Statement by TUV Ballymena councillor Roy Gillespie:

“Some time ago I was contacted by an elderly resident who was upset because of the prolonged use of fireworks in the Ballymoney / Grove Road area on Sunday 30th October. She was particularly distressed as she regards Sunday as the Sabbath and a day when the normal day to day affairs of the week are left aside.

“After I made them aware of the issue Jim Allister’s office contacted the Justice Department. Minister Ford has confirmed that his Department did not issue any firework licences for Sunday 30th October in the area and that the account provided to me points to the use of illegal fireworks.

“Minister Ford states that this can be a difficult offence for the police to address. However, I believe that one obvious practical change which could be made would be to provide local police stations with a list of people in their area who have obtained firework licences. When I became aware of this issue I contacted Ballymena PSNI but it would appear from their response that local stations are not provided with this information. This is, I believe, a situation which needs to be rectified and something I will be asking our local MLA Jim Allister to raise with the Justice Minister.”