Derry and bonfires
Senator Norris returned to Derry, warning about attacks in the Bogside and the dangers of dissident republican violence, while also condemning sectarian bonfires. Senator Leyden responded approvingly.
Turning to the disturbances in Derry, the attacks from the Bogside on the Fountain area, which is a small Protestant enclave, are very disturbing. They show how dangerous it is to allow any opportunity for dissident republicans to take up this thing. In fact, it shows how volatile the situation would be if there were any attempt to institute a Border again in this country. With regard to setting a spark, incendiary activities and all the rest of it, these bonfires that the so-called Protestants set up are appalling. I am glad that I am a member of the Church of Ireland, which is the reformed Catholic Church in this country and which is not associated with this shower up in the North of Ireland. These monumental, enormous, vast skyscrapers are partly triumphalism and partly these people marking out their territory.
They seem to be very threatened, but I would say to them that the only way forward is by sharing. That is the only way they will get anywhere, not contesting, not being territorial, not attacking one's neighbours but trying to share what is good in the country.
