CHAPEL HOAX IS CONDEMNED

The discovery at around 12.20pm of a suspicious object near the rear of the building on Larne Road prompted a security alert and Army Technical Officers were tasked to the scene.

Although the object was later declared ‘a deliberate hoax’, a police spokesman said that enquiries were continuing.

Condemning the incident at the church, which, from 1996, was at the centre of a two-year campaign by loyalists who staged weekly protests outside its perimeter, North Antrim Sinn Fin MLA Daith McKay said he was ‘extremely concerned’.

"We had hoped that sectarian attacks on Catholic Churches in the Ballymena area were becoming a thing of the past and this latest attack is certainly a cause for extreme concern,” he said.

"A lot of good cross-community work is being carried out in this area by representatives from all political backgrounds, and that work needs to continue and be built upon to ensure that the sectarian attitudes that lead to such attacks are left in the past.

“People in Ballymena realise that these attacks do nothing but tarnish the name of the town and those who carry out such attacks are very sad individuals who are very much stuck in the past,” said Mr McKay.

SDLP North Antrim MLA Declan O’Loan described the hoax as “regrettable” and said he hopes the Ballymena area continues to build on its peaceful recent times.

He said: “I visited the area early on Sunday and found it to be entirely clear and quiet. The incident was totally regrettable but until we know more I wouldn’t draw conclusions.

“We do not know if the object was designed to look suspicious or if it merely attracted attention.

“I have spoken to senior police officers and it doesn’t appear to have been treated as a major incident by the PSNI.

“Ballymena has been quiet in recent times and I hope it will remain so.” said Mr O’Loan.