The Post.ie
Many extreme loyalists raised as Catholics
By Anton McCabe
Dublin, Ireland, 25 August, 2002
A significant number of people born Catholics are active in the most hard-line factions of loyalism, and are carrying out attacks on their co-religionists. Reliable sources indicate the leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) was baptised a Catholic.
The southeast Antrim Ulster Defence Association (UDA) has significant numbers of Catholics in its ranks, both in Antrim town and Larne.
A leading loyalist in Lurgan was a close associate of Billy Wright. According to his baptismal certificate he was baptised in St Peter's Catholic Church, Lurgan, on January 9 1966. He later attended St Paul's Catholic primary school in Magheralin.
Two notorious criminal families from Catholic West Belfast have now linked up with the UDA in Antrim. One formerly had connections with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). It is believed they were put out of Belfast by the IRA for "antisocial behaviour".
"Republicans were the source of their woes -- they put them out of their homes," said one Antrim Republican. "They have an axe to grind and there are criminal elements. That's where the tie-in with the UDA is."
It is believed that there is a concentrated campaign by the UDA to drive Catholics out of certain Antrim estates. The involvement of Catholics in the attacks is increasing fear in the town. "They are pinpointing other family members," a source said.
In Larne, SDLP Assemblyman Danny O'Connor said that the UDA was systematically attempting to drive Catholics from the town.
Sources in the town name several Catholics as prominent in the UDA. Several Larne UDA leaders were raised as Protestants, but have a Catholic parent.
