A grieving family have been “traumatised” after the funeral of a loved one was interrupted by a bomb scare.
Fr Gary Donegan also says an elderly priest who suffers from dementia had to be evacuated from the monastery next to the Houben Centre in North Belfast as the security alert unfolded on Friday.
The incident was sparked by the hijacking of a van and led to the cancellation of a peace building event at the centre, which sits in the grounds of Holy Cross Church.
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Simon Coveney was speaking at the event organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation but it was promptly stopped with close protection officers escorting the Irish Foreign Minister from the building. The incident has prompted widespread condemnation.
Fr Gary, who was at the event, told Belfast Live: “Simon Coveney had only been talking about five or six minutes, about Ukraine, about peace building being a generational thing when I was told there’s a hijacked van, a device in the grounds. He had to apologise and leave.
“There’s an elderly priest in the monastery, who suffers from dementia, who had to be evacuated. And there was a funeral that had to be cancelled. This is the first time since 1869 we’ve had to cancel a funeral. Fr John Craven had to hold a type of funeral in the car park with the coffin on the trestle table.
“That family is traumatised, the van driver who was hijacked is traumatised. But from the people in that room today, the message is loud and clear - what ever the people behind this were trying to achieve they have failed miserably. They have disrupted a family’s grief.
“We had people evacuated out on to Twaddell and there was the Woodvale and Twaddell Residents Association offering tea and coffee to people. The irony of it. Two nights ago we had 140 young people from both sides dancing in the hall at the Houben. This is the true message of peace. In all my years throughout the Troubles I never remember a funeral interrupted.”
Mr Coveney had been speaking about the importance of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. He had told the event: “The patient work of reconciliation and deepening of relationships does need to continue on our own island.”
A spokesperson for Mr Coveney said: “The minister and team are safe, have been taken to a secure location and the PSNI are doing their work.”
In a tweet, the Foreign Affairs Minister thanked the efforts of the PSNI.
“In Belfast with the Hume Foundation to honour John & Pat’s legacy of peace for all communities. Saddened & frustrated that someone has been attacked & victimised in this way and my thoughts are with him & his family.”
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