Community worker’s fear after home attacked

A Protestant community worker in north Belfast was today considering his role in efforts to resolve a dispute with nationalists after his home was targeted in a paint bomb attack.

The home of Mark Coulter, near the nationalist Ardoyne district, was splattered with paint last night while he was away.

Mr Coulter has been involved in efforts by community workers to resolve a bitter dispute which erupted in June between republicans and loyalists over the route taken by Catholic children to their school.

Protestant residents blockaded a stretch of the flashpoint Ardoyne Road leading to the Holy Cross School amid claims that republicans were trying to intimidate them out of their homes.

However this was angrily denied by nationalist community workers and Sinn Fein.

The tensions spilled over into street clashes between republican and loyalist mobs.

When the school year ended, community workers on both sides agreed to work together over the summer to resolve the dispute.

However Mr Coulter, who was mourning the death of a relative when his house was targeted, claimed last night’s attack cast doubt on his future role in those talks.

‘‘The people behind this knew whose house they were after,’’ he said today.

‘‘They would have had to pass a lot of other Protestant houses to get here.

‘‘I hope this isn’t an indication that there are elements in the republican community who do not want to see talks happening in Ardoyne - especially when you consider that another Protestant home in the Hesketh area was targeted last week and that is a house of a man threatened during the protests.

‘‘An attack like this is obviously worrying for someone like myself. It has security implications for someone like me and my family and I will have to consider my involvement in all this.’’

The attack on Mr Coulter’s home was condemned by the Democratic Unionist MP for the area, Nigel Dodds, who blamed republicans.

The North Belfast MP said: ‘‘This attack will heighten fears and increase tensions. It is deliberately intended to do so.

‘‘It is deliberately intended to undermine the efforts of Mark Coulter and others like him who have played a very constructive role in trying to resolve problems and clearly the republican movement want to undermine those attempts to reach a solution for their own purposes.’’