Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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231. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has discussed with members of the Northern Ireland Executive the violence (details supplied) that erupted in Belfast on 6 and 7 October 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39291/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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A pipe bomb device was thrown at a police patrol on the Crumlin Road, North Belfast, early in the morning of 6 October. The PSNI stated their belief that the pipe bomb, later found outside the front gates of Holy Cross Church in Ardoyne, was intended to kill police officers. Eight nearby homes were evacuated while Army bomb experts made the device safe.

I have been undertaking intensive consultations with Northern Ireland Party Leaders and with Secretary of State Theresa Villiers MP in the run up to the forthcoming Political Talks. They all share my abhorrence of such attacks on the police and the wider community.

I visited Holy Cross Church in July and am well aware of the good work carried out there. This helped inform my immediate public condemnation of this attack. The disruption and trauma which the recent attack imposed on church goers and others going about their daily business, was an attack on the entire community. My officials remain in contact with the community affected, including local clergy.

I wish to reiterate my support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, whose continuing professionalism in the face of many challenges is recognized by all sides of the community. I have urged anyone with information on this attack to pass it directly to the PSNI.