SDLP slams UUP peer's outburst

The SDLP has criticised an Ulster Unionist peer for suggesting in the British House of Lords that the Knights of Columbanus are running Waterways Ireland.

The party said Lord Laird's intemperate rant was a throwback to the past at a time of community tension.

Waterways Ireland is the cross border body overseeing the preservation and future use of Ireland's canals.

Lord Laird claims, however, that it's controlled by the Knights of Columbanus and Opus Dei.

They controlled appointments, he said, and even wanted to relocate its headquarters in the Republic.

Tommy Gallagher, SDLP assembly member for Fermanagh, however, said this paranoid fantasy was a return to what he called the disgraceful past outbursts of extreme unionists.

Lord Laird, said Mr Gallagher, should catch himself on and realise that such disgraceful inflammatory talk could eventually lead to serious consequences.