Taoiseach 'didn’t think twice' about travelling to NI following Coveney security alert

Speaking to the media, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he did not think twice about coming to Northern Ireland a week after a security alert disrupted a visit to Belfast by Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney. Photo: Jonathan McCambridge/PA Wire

The Taoiseach said he “didn’t think twice” about travelling to Northern Ireland after a foiled attack on Simon Coveney.

A Belfast speech by the Minister for Foreign Affairs was interrupted last week after a “suspect device” was found in the car park of the venue.

A van had been hijacked and the driver was ordered to drive it to the event.

Speaking in Derry on Friday, Micheál Martin said he was happy to be in the north west.

“I would say first of all, I would condemn what happened last week. I think the violence that was imposed on that gentleman to be forced at gunpoint to make that journey, that harrowing journey for him,” he said.

“Most people, the vast, vast majority of people, irrespective of political views would condemn such an act, we thought those actions were consigned to history. And I was heartened by the cross-community unanimity in the condemnation of that incident.

We should never be afraid of discourse, of dialogue.

“I've been engaged with all perspectives in Northern Ireland. I have met everybody. I continue to do that spirit of cooperation, in a spirit of endeavouring to have greater harmony and greater progress.

“Democracy must always triumph. That's critical. We know, at a much larger scale what can happen. We now have a war in Ukraine that really stems from authoritarianism versus democracy, stems from a fear of democracy, from a fear of dialogue.”

On Thursday, a Belfast man was remanded in custody over the security alert that halted the peace event addressed by Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.

Darren Service, 40, of Ballysillan Road, has been charged with preparation of terrorist acts, hijacking and placing a hoax bomb last week.