DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley has condemned recent attacks on Catholics in his North Antrim constituency. His comments come in the wake of claims by SDLP leader Mark Durkan and other nationalist politicians that Dr Paisley was "silent" on loyalist sectarian violence.
The small Catholic population in the predominantly Protestant village of Ahoghill has come under regular sectarian attack in recent weeks, to such an extent that the police issued some Catholic householders with fire blankets and smoke detectors.
Other Catholic homes, churches, businesses and property in Antrim have also been targeted. The Catholic church in Harryville in Ballymena, scene of bitter sectarian picketing in the mid-1990s, was also attacked a number of times over recent weeks.
At least two Catholic families last week decided to quit Ahoghill because of these incidents and yesterday another Catholic family said they had no option but to leave.
Mrs Pat McGaughey (55), and her husband, also called Pat and the same age, are getting out of their £160,000 home of eight years in the private Tudor Vale estate off Ahoghill's Killane Road after being attacked by paint bombers. She explained that they moved to Ahoghill from Ballymena eight years ago because they thought it a nice place to live. "We are not going to risk our lives. Our lives are more important than any building. I could not settle here. It was paint this time, what next?" said Mrs McGaughey, as she surveyed the damage to her living room, hall and outside of her house on the outskirts of Ahoghill.
"We were not given fire blankets because we wouldn't have been considered at risk here outside the village," she added.
Mrs McGaughey, a bed manager at Antrim Area Hospital, thanked her Protestant neighbours for rallying around her and her husband yesterday but said it was too dangerous to continue living in Ahoghill.
Paint bombs were also thrown at the Catholic church and school in Ahoghill yesterday. Presbyterian ministers in the Ahoghill area condemned the attacks.
Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Robin Eames said there could be no justification or excuse for sectarian attacks and that innocent families were facing threats to their lives "simply because of their religious or political identity".
SDLP leader Mr Durkan said yesterday it was "high time" that Dr Paisley and the British government "ended their silence about loyalists".
"Despite the intimidation of his own constituents, Ian Paisley, the MP for North Antrim, is silent about UDA violence. He prefers to pretend that it is just not happening. This is extraordinary hypocrisy from the man who never hesitates to point the finger whenever others use violence."
Sinn Féin North Antrim Assembly member Philip McGuigan said loyalist paramilitaries were trying to "ethnically cleanse" Catholics and nationalists out of Ahoghill. He too accused Dr Paisley of being "silent" on the attacks.
Dr Paisley however, who is on holidays, issued a statement condemning the attacks yesterday. He said the DUP mayor of Ballymena, Tommy Nicholl, spoke for the whole of the party and said he had made statements about the issues in recent weeks.
"I am happy to put on the record that this is my policy and I condemn whatever side do these acts and they are to be condemned unreservedly," he added.
His MLA son, Ian Paisley jnr, added that Dr Paisley was well known for his compassion and genuine concern for all his constituents.