The IRSP's North Belfast representative Paul Little said: "The nationalist working class communities in North Belfast have been thrown to the wolves on the altar of political expediency rather than the British government tackling those responsible for the current level of loyalist attacks. The Shebeen operated by the UDA which is situated at the junction of the Ligoniel and Crumlin Roads has been open for a number of months now and attacks especially on cars and taxis leaving Ligoniel have increased tenfold.

"For many in Ligoniel daily trips to work, school, and other everyday trips have become a nightmare with residents injured and their cars damaged. The North Belfast branch of the IRSP are asking who is responsible for curbing the opening of these shebeens which are endemic in loyalist working class communities? Has a special dispensation been given to the UDA to operate these clubs which are a blight on those communities and provide easy access to drink and drugs for young people who often then attack their Catholic neighbours?"

In conclusion, the IRSP representative said: "All those political parties and governments who are party to the farce that is the Good Friday Agreement should wake up and smell the coffee, whilst the British government fail to tackle loyalism that is refusing to change, refusing to live beside their Catholic neighbours without attacking them, and choosing the weakest in our society as its victims, all talk of a peaceful future here is fantasy with no basis in reality. The working class people of Ligoniel are entitled to the same rights of freedom of travel as everyone else and they cannot be written off as a sacrifice to sectarian bigotry."

STATEMENTS ENDS