THE NORTH’S Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, has dismissed the disturbances in Lurgan, Co Armagh, over the weekend as the product of the manipulation of young people by “micro-groups” opposed to peace.
Speaking in New York during a week-long visit to the US with First Minister Peter Robinson, Mr McGuinness told The Irish Timesthat dissident groups would fail in their objective of dividing the North's political leadership and undermining the institutions.
“There are a small number of micro-groups who are absolutely determined to destroy the peace process, to plunge society back into conflict, to see British soldiers return to the streets in previous numbers, to run the risk of loyalist involvement in killing.
“Basically, the strategy appears to be to cause mayhem and destruction, and I think that it’s very important to make it clear to everybody that these people represent no one, that they have no appreciable support whatsoever in the broad nationalist and republican community and that it’s quite clear that the vast majority of people want the peace process to succeed.
“I think if the aim of the activities was to divide us, the events of the last week will show them that we will not be easily divided, that we are very determined to defend the political institutions, supported by both the Irish and the British governments, the Obama administration and the broader international community.”
The First and Deputy First Ministers will be in Washington tomorrow for meetings with secretary of state Hillary Clinton and members of president Barack Obama’s national security team and to attend the traditional White House St Patrick’s Day celebration. Mr McGuinness said they would take the opportunity to put the violence of the past week in perspective.
“The fact is that we have a very successful peace process. We have a unified position in terms of our political parties.
“I believe president Obama will speak out very strongly on behalf of our institutions on Tuesday, and we will be receiving the support of his administration for as long as it lasts. Given Hillary Clinton’s participation in that, as somebody who has been a very long-standing friend of the process, I think we have every reason to expect that we will see all the more solidarity between the US administration and ourselves.”
Mr McGuinness and Mr Robinson started their US visit last Thursday in Los Angeles, where they met Silicon Valley high-tech entrepreneurs and film and television executives to discuss investment opportunities.
Mr McGuinness said, despite the global downturn and the recent spate of bad news from the North, US companies continued to be attracted to investing there.