Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary and North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson argues today that the defeat of the Real IRA is as much up to the communities in Northern Ireland as it is for politicians, police and security services

MP calls for ‘fanatics’ to be brought to justice

Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of those murdered and injured in this cowardly attack. They must be brought to justice as soon as possible.

Every possible effort must be made to bring put them in jail and to remove the danger that they pose.

But they cannot be allowed to disrupt the progress that has been made in making a better Northern Ireland for all.

The people who carried out this attack are a very small number of ruthless fanatics who simply do not accept the peace process and will do anything to try to derail it.

This is not the first attempt they have made to murder police officers or members of the security services, and the Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde, has been very open about this.

But they have no popular support in the communities in Ireland. In the South, 94 per cent voted for the peace process, and 71 per cent in the North.

In the past, the IRA was given protection by some in the Catholic community, but this should not be the case in 2009. The whole community must now work together.

These fanatics are trying to disrupt the process of normalising policing in Northern Ireland.

What happened on Saturday night is a blow. It will make it more difficult to police Northern Ireland normally, but it must not be allowed to derail this process. . . progress must continue, and these murders must not be allowed to put a stop to it.