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Northern Ireland is in more danger since Brexit

(132 Posts)
varian Wed 07-Apr-21 14:27:07

The Northern Ireland Justice Minister, Naomi Long of the Alliance Party, has expressed concern over the DUP meeting with a group representing loyalist paramilitaries to discuss opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

DUP leader Arlene Foster, deputy leader Nigel Dodds and East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson met on Thursday with the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC).

The group is an umbrella organisation representing the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando.

Mrs Foster defended the meeting, saying it was "important that all communities have a voice in the political process".

But Justice Minister Naomi Long responded: "Proscribed terrorist organisations are not a legitimate part of our community. They aren't stakeholders to be consulted."

"They are a malignant force destroying our community. Our job as ministers is to eradicate paramilitarism, not give them a platform or legitimacy," the Alliance Party leader said on Twitter.

Loyalists have voiced anger over Northern Ireland's post-Brexit arrangements under the protocol, which ensures an open border with the Republic of Ireland but means extra checks and processes on trade from Britain.

www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/justice-minister-naomi-long-reacts-19915745

Nightsky2 Thu 08-Apr-21 13:52:39

You could start the conversation by telling him that he mustn’t hang up on you like he did with the other person.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 08-Apr-21 17:42:48

Someone always suffers from Johnson’s lies.

If there is any justice Johnson will one day pay the price from all this suffering

Whitewavemark2 Thu 08-Apr-21 17:49:12

For not from

welbeck Thu 08-Apr-21 18:01:23

unfortunately i think the govt of johnson knows that most people in britain don't really know or care about northern ireland.
i think most wouldn't care if they declared UDI or whatever.
i am talking about the generality, esp of younger people.
it does not garner much interest in england.
don't know about wales and scotland.
as for the more well-informed/ interested, the govt were warned that brexit would jeopardise the GFA; they were palmed off as scare-mongering.

silverlining48 Thu 08-Apr-21 18:20:13

I noticed in the months prior to the Brexit referendum that the situation of N.Ireland was barely, if ever, mentioned. It was all going to be so easy. Hmm!
After decades of the Troubles, all that suffering, it would be terrible if things to reverted to how they were. Those on the streets now are too young to remember how bad it was.

3nanny6 Thu 08-Apr-21 18:23:12

Wellbeck : I think that most people in Britain do know about
Northern Ireland and there will be many that will never forget the bombings carried out in U.K. associated with the troubles.

Many of us know that Brexit would put the GFA at risk.
All the lies that everything would be okay was just a cover up.
I hope all the leaders in Northern Ireland get together soon
and get the violence stopped we need to go forward not back to past times.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 08-Apr-21 19:22:40

Johnson wraps himself in the Union flag whilst at the same time risks breaking up the whole Union.

varian Thu 08-Apr-21 19:27:44

Unless we get rid of this ultra-right wing English nationalist Vote Leave government soon, we can probably wave goodbye to the United Kingdom and its flag.

Jaxjacky Thu 08-Apr-21 20:04:09

3nanny6 people in England/Wales/Scotland May know of N Ireland but few about N Ireland. Yes, the IRA campaign on the mainland, because it affected us, the rest of the time there is a dearth of news.

PippaZ Thu 08-Apr-21 20:08:58

Whitewavemark2

The BBC appears to be doing the governments work and ignoring the issue.

The loyalists have been rioting for 7 days without break, citing the Brexit agreement.

Project fear they all said.

There is a long piece on Channel 4 News Whitewave.

PippaZ Thu 08-Apr-21 20:18:26

Brexit will continue to unwind. It will not be good for democracy. With the PM taking a week to issue a tweet on the difficulties I think we can guess whose purpose these issues will serve. More anti-democratic Bills shortly to go through Parliament "just in case" or "because of the current difficulty"? I think both John Major and Tony Blair will be holding their heads in their hands as they both warned us.

varian Thu 08-Apr-21 22:12:50

Things are so serious in NI that the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation has the riots at the top of the news. A week too late but it just shows how serious these new troubles are.

vegansrock Fri 09-Apr-21 06:00:24

The majority of the electorate in NI, who just want to live in a moderate peaceful society did not vote for Brexit and they have been short changed by Westminster and the DUP.
This will rumble on and on causing more divisions for the people of NI, as if they have not had enough for the past 100 years plus.

