Time for all paramilitarism to end, says Ritchie

The time has come for all paramilitarism in the North to end, Stormont minister Margaret Ritchie insisted today.

The nationalist SDLP Social Development Minister, who recently axed a £1.2m loyalist community regeneration fund because of continued violence by the Ulster Defence Association, told her party conference the biggest problems facing many neighbourhoods were anti-social behaviour, crime and paramilitarism.