Blunkett condemns protest to free IRA bomber

David Blunkett tonight condemned republican protesters in west Belfast whose demand for the release of a jailed IRA killer prevented him making a visit as part of an EU ministers conference.

He made clear that he felt that protesting for the freedom of a mass murderer the day after the London bombings was inappropriate.

European Union ministers went to a job centre in Springvale where around 60 republicans gathered to demand the release of IRA bomber Sean Kelly who was returned to jail by the British government last month for involvement in terrorist activities.

As the group, waving banners and wearing Sean Kelly T-shirts, jostled with police, the British Work and Pensions Secretary had his plans to join the EU ministers cancelled at the last minute on security advice.

He did go ahead with a visit to a jobs scheme in the loyalist Shankill Road area of west Belfast with the EU ministers attending a two-day conference in Belfast Mr Blunkett is hosting as part of the UK presidency of the European Union.

The two visits were to allow the visitors to see at first hand how people usually marginalised in the jobs market are being equipped for the world of work.

Kelly was one of two IRA men who planted a bomb in a Shankill Road fish and chip shop in 1993, killing nine innocent civilians and his accomplice Thomas Begley.

He was given nine life sentences but was released from prison in 2000 as part of the Good Friday Agreement early release scheme.

Mr Blunkett said of the protest: “I think all of us have to weigh what we do, what we say, in the light of the particular circumstances of the moment.”

He added: “I think it doesn’t take me to have to tell the people of Ireland or the United Kingdom how to think about that presentation today.”

Pressed at a news conference to express his feelings more forcefully, he responded: “I don’t have to tell the British or Irish people what I think because I think they can draw their own conclusions.”

And Mr Blunkett insisted the protest had not caused much disruption to his day.

“I had planned to go to the Shankill which I did. I planned to see the trainees from Springvale, which I did – and they were kind enough to give me a Celtic clock, which I treasure.”