Whitewavemark2 Fri 09-Apr-21 06:56:00

I think that the BBC has been slow in reporting the Brexit riots because no statue of a slave owner has been torn down.

Whitewavemark2 Fri 09-Apr-21 08:01:41

Biden has warned Johnson to get his act together after having received a brief on NI.

Greyduster Fri 09-Apr-21 09:00:39

I think this would have happened sooner or later anyway - if it hadn’t been Brexit it would have been something else. Ever since the Good Friday Agreement and the joke that was decommissioning, there have always been those who were waiting in the wings for a catalyst - any catalyst - to kick all the violence off again. The people of Northern Ireland deserve better.

PippaZ Fri 09-Apr-21 09:13:08

I think this would have happened sooner or later anyway - if it hadn’t been Brexit it would have been something else

Where is the proof of that Greyduster? It sounds like just the sort of throw away line people use to justify their faith in something that has let others down and, without doubt, Johnson has let NI down. He lied. That is the truth of the matter. Worse still he lied because he hadn't bothered to understand what he was doing or, if he did understand, he was planning the breakup of the Union - as the English Nationalist that he is might well do.

Whatever his reason he doesn't have the skills to put right what he has done. Let's hope others do, and that it can be contained while they do it as I do not believe it will end in Ireland.

MaizieD Fri 09-Apr-21 09:17:51

Greyduster

I think this would have happened sooner or later anyway - if it hadn’t been Brexit it would have been something else. Ever since the Good Friday Agreement and the joke that was decommissioning, there have always been those who were waiting in the wings for a catalyst - any catalyst - to kick all the violence off again. The people of Northern Ireland deserve better.

Well, we now have Brexit Extremists, like Kate Hooey, claiming that the rioting is a result of the Protocol, that Brexit hasn't been done 'properly' in N I and the GFA must be repudiated.

Are they truly utterly bonkers?
Or would tearing up the GFA actually improve the situation.. hmm

Alexa Fri 09-Apr-21 09:48:24

We knew from the start Brexit was inconsistent with the Peace Agreement for Northern Ireland. I come from liberal Protestant Northern Irish family and culture and I support calls for a united European Ireland. Now that the Roman Catholic Church has relaxed its deadly hold on Eire a united Ireland would be a peaceful , civilised place, and a light to the rest of the British Isles.

EllanVannin Fri 09-Apr-21 09:54:34

This is wanton thuggery when you have young children and teens entering into the fray who certainly aren't old enough to remember previous troubles.

MaizieD Fri 09-Apr-21 10:12:00

EllanVannin

This is wanton thuggery when you have young children and teens entering into the fray who certainly aren't old enough to remember previous troubles.

They are being egged on by people who do remember, EV. This is not a spontaneous demonstration.

MaizieD Fri 09-Apr-21 10:14:32

Alexa

We knew from the start Brexit was inconsistent with the Peace Agreement for Northern Ireland. I come from liberal Protestant Northern Irish family and culture and I support calls for a united European Ireland. Now that the Roman Catholic Church has relaxed its deadly hold on Eire a united Ireland would be a peaceful , civilised place, and a light to the rest of the British Isles.

But what about the Unionists, Alexa? I think it's a splendid aspiration, but would they accept it?

EllanVannin Fri 09-Apr-21 10:21:56

Pathetic Maizie, pathetic. Is all I can say.

EllanVannin Fri 09-Apr-21 10:25:15

Any excuse to create mayhem. shock Utterly disgusting !

trisher Fri 09-Apr-21 10:27:31

On every occasion when Ireland has become once again a focus of violence many lives have been lost before any compromise has been reached. It happened in 1916 and in the 1960s Troubles. The Good Friday Agreement took huge efforts and the dedicated work of Mo Mowlam to bring peace but it did so after huge numbers people were dead or injured. I do hope this can be resolved quickly and peacefully, but I fear it will just escalate once again.
I think at some point in the future Ireland will have to become a united country. We may need to offer Unionists the same sort of deal as we are now giving people from Hong Kong, or ask the Eire government to grant them and their families permission to keep their UK citizenship, with permanent residence in Eire.