MINISTER for Foreign Affairs Simon Conveney has hit out paramilitaries at a peace building event in North Belfast.
The Minister was back at the Houben Centre in Ardoyne on Wednesday morning to deliver a keynote address at 'Building Common Ground', a discussion organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation.
A driver of a van was threatened by two gunmen in the Sydney Street West area of the Shankill and forced to drive a device – which he believed to be a live bomb – to Holy Cross Church, beside the Houben Centre.
The suspect device, which was discovered in the vehicle left in the car-park, was later made safe.
Guests were evacuated from the Houben Centre at the event in March
In a statement, the UVF later claimed responsibility for the incident and said Irish politicians such as Mr Coveney and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar were “not welcome in Northern Ireland”, and that if the warning was not heeded it would be “time to escalate things”.
At Wednesday's re-arranged event amid increased security, Fr Gary Donegan began by welcoming guests back to the Houben Centre.
"It is well documented how our last meeting ended so I am especially delighted that you all took the courage to return," he said.
"Peace builders must always be women and men of courage and fortitude, never bending or submitting to those who wish to travel not on the road of peace and reconciliation but to continue to be caught in a time warp."
Beginning his keynote address, Simon Conveney recalled the events of March and apologised that his presence sparked the security alert.
"Hello again and thank you for coming back," stated Minister Coveney. "I am genuinely sorry that my presence here on the last occasion at the Houben Centre ended the way it did.
"An innocent man, working as an electrician called out on a job was hijacked at gunpoint and forced to drive his van here thinking he was carrying an explosive device.
"A family funeral next door in Holy Cross was disrupted also.
"It was a futile, cowardly exercise and community control. It served no one and no good purpose except to drag the reputation of this decent community backwards to darker days.
"The only outcome is a man living with trauma being forced to drive what he thought was a bomb and a grieving family forced to pray for their loved ones on the roadside and in a car park instead of the sanctuary of a church.
There was a heavy police presence at the Houben Centre for the re-arranged event
"For God’s sake, in this day and age, we should be beyond having to call out paramilitaries and its role in society in Northern Ireland.
"There is no excuse or justification for such violence, threats and coercion.
"Nobody, no matter their allegiance or identity or indeed their grievance has the right to threaten anyone for holding different views."
Minister Coveney then issued some strong words to anyone involved in paramilitary groups.
"To the groups who cling on to the use of violence as a means of controlling and threatening their own communities and those who encourage them, I say this very directly, your communities need uplift and investment and you scare that away," he continued.
"Your communities need a political voice and you stifle it. Your communities deserve a safe environment to raise their families, supported by effective policing. Your actions undermine their safety, wellbeing and their future.
"Take a look at the children in your community and ask yourself if you want them to turn out like you?
"Every positive and progressive aspiration, held by your community for a better future – you are holding it back.
"This event is on the theme of building common ground. It is the opposite to what we experienced the last time we met. Building that ground is exactly what Fr Gary and others have been doing at this centre. It is exactly what John and Pat Hume did and is what their Foundation are now doing.
"Any agenda to block or disrupt that work makes no sense. They deserve and need the support of people in this room. That is why I accepted the invitation to be here in March and that is why I am back here today to complete it."
Minister Coveney continued his keynote address, praising the work of the Hume Foundation and said his Department had recently doubled the funding for grants available from the Reconciliation Fund.
The morning continued with a discussion between Minister Coveney and Independent MLA Claire Sugden, chaired by Tim Attwood, Secretary of the Hume Foundation.
