GAA club destroyed in arson attack
A GAA clubhouse in Co Down has been substantially damaged in an early morning blaze.
Emergency services attended the outbreak at St John's clubhouse at Drumnaquoile, near Castlewellan on Friday.
The building has suffered extensive damage.
A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident was being treated as arson and that police were appealing for information.
SDLP MLA Eamonn O'Neill, who lives in Castlewellan, said everyone associated with the club was calling for "no retaliation".
He added: "What I fear is that this attack is a taunt designed to provoke a response. It is clearly a sectarian attack."
The incident could potentially be linked, he said, to a recent daubing of IRA graffiti on a nearby Orange Hall. "That incident got an enormous amount of publicity and this attack might be as a result of that," he said.
DUP MLA Jim Wells said the communities of south Down "needed to be very careful they do not get into a tit-for-tat" series of attacks.
"There have recently been a series of such attacks on properties on both sides of the community in south Down," he said. "It is unusual for them to be on Catholic properties though, the vast majority of them have been on Protestant churches and Orange Halls."
Jacqui McMullan from the club told the BBC "hundreds of thousands of pounds worth" of damage had been caused.
"We had refurbishing done, equipment and a lot of valuable trophies," she said.
"On Sunday we are going to play a junior championship final in Newry so this is a big day coming up. Now we have been set back a bit."
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Monday 28 May 2012
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