Taoiseach ‘concerned’ over hijacking incident in Northern Ireland

Taoiseach Micheal Martin condemned the hijacking of a delivery driver (Niall Carson/PA Wire)

The Taoiseach has condemned in the “strongest” possible manner a hijacking incident in Londonderry.

Micheál Martin said he is “concerned” by the incident coming within days of an attack on PSNI officers.

Speaking in Shankill, Co Dublin, Mr. Martin said there is “no more room” for violence in Northern Ireland.

A delivery driver was hijacked by masked men at gunpoint in Derry on Sunday night and made to drive to a police station.

We have to be very clear that there was no room for violence any more in Northern Ireland

A senior investigating officer said the vehicle contained an elaborate hoax device made to look like a car bomb.

The PSNI said an obvious line of inquiry was that dissident republicans were behind an incident in the city.

It comes just days after police said they believed the New IRA could be responsible for an incident in which two officers escaped injury after their car was targeted in a bomb attack.

“I would be concerned,” Mr Martin said.

Waterside police station in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, where a vehicle containing a suspect device was parked outside the gates (Liam McBurney/PA)

“These are two incidents now within a week. I think we’d have to be very, very clear to people that the people on this island and people in Northern Ireland want no more violence. They want politics to work.

“We condemn utterly anybody who’s contemplating violence, or anyone in paramilitary organisations that believe they have a right to impose such barbarity and violence on people, hijacking vehicles, hijacking drivers and so on.

“We condemn that in the strongest possible manner.

“We have to be very clear that there was no room for violence any more in Northern Ireland.”

He added that those contemplating violence should be aware that the “full rigours” of the law will be applied and the strongest co-operation between An Garda Siochana and the PSNI continues to exist.

“We will work together to try and make sure that such efforts don’t gain any strength,” he added.