Northern Ireland

Dolores Kelly says dissidents should be 'brought in from the cold'

SDLP justice spokesperson Dolores Kelly.
SDLP justice spokesperson Dolores Kelly. SDLP justice spokesperson Dolores Kelly.

SDLP Policing spokesman Dolores Kelly has said that Sinn Féin should be doing more to bring dissident republicans "in from the cold".

The party's policing and justice spokesperson said the tenth anniversary of the murder of PSNI officer Stephen Carroll was "a stark reminder of the need for political leadership in supporting the role of policing in the North".

Officer Carroll (49) was shot dead by the Continuity IRA while attending a call out to Lismore Manor in Craigavon in March 2009.

He had served in the police force for more than 24 years and was the first member of the PSNI to be murdered.

Mrs Kelly said ten years on from the murder "dissident republicans continue to reject our political process and put fear into our communities".

And she added: "Former SDLP Leader John Hume set aside political advancement to make space for the Provisional movement to take a seat at the table of political power, because he knew that only peace, not political capital, would save lives.

"This begs the question, what are Sinn Féin doing to end the violence of dissident republicanism and bring them into the cold?"