More than 2,000 Catholics have moved out of three Co Antrim towns since the signing of the Good Friday agreement, an SDLP assembly member has claimed.
Danny O'Connor was speaking after a Catholic family narrowly cheated death when their Larne home was petrol-bombed in the early hours yesterday.
The Burleighs had only moved to their new home in September after being intimidated from their house on the Craigyhill estate in the town after more than a dozen sectarian attacks.
Frank and Maureen Burleigh were trapped on the roof of their Linn Road home after loyalists petrol bombed the house shortly after 1am yesterday.
Figures compiled by Mr O'Connor reveal that 300 Catholics have left Larne, 300 have left Carrickfergus and more than 1,400 have left Antrim since 1998.
Mr Burleigh said his family could not return to the Linn Road home and would now consider moving out of the town.
"The first we knew about anything was when the smoke alarm went off," Mrs Burleigh said.
"When we got out into the hall the flames and smoke were coming up the stairs. The only way out was to get through a window onto the roof of the porch which was already on fire.
"The heat was unbelievable and I was terrified that the roof was going to collapse and we would fall down into the fire.
"I thought we were going to die."
Danny O'Connor said the attack on the Burleigh household was just the latest in a long line of loyalist attacks against Catholic families.
"Both the UVF and UDA are involved in these attacks, but it is the UDA who have been behind the bulk of them," he said.
"Diocesan figures show that in the last five years 300 Catholics have moved out of Larne. Another 300 have left Carrickfergus and 1,400 have moved out of Antrim town.
"This is not people moving out of these three towns because they want to.
"It is people being forced to move because of loyalist intimidation."
Mr O'Connor said that the UDA in Larne were now openly taunting police.
"In November police investigating sectarian attacks raided two loyalist homes.
"The next night the UDA attacked the homes of two police officers in Larne in retaliation.
An SDLP councillor has been among the people forced to move home in Larne following sectarian attacks.
In June 2001 the UDA was blamed for pipe-bomb attacks on the Larne home of SDLP councillor Martin Wilson and his family home.
As a result of the attacks Mr Wilson's family moved away from Larne while the SDLP representative himself was forced to move to another part of the town.
