A senior member of the Democratic Unionist Party today backed demands for the segregation of loyalist and republican prisoners in a Northern Ireland jail.
Policing Board member Mr Sammy Wilson accused the Government of adopting "a head in the clouds attitude" to the problems of integrating paramilitary prisoners.
He also insisted that the segregation of prisoners could be achieved at the high security Maghaberry Jail in Co Antrim without surrendering control of wings to paramilitary groups.
The East Belfast DUP councillor told said: "The Government must end its head in the clouds attitude to a potentially dangerous situation in the prisons.
"I have spoken to prison officers and to prisoners' families and I cannot see why you cannot have segregation while keeping the jail under the control of the prison authorities.
"Obviously there were bad experiences in the past which saw paramilitary groups control prison wings but I suspect that was because of a decision by the Northern Ireland Office not to disrupt the paramilitary command structures in the prisons just to keep the paramilitary groups sweet.
"You can have segregation while at the same time also making it clear to paramilitary groups that if they breach any rules and try to impose their own law, they will be subject to sanctions."
Mr Wilson was commenting as a Government-appointed review team continued to examine safety at Maghaberry Prison, which has seen several rooftop protests in recent months.
Dissident republicans have also staged a dirty protest in the jail, smearing excrement on their cells, and have warned that the dispute could escalate with a hunger strike similar to the one which saw ten IRA and INLA inmates die in 1981.
PA