RECENT ACTS of violence in the North have been condemned by both leaders of the powersharing Executive, with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness denouncing those responsible as “neanderthals”.
First Minister Peter Robinson and Mr McGuinness were speaking at a news conference yesterday after the 10th plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council at Farmleigh House in Dublin.
Mr Robinson said: “There is no possibility of getting growth in our economy if the society is not at peace and if there is political instability.”
He added that it was “ridiculous to have people, who clearly have an agenda which is based on destroying all that has been achieved, causing the violence that they did”.
“I give my full support to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. I know that all decent citizens in Northern Ireland will do so and we will see off those who want to destroy what we have gained.
“Nobody in Northern Ireland who has more than two brain cells to rub together wants to go back to the bad old days of the past and I think we need to treat as pariahs those who would seek to take us there,” Mr Robinson said.
Mr McGuinness said: “I want to agree absolutely with what Peter has just said. The last thing that he, and indeed Ian Paisley snr expected when we went into government together on the May 8th, 2007 was that there would be a world recession of such mammoth proportions.”
He added: “The big challenge is to keep people in work whilst at the same time trying to gain more inward investment and trying to support our local entrepreneurs in a way that will produce more jobs.
“But Peter is absolutely right: that task is made all the more difficult by the fact that there are still neanderthals within our society who believe that it is sensible to be involved in ongoing confrontation.
“Fortunately for us, the overwhelming majority of our people don’t share their opinions. So what we are going to do is be very cool, calm and collected about moving forward, continue to give our support to the Garda and the PSNI,” Mr McGuinness said.
A joint communique issued after the meeting, which was chaired by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, said that: “Ministers had a comprehensive discussion of the fiscal challenges facing each jurisdiction and the measures they are taking to consolidate their budgets and to prepare for economic recovery.”
Ministers also discussed the “significant level” of co-operation to promote innovation to underpin growth and create employment.
Citing an example of cross-Border co-operation, Mr Cowen told the news conference: “The Irish Government will provide part of the funding for a new radiotherapy centre in Derry, which will be of huge assistance to cancer patients in Donegal: one-in-three cancer patients in Donegal will be using that facility.”
The joint infrastructure programme was “proceeding well”, Mr Cowen said: “We will see a great example of that later this month, indeed, when Belfast will be fully connected to Dublin, Cork and Galway by motorway.”
Commenting on the absence of Northern Ireland Minister for Health Michael McGimpsey, Mr McGuinness said: “I also want to put on record my disappointment that our health minister has not been at this meeting.
“In fact there have been quite a number of meetings of the NSMC that he has not attended and I think that’s a mistake, given that we are talking about these important issues, of things like child protection, the whole issue of radiotherapy and indeed many other issues that are relevant to his department.”
