Ms Cathy McIlvenny:

The paramilitary organisations have as much control as they had all through the Troubles, if not more. They have a real chokehold on the community in the working class areas. They wear suits during the day and they wear the balaclavas at night. I witness this week in, week out. They sent away the families that they have deprived of members. They are not allowed to stay because they deem them to be criminals. What is happening now with the youth in my area, which is north Belfast and Shankill? I live and work in that area and hear every day about mothers who are paying bills for their kids for drugs. If they do not pay that bill, the organisation then attacks their house. No, I do not think the Good Friday Agreement has done anything for the working class Protestant in working class areas. It has pushed it more underground. The kids are given the option of joining. If they cannot pay the bills, it has been known that parents' houses and oil tanks have been set on fire. They are living under this fear. They still have a fear of the paramilitary organisations. Nobody is free of that. The Good Friday Agreement did not do that. It made it worse because people are more scared to speak out now. That is my opinion.