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The former president of Republican Sinn Fein has said that dissident republican violence is counter-productive and copper-fastens partition .
Des Dalton said that the shifting political sands following Brexit had put Northern Ireland s constitutional future at the centre of mainstream debate for the first time in half a century,
A continuing armed campaign by dissidents was alienating people receptive to a republican analysis, he added.
He said that the murder of 29-year-old journalist Lyra McKee in Derry two years ago illustrated the nihilistic nature of armed action for the sake of armed action .
Mr Dalton succeeded Ruairi O Bradaigh to become the second president of Republican Sinn Fein in 2009.