Northern Ireland

More than 500 children miss out on school and nursery after two security alerts in 24 hours at pitches used by East Belfast GAC

Ammunition Technical Officers (ATO) were called to Henry Jones Playing Fields on Wednesday just hours after they had packed up from a previous alert the day before

East BElfast GAA Alert Henry Jones playing fields
Lough View Intergraded Primary School on the Church Road in East Belfast. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN
By Conor Coyle

More than 500 children were denied access to primary school and daycare on Wednesday morning as two successive security alerts were sparked at the home of East Belfast GAA within 24 hours.

Ammunition Technical Officers (ATO) were called to Henry Jones Playing Fields in east Belfast on Wednesday afternoon just hours after they had packed up from a previous alert the day before.

Lough View Integrated Primary and Nursery School and nearby Bumbles Day Care on the Church Road were closed and parents and children advised to not come to the buildings.

Nine security alerts have been sparked and two incidents of criminal damage caused within the vicinity of Henry Jones since 2020, when East Belfast GAA was formed.

Increased security measures are due to be introduced at the playing fields this month in response to the alerts and other attacks on the pitches, including CCTV and car park lighting.

A note sent to parents at the daycare centre on Wednesday morning advised it would be unable to open and described the situation as “increasingly frustrating”.

After parents were informed it was safe to return on Wednesday afternoon, they were once again asked to pick their children up as the centre was evacuated due to the second alert.

The local school and day care centre managers recently attended a meeting with Belfast City Council where they were briefed on the additional security measures being implemented at the site.

A parent whose children attend childcare at one of the sites, who did not wish to be named, told The Irish News they were “completely sick of” the disruption caused.

“The nursery is invaluable to us as parents and causes massive disruption to us when this type of stuff goes on,” they said.

“We live in the area and we are just completely sick of this, it’s not an environment we want our children to grow up in.

“Nobody who lives in this area supports this and the sooner the increased security can be brought into the site the better.”

Meanwhile, members of East Belfast GAA have met senior PSNI officers, Justice Minister Naomi Long and Ulster GAA officials to explore what more can be done to prevent the repeated targeting of the club.

Club chairperson Kim Robertson said the club had been subject to “normalised hatred”.

East Belfast MLA Ms Long said on Wednesday that the ”relentless intimidation” of the club “is as pointless as it is despicable”.

The Church Road reopened on Wednesday morning after PSNI officers declared the area safe following the discovery of a suspicious object on Tuesday afternoon.

The object was later declared as “nothing untoward”, before the second alert was sparked at around 2pm on Wednesday and caused significant traffic disruption in the area. The PSNI said it is continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incidents.

The Irish News asked the PSNI for more detail on what it is doing in order to prevent further security incidents in the area and what the result of a recent meeting with East Belfast GAA was, but at the time of publication a response had not been received.