A Catholic priest caught in the middle of a loyalist protest at a north Belfast school turned down an offer of accommodation from the Irish Government after receiving a death threat. Father Aidan Troy received multiple loyalist death threats in January 2003 over his role in the Holy Cross dispute in Belfast.
The dispute in 2001 made headlines around the world as loyalist residents staged protests against Catholic families walking their children to a school in the area. Some of the protests became violent and police in riot gear were deployed to protect the schoolgirls as they made their way to and from the school.
Fr Troy was the chairman of the board of governors of the school. In newly released documents from the Irish National Archives, he told the Department of Foreign Affairs that he had been subjected to death threats in January 2003 – a year after most of the hostilities had ceased but days after a pipe bomb had been left at the school. The device was safely diffused.
Fr Troy told officials on January 12 that he first became aware of a threat against him on January 9 when he was informed by a BBC journalist that they had received a coded warning threatening him and the board of management at the school. A second coded warning was received by the Samaritans on January 10, where Fr Troy was informed that the charity had received a call threatening his life unless the school was closed.
