Young people involved in riots around Twelfth of July Orange marches were being sacrificed by cynical godfathers, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin claimed today.
The Minister said sinister forces were at work when police were attacked at a flash point in Ardoyne, north Belfast and when masked youths attacked the Dublin train with stones and petrol bombs.
Mr Martin claimed the ringleaders want a young rioter to be killed to inspire a new generation of martyrs.
“The fact that significant rioting has continued in Belfast and elsewhere and that we witnessed an attack, involving robbery, arson and vandalism, on a train carrying innocent civilians through Lurgan is evidence of sinister forces at work,” Mr Martin said.
Eighty-three police officers were injured in rioting over three nights in parts of Northern Ireland.
"Those directing the violence and who are encouraging these youths to take to the street are the real guilty parties.
"By their twisted logic, they believe that by inciting violence and sectarian hatred, they can lead Ireland into the future by dragging it back through the horrors of the past," the Minister said.
Mr Martin also accused those orchestrating the violence of wanting to provoke Protestants into retaliation and in turn elicit local support for paramilitary protection.
"I appeal to anybody who has influence over the young people involved in the rioting — mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, boyfriends, girlfriends — to do what you can to keep them from being sacrificed by these cynical godfathers,” the Minister said.
Police commanders revealed shots have been fired in north Belfast including during riots on North Queen Street and the Ardoyne area where some of the worst violence took place.
Mr Martin described dissident republicans as “unqualified partitionists”. He added: “Right now, the biggest threat to Irish unity is not the British, or the Orange Order, but those wannabe republicans who think that they can bomb and shoot their way there.
"Let nobody be fooled, these so-called ‘dissident’ republicans are unqualified partitionists. Nobody who believes in the Republic should have anything to do with them."