FORMER IRISH PRESIDENT Mary McAleese has said that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland do not want to be associated with “the misery of racism” following demonstrations in Belfast last week.

Anti-immigration protests and counter protests were held in Belfast last week, where a large number of people were arrested after clashes with police took place when groups were told to disperse.

Speaking to The Journal, McAleese said that she believed the counter-protesters and the demonstrations welcoming people seeking asylum represented a “new phenomenon in Northern Ireland”.

“For a long time, it was the old Seamus Heaney thing: ‘Whatever you say, say nothing’. Let bad stuff happen, stay in the house, keep your head down,” she said in Laois today, where she is due to speak at the Electric Picnic festival this weekend.

“There’s such confidence now and there’s such a determination to stand with people and I think that’s wonderful,” she added.

The Belfast native and former Irish President, who served two terms between 1997 and 2011, said that it was “wonderful” to see demonstrators last week where people were welcoming others of all convictions, following violent scenes earlier in the week.

“Northern Ireland is a place of welcome and not place that treats others with contempt.”

“The people who are ferriferous in racism and in contempt and in bigotry – they’re small in number and they’ll always be outspoken and outmaneuvered, if you like, by people who are good, decent, kind and do not want to be associated with the misery of racism.”

With reporting by Diarmuid Pepper in Stradbally, Co Laois.