The leader of the DUP recently stood in front of the Lords’ sub-committee on the Northern Ireland Protocol and – playing to the hardliners and nonconformists of his adopted party – made spurious, unfounded accusations claiming “the Irish government are tone deaf and ignorant of unionist concerns”.
A somewhat false assertion as it has to be recognised the Irish people did not vote for Brexit and are one in a family of 27 ensuring their own interests are protected. He also muttered to this unelected antediluvian quango on how the protocol – while attempting to usurp the past and using an old analogy from the era of the ‘civil rights movement’, he bemoaned ‘how the protocol has left him being treated as a second class citizen’.
An astounding allegation considering the agitation he and his party directed at Theresa May, which in turn forced her to abandon her softer and more amenable version of Brexit for the present version agreed by the DUP who wholeheartedly endorsed Boris Johnson.
It is also extremely rich and utterly inappropriate for Jeffrey Donaldson to prodigiously promulgate the phrase ‘second-class citizen’ so freely when one takes into consideration the mess he and his party have plunged the people of the north into. Acting like absentee landlords, they have expropriated the democratic will of the people.
The DUP have taken, like a spoilt child, the most egregious of tantrums and ‘tossed the dummy from the pram’. They have decided, even after the electorate of the north has spoken loudly, to stomp their feet and not participate in the democratic process unless and until they get their way – the old unionist-imposed ‘second-class citizen way’, again denying the rights of the people, the democratic wishes of the majority, for their own selfish ways.
They have once again proven and shown to the world that they can no longer be trusted. A truly sad but not wholly unexpected indictment on the present leader and his adopted party.
KEVIN McCANN
Belfast BT1
We must keep up struggle for peace
News that a viable device was found in the area of Norglen Parade in west Belfast is proof that there are still those who want war, not peace. It is outrageous that people are evacuated from their homes on a regular basis in Northern Ireland, which is a place where they should feel safe and secure.
Security alert after security alert is the all too familiar story of Northern Ireland and a self-defeating war of attrition terrorists will never win.
Petrol bombs thrown at houses are also a dime a dozen and seem to be growing in frequency in Northern Ireland.
The Troubles, and its pathological lunatic killers, seems to be simmering away in the background all the time, kept going by motives of bomb planters only known to themselves. They do not want Northern Ireland to normalise and are determined to keep and foster their highly abnormal radicalised mentality. They also want to keep Northern Ireland in turmoil and disrupt the delicate constitutional balance on this island. Much like the same people who did so in 1916 and where did it get them?
Northern Ireland should not get used to terrorism of any kind, or accept it as part of daily life in Northern Ireland and reject it as a great evil to the community and to society as a whole. It is highly abnormal and should be condemned outright.
What is also troubling is that police seem to care about these things far more than Northern Ireland’s politicians at times who are the direct representatives of the people. That is why it is crucial that politicians always get behind the police and other criminal law enforcing agencies in safeguarding the community and keep up the struggle for peace, as much as Northern Ireland’s bombers keep up their twisted struggle for mayhem, chaos, instability, and murder.
MAURICE FITZGERALD
Shanbally, Co Cork
Alternative to violence
It seems to me that mainstream nationalists are being blamed for the Troubles because they did not use available democratic means. Stormont, who restarted political violence in 1968 and in front of the world’s news cameras, does not get a mention.
The political system in 1968 was designed to leave nationalists democratically powerless in a Stormont
with a permanent unionist majority. In spite of this nationalists tried twice in the 1960s to reform the sectarian Stormont government – the
CSJ in 1964 and NICRA in 1968. Each time they were rebuffed by Stormont – in 1964 by telling the Commons that there was no discrimination in Northern Ireland. Again in 1968 NICRA demanded full British democratic rights for all citizens. Stormont responded by banning protests and ordered the RUC and B-Specials to clear the streets.
The ban on NICRA protests unleashed loyalist violence, which was not stopped by the RUC. By the autumn Stormont had lost control, and had to call the British Army.
In a democracy surely a basic requirement of a government is to treat all its citizens equally. But in 1969 many nationalist communities had to set up defence committees to protect themselves from their own government forces.
Politicians who claim there was a (viable) alternative to violence should explain when and how this was possible.
PAUL ROCHE
Dublin
Prioritise support for terminally ill
It is harrowing to learn that according to latest research from the University of York that 76 per cent of households in Northern Ireland are expected to be in fuel poverty by January next year, making it the most impacted region of the UK.
The people of Northern Ireland are constantly being hammered with bitter blows on the cost of living, which is spiralling out of control. With inflation tipping the scales at 10.1 per cent, it’s vitally important that politicians and decision-makers join forces to tackle this complex but urgent national crisis.
It’s worrying for all – but it’s placing extra burden on the shoulders of terminally ill people. They are at heightened risk of experiencing fuel poverty. The stark reality is that living in a house that is cold and damp can hasten a terminally ill person’s death.
The secretary of state and Stormont ministers face a moral obligation to take immediate action and prioritise the support promised and provide terminally ill people with targeted financial support for the continually rising costs of energy bills.
This is why Marie Curie is calling for the criteria for the Cost of Living Support Payment and the Winter Fuel Payment to be changed to help all people with a terminal illness, regardless of their age.
JOAN McEWAN
Marie Curie, Belfast
