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Violent dissident republicans should disband, the Sinn F\u00e9in leader said.<\/p>\nViolent dissident republicans should disband, the Sinn F\u00e9in leader said.<\/p>\n
Anti-peace process renegades threatened the party\u2019s vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill and veteran policing spokesman Gerry Kelly after they supported a recent recruitment campaign for new Catholic officers.<\/p>\n
Party president Mary-Lou McDonald said they would not be deterred or intimidated by the gunmen.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThese people have no politics, no strategy and nothing to offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are at war with their community and are now threatening political representatives who serve the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event was intended to encourage more Catholics to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).<\/p>\n
Senior commanders have become concerned in recent years over a slide in the proportion of Catholic officers amid the severe threat posed by dissident republicans who try to kill members of the security forces.<\/p>\n
The Sinn F\u00e9in president said: \u201cSinn F\u00e9in will not be deterred or intimidated.<\/p>\n
“These groups have nothing to offer. It\u2019s time they packed up and disbanded.”<\/p>\n
Ms O\u2019Neill and Mr Kelly\u2019s attendance at a PSNI recruitment event was hailed by Chief Constable Simon Byrne as \u201cseismic and historic\u201d.<\/p>\n
It was the first time such a senior Sinn F\u00e9in figure had attended such a meeting, although the party has expressed support for police in Northern Ireland on many occasions in the past.<\/p>\n
Last year there were attempted bomb attacks by dissident republicans targeting police in Belfast, Craigavon in Co Armagh and near the border in Fermanagh.<\/p>\n
The New IRA and Continuity IRA are involved.<\/p>\n
Police have branded as \u201ccruel and disgusting\u201d anti-PSNI recruitment posters depicting an officer who was severely injured in a bomb attack.<\/p>\n
The posters used a picture of Peadar Heffron along with a warning that anyone thinking of joining the police could suffer similar injuries.<\/p>\n
Mr Heffron lost a leg when a dissident bomb detonated under his car near Randalstown in 2010 as he traveled to work. He now uses a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ms McDonald commended her negotiating, Executive and Assembly teams \u2013 led by Ms O\u2019Neill \u2013 for \u201cworking hard for citizens\u201d.<\/p>\n
She listed recent successes following the restoration of devolved political power-sharing at Stormont.<\/p>\n
The party leader said: \u201cAlready in the Executive we have seen measures taken to tackle poverty, including moving quickly to end the nurses dispute of equal pay; extending welfare mitigations, a new house building program has been announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdditional funding has been made available for education and the victims and survivors of the contaminated blood scandal in the north will receive compensation payments.\u201d<\/p>\n