Cormac O'Keeffe: Coveney's Belfast bomb alert 'a message' to Government

PSNI blames loyalist paramilitaries for the hoax, which comes after the terrorism threat level in the North was lowered

Screengrab taken from a video issued by the Hume Foundation of Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney being ushered from the room due to a security alert while he was speaking at a peacebuilding event organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation at The Houben Centre, Belfast.

It is the nature of the beast that, as soon as the authorities say the security threat level has been lowered, terrorists seize an opportunity to send a message back.

As Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney spoke about finding “common ground” at the John Hume peace centre in Belfast, he was interrupted mid-speech and whisked away by PSNI officers because of a “security alert”.