Two Catholic families have escaped pipe-bomb attacks in Larne this week. They are the latest incidents in a town divided by sectarian tensions.
It has always been a difficult existence for Catholics in Larne. "Welcome to Loyalist Larne" emblazoned on a bridge outside the town yesterday is a reminder that little has changed.
However, a local priest, Canon Archie Molloy, caused controversy over recent days when he said he could not tell families whose homes were being attacked to stay on in the town.
"It is as well they go and we suggest they seek help from the authorities. I would not have the heart to say stay because they would be on a hiding to nothing," he told BBC Northern Ireland.
Yesterday, he qualified his remarks as being made in reference to "pastoral" advice he gave to a family forced from their home in an estate on the outskirts.
Canon Molloy said there was still great pride among the Catholic community in Larne. "They know they are a beleaguered community but they are practising the Christian view of turning the other cheek. If some people see that as weakness they are wrong."
On Wednesday a pipe-bomb was thrown through the kitchen window of a Catholic family's home in the Roddens area of the town just before midnight.
"This is a daily occurrence which is happening throughout the town week in week out. Things like assaults, cars being damaged, windows broken, the odd petrol bomb and now pipe-bombs are going on continually, and nothing is being done about it," said Mr William McCambridge, who escaped the attack with his wife and four children.
On Tuesday a mother and her son escaped when a device exploded in the living room of their house on Laharna Avenue.
The SDLP representative for the area, Mr Danny O'Connor, has kept a dossier of sectarian incidents over the last two years. Twenty-nine Catholics were assaulted, according to the file, which details over 100 incidents.
Mr O'Connor is concerned the two recent attacks were on homes in the town centre. Previous attacks mainly occurred in outlying estates.
"This town is the most polarised that it's ever been. I had Protestant friends when I was growing up but now if you see a group of young men they're either all Catholic or all Protestant."
He believes the UDA has orchestrated the attacks and is currently engaged in recruiting teenagers of 14-18 years.
The DUP representative for Larne, Mr Roger Hutchinson, agrees that community relations have hit an all-time low. "Yes, it is the most polarised it has been, that's the honest answer."
However, he stresses Larne should not be taken in isolation and should be seen in the context of a widespread breakdown in law and order around the North, with a spate of fatal stabbings over Christmas and ongoing "punishment" attacks.
The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that the Minister, Mr Cowen, has requested his officials to meet local representatives in the town.
"We have raised the situation with the British government through the British/Irish Secretariat and we are continuing to do so," a spokesman said.