minister Martin McGuinness said.
However, he rejected suggestions that the bombing was timed to overshadow his appearance yesterday at a meeting with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson on the fringes of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham – his first such appearance. “They have absolutely nothing to offer . . . They have failed miserably and they will continue to fail,” he said.
The dissidents were trying to destroy the peace process, were attempting to “break up the unity” between himself and DUP First Minister Peter Robinson.
“These are people who are out to destroy everything good that we have built up over 16 years. The only sure thing about everything that they are involved in is that they will fail. The activities that they are involved in are totally and absolutely futile,” he said.
Paying tribute to the bombed building’s owner, Garvan O’Doherty, Mr McGuinness said he employs large numbers in the city. “They caused damage to buildings in Derry which are employing Derry people who have got jobs and very lucky to have jobs at a time of economic distress.”
Mr McGuinness, who attended the opening of a republican commemoration garden in south Armagh last Sunday, insisted that the dissidents do not have significant support there or elsewhere.
Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Paterson said: “These people are very small in number. We don’t underestimate how determined they are . . . They have absolutely no political representation, no political support and we will smoke them out.”