Opinion

Question is, what exactly are we getting in return for appeasing the UDA?

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson writes a twice-weekly column for The Irish News and is a regular commentator on current affairs on radio and television.

 A tweeted picture of community workers including Denis Cunningham (far left) with a DUP delegation that included communities minister Paul Givan at the offices of the Lower Shankill Community Association. The picture was posted less than 24 hours after a BBC Spotlight investigation claimed the building was an unofficial headquarters of the UDA.
 A tweeted picture of community workers including Denis Cunningham (far left) with a DUP delegation that included communities minister Paul Givan at the offices of the Lower Shankill Community Association. The picture was posted less than 24 hou  A tweeted picture of community workers including Denis Cunningham (far left) with a DUP delegation that included communities minister Paul Givan at the offices of the Lower Shankill Community Association. The picture was posted less than 24 hours after a BBC Spotlight investigation claimed the building was an unofficial headquarters of the UDA.

THE chief constable has told a BBC Spotlight investigation into UDA-linked ‘community funding’ that there is a need for “pragmatism”. First minister Arlene Foster reminded the same programme that there has already been appeasement of the IRA. So let us be pragmatic and ask: what are we getting for appeasing the UDA? Buying off republicans brought their political wing into the system, which squeezed their military wing off the stage. However, the only political support the UDA has is from Stormont, which funds it - and from the PSNI, which ignores the part of the Terrorism Act that makes supporting the UDA punishable by up to 10 years in jail. The sole effect of this is to keep the UDA in business, which is not a pragmatic argument. It is a circular argument.

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Theresa May has delighted the Conservative Party conference with plans to opt out of parts of the European Convention on Human Rights in future conflicts, to prevent soldiers being sued. She did not emphasise that parliament would have to approve this in each instance by amending the Human Rights Act.

Martin McGuinness has asked if this could apply to future investigations into past conflicts, which would have “profound implications for the prospect of a legacy agreement in the north.” He should put his mind at rest - that is legally impossible, while partial wartime derogation from European rights law is normal and expected. The UK would continue to be bound by the Geneva Conventions, which incidentally cover conflicts like the Troubles, as well as former IRA commanders like McGuinness.

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Derry and Strabane council has “requested” that newsagents stop stocking the Sun in “solidarity” with victims of the Hillsborough disaster. Although this is a breach of article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which protects the press from interference by public authority, Northern Ireland’s chief human rights commissioner Les Allamby says he is “comfortable” that it is “proportionate”. Yet article 10 requires breaches to be “necessary” and “prescribed by law” and even the council is not claiming its motion is either. Odder still, there has been total silence from the National Union of Journalists in Northern Ireland. Two months ago the NUJ’s Belfast branch was quick to object when loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson joined the union, yet it has nothing to say in defence of newspaper journalists.

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In further Derry news, Sinn Féin councillor Christopher Jackson successfully proposed a boycott of Israeli goods, then refused to give up his council-funded, Israeli-manufactured iPad when challenged to do so by unionist colleague Gary Middleton. Speaking to the BBC, councillor Jackson said: “The comments from Gary Middleton are nonsensical and he is just looking to grab headlines. The motion itself was symbolic and in my view it has been successful in raising awareness in the council area and elsewhere.” In other words, it grabbed headlines.

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It is handbags at dawn between the main unionist leaders, with Arlene Foster claiming the UUP has “lost its way” under Mike Nesbitt and his members are approaching her to defect. Nesbitt replied: “We are still the largest membership party in Northern Ireland and I am signing new membership applications every week.” Really? Parties here are notoriously secretive about their numbers but the UUP’s size is the easiest to assess because it gives every member a vote in leadership elections. In the last contest, in 2012 - when Nesbitt became leader - there were 1,770 eligible voters, although only 668 ballots were cast. The Labour Party in Northern Ireland recently declared 2,200 full members plus 1,000 registered supporters.

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Eyebrows were raised in the assembly when Arlene Foster told the UUP’s Roy Beggs to “calm down” after he asked why £1.8 million has not been spent by the executive five years after it was allocated to address ‘fuel poverty’. What nobody at Stormont will say is that targeted spending on fuel poverty is impossible because its definition is statistical nonsense, covering about half the population across all income groups. Any attempt to throw money at it would be a real scandal.

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Following reports of MPs and peers applying for Irish passports, Daniel Kawczynski, a Conservative member of the foreign affairs select committee, has asked the British government to introduce formal restrictions on parliamentarians holding dual citizenship. “It is fundamentally wrong for any representative, in the Lords of the Commons, to have dual citizenship,” Mr Kawczynski declared in a letter to the Times. “As parliamentarians our loyalty is to the Queen and the UK and we should not have any other affiliations apart from those.” Oh dear, oh dear.

newton@irishnews.com