Reid 'hopeful' on dispute school talks

Talks will not start before Monday's school run

The Northern Ireland secretary has said he is hopeful that a fresh talks initiative will resolve the school dispute which has sparked violence in north Belfast.

John Reid said that he was hopeful the Protestant and Catholic communities in Ardoyne were ready to start trying to resolve their differences through discussion.

Dr Reid cut short his holidays after Protestant residents attempted to block Catholic children from getting to Holy Cross Girls' Primary School in Ardoyne every day this week.

He has jointly offered to broker a talks process between the two communities with Stormont minister Sir Reg Empey, who is currently undertaking the role of Northern Ireland first minister.

John Reid: Hopeful residents will be willing to talk

Tensions in Ardoyne have been high all week as the police and army escorted the children and their parents to school through protests by residents from the loyalist Glenbryn part of the mainly Catholic area.

But the situation has calmed since the scenes of chaos at the school on Wednesday when loyalists threw a blast bomb at police officers escorting the children, injuring four officers and a police dog.

On Friday the protest was at its most subdued and parents faced only a silent protest as residents turned their backs.

Talks delay

It looks as if talks, which were to have started this weekend, will not now start until Monday.

Mark Coulter: "The Protestant community feel under siege"

That leaves the question about what will happen on Monday morning when the Catholic parents again bring their children to Holy Cross school.

But Dr Reid said there was no magic wand to resolve the dispute and that it was up to local people to ensure a positive outcome.

Speaking to the BBC he said: "It is up to local people themselves to make the arrangements. It is not up to me to dictate to them how that will be done.

"There are hopeful signs that people are beginning to talk together and certainly myself and Reg Empey and both of our ministers and officials will do everything to foster that and facilitate that. But we cannot dictate."

Wider issues

The group representing the Protestant Residents, Concerned Residents of Upper Ardoyne (CRUA) said it would appoint two representatives to help facilitate talks.

Isabel McGrann: "We need to get this blockade lifted"

The residents want to the talks to cover the wider issues of housing, health, education and sectarian attacks on their homes as well as the protest.

They say they have been maintaining their protests because they say they want assurances that intimidation against their community will stop.

Spokesman Mark Coulter said: "We haven't ruled anything in or out.

"The first thing we have to do is get the secretary of state to understand what this community is going through.

"The community feels under siege. It feels it is being chipped away, bit by bit, and he really needs to understand that first before any measures are put in place."

However, Isabel McGrann, a member of Right to Education parents' committee, said they could still only discuss the single issue of getting their children to school.

She said: "I am hoping we can get into talks as quick as possible before the weekend is over to get this blockade lifted off the Ardoyne Road so we can in through the front gates of the school."

The dispute started in June, but a series of attempts to start talks between the two groups over the summer broke up in mutual recrimination.

At that time the Catholic parents also said they could not discuss or give assurances on wider issues on the community.

School set on fire

Meanwhile, there have been a number of incidents in north Belfast during Friday night and Saturday.

The police have said a fire which destroyed a toilet block at the Catholic Holy Family Primary School on Newington Avenue in north Belfast on Saturday afternoon was started deliberately.

About 50 youths threw stones at each other for a time at Ardoyne Road and Alliance Avenue before order was restored on Saturday afternoon.

On Friday night the police recovered more than 60 petrol bombs in a vacant house on Robina Street.

They also found a 150 bottles, a container of flammable liquid and barrels filled with broken paving stones.