The funeral has taken place in Banbridge, Co Down, today of murdered PSNI constable Stephen Carroll.
Shops in the centre of the town closed their doors as a mark of respect as PC Carroll’s coffin, behind a Police Service of Northern Ireland colour party, was taken from his home to St Therese’s Catholic church for the funeral mass.
Several hundred people gathered outside the Carroll home while a brief family service was held inside for the constable’s widow Kate and other family members. Hundreds of local people lined streets - closed to traffic - in silence as the funeral cortege passed.
In his homily, Canon Liam Stevenson spoke of the many who had worked hard to build bridges and bring peace to Northern Ireland. The murders of PC Carroll and British soldiers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar had been designed to destabilise the peace process, he said.
He said: “We certainly do not want to lose the peace. We will not lose the peace because so many people are so determined to move forward. The people have spoken so strongly since last Sunday in many cities and towns.”
Northern Ireland’s police chief Sir Hugh Orde and many senior officers were joined at the service by the Garda commissioner Fachtna Murphy, together with police representatives from England, Scotland and Wales and the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward and security minister Paul Goggins were joined by the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and a representative of the US administration. It is the first time for a Government Minister from the Republic to officially attend a police funeral in Northern Ireland.
Leaders of the four main churches and representatives of all the main political parties also attended. But it was the presence of two Sinn Féin politicians at a policeman’s funeral that showed how far Northern Ireland has come in recent years.
South Belfast Assembly member Alex Maskey is a member of the Policing Board and his Sinn Féin colleague John O’Dowd represents the Upper Bann constituency in which PC Carroll died. Mr O’Dowd said: “First of all, this is an act of solidarity and an act of sympathy with Constable Carroll’s family.
“It is also about giving leadership in relation to this issue and giving very public voice to the condemnation which the whole community feels. We have built a new society. Part of that was the building of the PSNI and Constable Carroll was part of that new society.”
Across the modern circular church was a long-time foe of Republicanism, Jackie McDonald, recognised as the leader of the Ulster Defence Association.
Mr McDonald said: “We have come to show support for the Carroll family and to let everybody know that loyalism is against this sort of thing.”
He praised Northern Ireland’s Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and other party colleagues for their forthright condemnation of the murder of PC Carroll and two British soldiers 48 hours before.
He said: “They have been very brave. It is obviously a new language for them and I think they have reassured the loyalist community that this is not about Orange and Green, it is about those who support the peace process, it is about uniting everybody.”
He added: “We are 100 per cent behind the peace process and we are not going to be put off by the actions of a few.”
Calling for no loyalist retaliation, he said: “Just listen to the people who have been there before and done it.”
Constable Carroll died as he and two other officers were providing back-up for neighbourhood watch officers dealing with a case of malicious damage to a woman’s home in the Lismore Manor estate in Craigavon on Monday night.
A grandfather and father who had previously resided for a period in Co Kildare, Constable Carroll lived in Banbridge in Co Down and was only two years from retirement.
Speaking yesterday, Constable Carroll's widow Kate said: “I hope these people are listening and if they just realised that we only get one chance at life and a piece of land is a piece of land and at the end of the day [when he is buried] my husband is just going to get 6ft by 6ft and that’s all any of us are going to get and why don’t they realise this and talk to each other.”
After the service, PC Carroll’s coffin was carried from the church by colleagues, led by a piper playing Amazing Grace. Outside, Sir Hugh, the Garda Commissioner and Lord Lieutenant of County Down William Hall lined up shoulder to shoulder behind the hearse and led mourners through the town to the private burial.
A third person was arrested tonight in connection with Mr Carroll's murder.