So the DUP’s arch enemy of the protocol, Edwin Poots, has been found guilty of taking an ‘overtly political’ and unlawful decision to halt Irish Sea border checks on named goods coming from Britain into the north. It was argued in court that this was a personal decision taken by Mr Poots, and as such, it is he who should shoulder the legal costs of this case. Unfortunately, it will almost certainly end up that the substantial costs will be met out of the public purse, meaning that it will be me and you who will pay.
This High Court decision came at the end of a week when the DUP and its leader Jeffrey Donaldson, were yet again in the headlights, when the publication of further facts and figures proved conclusively that the Northern Ireland Protocol has had no negative affects on trade between GB and the north. Despite the uninformed tirades from Donaldson, newly published figures showed an increase in trade between Britain and the north throughout 2021. The report also conncluded that the protocol had benefited the six counties by allowing them to freely trade with Britain and the European Union.
Also, during the same week, the current British PM, Rishi Sunak, paid a short visit to this outpost of the UK and made no public reference to the protocol nor to the DUP’s refusal to nominate a speaker. The message was, however, very clear, the British government and the European Union would continue negotiations over the protocol and eventually reach an agreed compromise. The DUP would have no role to play in this process and its failure to allow the devolved institutions to get up and running was of no consequence whatsoever.
As so often in the past, the DUP have painted themselves into a corner and are arrogantly refusing to do the right thing. It is widely acknowledged that the DUP are not a forward looking party and are still enmeshed in the anti-nationalist politics of some 50 years ago. They are quite prepared to allow all the citizens of the north to suffer more than necessary during this recession to suit their own partisan politics, and refuse to do anything to ease their plight.
As the recession worsens we hear daily of families being unable to heat their homes, mothers going hungry so that their children can have food. For many, Christmas has brought sorrow and shame as parents weresimply not able to buy their children the presents that are expected at this time of the year.
In fact, it should be the British government hanging its head in shame as it has created this situation, and it should be the DUP grovelling for forgiveness for worsening this intolerable situation for its own selfish aims.
SEAN SEELEY
Craigavon, Co Armagh
Twisted uniformed diatribe
The letters page in The Irish News can be a great platform for debate and conversation. Information gleaned from contributors can be educational, informative and can induce healthy debate. I always look at the contributors name before I read the letter and my heart always sinks when I read ‘Robert Sullivan, Bantry, Co Cork. Never have I read such twisted, anti-republican, anti-nationalist anti-six counties uninformed diatribe contributed to your letters page. His anti-six county rants are insulting and patronising to northern nationalists who have lived under the jackboot of British tyranny, MI5 collusion, housing discrimination,job discrimination, loyalist death squads directed from Whitehall. He rants from his Bantry Bay ivory tower how wonderful the north would be if those pesky navel-gazing nationalists just got on with it. His anti-six county rants are too numerous to mention but rest assured he’ll shoehorn those ungrateful fenians into his letters. His latest bile – ‘Peacekeeping tragedy’ (December 20) – is to indulge in ‘recreational grief’ concerning the death of Private Sean Rooney in Lebanon. In a breathtaking analogy he literally contorts onto the deaths of the two British army corporals killed at Casement Park. Mr Sullivan are you aware of the context of their deaths? Are you experienced in living in the north during those troubled years? Have you ever lived under British/unionist misrule? Have you ever had your 14-year-old sister shot and killed by a British squaddie? Have you ever had your front door kicked in in the middle of the night to be confronted by drunk British soldiers with blackened faces turning your home upside-down and calling you obscene names? Northern nationalists have suffered the slings and arrows of British/unionist hegemony.
Robert Sullivan has the arrogance and cheek to pontificate and lecture northern nationalists on how to live their lives under British rule from his Bantry Bay ivory tower. Take it down from the mast.
PAUL LIVINGSTONE
Belfast BT11
Complaint to prime minister
I wish it to be noted that my complaint to the prime minister regarding his recent visit – ‘NI Tories furious at Sunak ‘snub’ during recent visit to north’ (December 21) – was made on behalf of the members of the NI Conservative party based in West Tyrone, Mid-Ulster and Fermanagh & South Tyrone after consulting with them at our annual ‘West of the Bann’ Christmas dinner event held on Monday December 19 and was not made on behalf of the NI Regional (Council) party.
This was due to the fact that the next scheduled council meeting is not for another six weeks due to seasonal holidays and we felt that the matter needed to be addressed immediately.
ROGER LOMAS
Representative on the Executive Council of the NI Federation in the Conservative and Unionist Party
Special envoy needs to take unionist views on board
Joe Kennedy III (42) who served as the US representative for Massachusetts’s fourth congressional district from 2013 to 2021 and having served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic for two years has been confirmed as the new United States special envoy to Northern Ireland. In this capacity, he will focus on advancing economic development and investment opportunities in Northern Ireland benefiting all communities and promoting ties between the US and Northern Ireland. The scion of one of America’s most famous political families and Harvard Law school graduate tweeted that the appointment was “an incredible honour”.
“Look forward to working with the Biden administration to reaffirm US commitment to Northern Ireland and to promote economic prosperity and opportunity for its entire people,” he added. While the newly appointed US envoy amid transatlantic tensions needs to take the views and concerns of unionists on board, it is also vital the United States better understands the real concerns all political parties have pertaining to the Northern Ireland Protocol and its ramifications.
GERRY COUGHLAN
Dublin 24
