McAleese issues message of peace to Shankill schookids

President Mary McAleese has told schoolchildren from the loyalist Shankill Road in Belfast that she hopes they can grow up in a climate of peace.

Mrs McAleese met the children at a hotel in the city today after cancelling plans to visit their school due to an upsurge in loyalist violence in the Shankill area.

Speaking at the reception, she said the North needed peace for the talents of its children to shine.

Mrs McAleese said it caused her great sadness that children could live next door to one another in the North without developing true friendships.