SF criticises muted response to failed loyalist car bombing

Sinn Féin has written to Northern Secretary Paul Murphy seeking more information about a failed loyalist car bombing on St Patrick’s Day.

The bomb was defused after being discovered outside a concert venue in west Belfast where former Pogues singer Shane McGowan was due to perform on the evening of March 17.

The PSNI said the device was crude, but viable.

Sinn Féin has contrasted the British government and unionist politicians’ muted reaction to the incident with the furor sparked by the Provisional IRA’s alleged involvement in the attempted abduction of a dissident republican in Belfast last month.