Housing officials in Northern Ireland are still attempting to provide homes for 141 Catholic families who, along with the families of 50 RUC officers, were burned or intimidated from their homes in the loyalist violence surrounding the Drumcree stand-off.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive could spend £3 million on the rehousing programme, for emergency purchases of homes.
Separately, the North's Compensation Agency yesterday said it had received claims totalling £3 million for damage to property, mainly to businesses and vehicles. The Department of the Environment also reported that about £500,000 worth of damage was caused to roads, traffic lights and street lighting.
Figures released by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive show that intimidation was spread across the North. But Ballymoney, Co Antrim, where the three Quinn children were killed in a fire-bomb attack on July 12th, also had the highest number of displaced families. Some 35 Catholic or mixed-marriage families from the town have approached the Housing Executive seeking rehousing because of intimidation.
The next worst centre of intimidation was in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, where 22 Catholic families were forced out of their homes after being attacked, mostly with firebombs.
The loyalist mobs in Carrickfergus made clear their intention of forcing out the remaining Catholic families from estates such as Glenfield, Castlemara and Sunny lands. Mr Glynn Roberts, from the anti-intimidation group FAIT (Families Against Intimidation and Terror), said when he visited Sunnylands during the height of the troubles youths at a barricade told him there were "only 12 Taigs left" in the estate and they were going to petrol-bomb their homes.
It is believed all the Catholic families who lived in the estate did leave. There were four Catholic families living in the Glenfield estate on the outskirts of the town before the violence and all were attacked and forced out. Graffiti on a gable wall at Sullatober Close in Glenfield now declares: "Taigfree zone".
Mr Roberts said: "The real sad thing about this is that it causes even more polarisation. What we have is a Balkanisation of Northern Ireland with everybody wanting to live in either predominantly Protestant or predominantly Catholic areas.
"We dealt with people who were intimidated out from Carrickfergus and other places and they all said they would feel more confident living in predominantly Catholic areas after their experiences. They were all traumatised."
The RUC in Carrickfergus also came under attack. Eight RUC families were attacked and forced to leave their homes. In follow-up searches after the violence the police recovered an imitation gun and a drum of hydrochloric acid. The loyalist rioters are believed to have thrown bottles of the acid at police during rioting in the town but none of the officers was struck. Four police officers suffered hearing damage when a blast bomb was thrown at them.
All the RUC families attacked in Carrickfergus owned their own houses and about half the Catholic families were also owner-occupiers. The other half of the Catholic families were Housing Executive tenants.
In the instances of families forced out of homes they own - about 65 per cent of homes in the North are owner-occupied - the Housing Executive has a scheme for purchasing the houses at a price determined by the Valuation Agency.
The Housing Executive then attempts to resell the properties, having advanced the families the market price of their homes. The Housing Executive estimated that it had received applications from 50 families seeking the emergency purchase of their homes. It was estimated this could cost the Housing Executive up to £3 million.
Most of the 141 Catholic or mixed-marriage families who were forced from their homes went to relatives and some have been provided with emergency accommodation in guesthouses or hotels.