JUSTICE Minister David Ford has declared that there are no ‘no-go areas’ in Fermanagh for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

That’s despite officers refusing to attend the scene of a suspected arson attack on a mobile home used for prayer meetings in Rosslea last week due to “security issues” according to Ulster Unionist MP Tom Elliott.

“There are certainly no ‘no-go areas’ anywhere in Northern Ireland but there are clearly areas where the police have to exercise due caution in respect of their safety and the safety for other people,” Minister Ford told The Impartial Reporter during a visit to Enniskillen ahead of a meeting of the Northern Ireland Executive last week.

“Clearly there is a difference in responding to an incident that is maybe happening and response to an incident which has happened and is over. But that’s very much for the chief constable and his senior officers in this district to deal with.”

The Faith Mission caravan, owned by Robert Little, was completely destroyed as firefighters spent almost an hour tackling the blaze on the Dernawilt Road over a week ago. But police officers were not deployed to the scene at all resulting in the suggestion that there are ‘no-go areas’ in Fermanagh.

“I have no specific knowledge of that Rosslea incident and you’ll appreciate that it is very much an operational issue for the police to handle. In the circumstances of Rosslea in terms of the terrorist threat that is currently faced the police have to make their judgements,” he said.

Asked if he would comment further about the issue, Minister Ford said: “No, very specifically, it is for the police and the ministers are not going to direct the police in how they respond in certain circumstances.”

But Democratic Unionist MLA Maurice Morrow has publicly criticised the justice minister’s response to the incident, telling this newspaper: “I think the justice minister has to stop his semi-attached approach to issues such as this. I think he has got to realise that there is an issue here on the Fermanagh Border like that and he should be taking this seriously.”

Lord Morrow said he found it “quite horrendous” that the police did not visit the scene.

“That is unbelievable and totally unacceptable. I happen to know the young man who is in the Faith Mission. He is from the Clogher Valley area and you wouldn’t get a finer young man across this province anywhere. What were they doing? They were there preaching the gospel, not a gospel to one community but a gospel to all the community because that is what the gospel is for. I find it regrettable that their caravan should be attacked.”

The Fermanagh-south Tyrone MLA says he disagrees with Minister Ford’s assertion that there are no ‘no-go areas’ in the county.

“What has been cited is tantamount to that being a ‘no-go area’ and that does alarm me greatly. This is something that I will be speaking to the police myself about. I have spoken to the missionary that was involved in this and condemned utterly what has happened. I believe the vast majority of people believe that this should not have happened.”

It recently emerged that the justice minister has never had a discussion with the Police Service of Northern Ireland or An Garda Síochána specifically about crime in Fermanagh-south Tyrone.

When asked about this, Minister Ford confirmed this, saying: “I haven’t had a specific discussion about crime in Fermanagh-south Tyrone.” Asked why this was the case, he replied: “Because I don’t discuss that level of detail because I have a range of responsibilities as minister. I do discuss rural crime as part of general discussions when I meet the chief constable.”

“I am sorry I haven’t discussed rural crime in south Antrim as minister either, though as a constituency MLA I have a different sort of meeting with my local police commanders,” he said.

Minister Ford added that crime rates in the area “have been going down fairly generally across a range of crime types, particularly such as anti-social behaviour” for around seven years.

He said this was due to the fact that “we have very high levels of confidence in policing” but added: “though I accept there are always individual incidents.”

“The general impression is that stats show there is confidence in the police and I think that is a recognition of good engagement with the local community by the police in every part of Northern Ireland,” he said.

Lord Morrow believes Minister Ford should be speaking to police forces on both sides of the Border about rural crime in Fermanagh-south Tyrone.

“He should, of course he should. I believe not only is it his duty to, but it is his responsibility. I am very disappointed to learn that he has never thought it his while to do that. I think I was in that portfolio I would want to be doing and would be doing it. I would like to know when he was last on the Fermanagh Border,” said the Democratic Unionist MLA.