The chair of a group representing loyalist paramilitary organisations has accused the Republic's foreign minister Simon Coveney of doing more to "wreck" the Good Friday Agreement "than any other person or group in the past two years".
David Campbell, spokesperson for the body which represents the still-active UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando, criticised Mr Coveney for his stance on the Northern Ireland Protocol and post-Brexit relations between the UK and Ireland.
Speaking at the annual Progressive Unionist Party conference in Belfast on Saturday, Mr Campbell, a former UUP chairman, also insisted the Irish Sea border resulting from the protocol "has to go".
He said his group would also consider proposals due to be brought forward this week by the EU to tackle the protocol dispute.
"Is Simon Coveney capable of any utterance on the NI Protocol other than threatening the UK and the people of Northern Ireland?" asked Mr Campbell, whose group told a Westminster Committee earlier this year that loyalist violence over the protocol was not "off the table".
"Coveney has arguably done more than any other person or group in the past two years to wreck the Belfast Agreement and to destroy the positive relationships that have been built up with the Republic of Ireland over the past 20 years. Does he not accept any responsibility for the misrepresentation of the Agreement and for imposing a protocol on the people of Northern Ireland that he always knew would be unacceptable and unworkable?," he said.
"The perception in the unionist community is that the Irish Republic has used Brexit to reignite nationalism, and to attempt to achieve Irish unity through insidious economic means."
