Sir, – Oh, the irony of seeing the DUP collapsing the Stormont Executive while stood in front of their slogan “Let’s get NI moving again”. – Yours, etc,
ANTHONY MORAN,
Bundoran,
Co Donegal.
Sir, – The DUP has become a party whose policies and leadership are even more comically incoherent than Boris Johnson’s Conservatives. Frankly, I didn’t think that was possible. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL McDERMOTT,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – Once again Northern Ireland has been plunged into political crisis, and the Northern Ireland Protocol is alleged to be the reason for it.
The “blame game” has already started. Sinn Féin blames the DUP, the DUP blames everybody but itself. Both parties are cynically exploiting the situation so that they may deflect blame from themselves as they jockey for position to become the First Minister whenever the Assembly election takes place.
The truth is that they both are to blame.
When Theresa May was UK prime minister, the DUP allied with hard-line Conservative Brexiteers and others to vote down Theresa May’s withdrawal deal which would actually have prevented a hard border.
Between March and April 2019, there were a number of key votes in the Westminster parliament that would have kept not only Northern Ireland, but the UK as a whole, in the EU customs union.
In particular, there were two amendments from former British chancellor Ken Clarke which were defeated on March 28th, 2019, by six votes and on April 1st by three votes. If the DUP had voted in favour of either of these amendments, although Brexit would still have gone ahead, it would nonetheless have resulted in a situation where the entire UK would have remained in the EU-UK customs union and this would have prevented ongoing Great Britain-Northern Ireland trading problems from ever arising.
Alternatively, even without the DUP changing its voting position, had Sinn Féin, as well as taking their expenses, ended their futile policy of abstentionism and supported the Clarke amendments, the exact same positive outcome would also have occurred.
Instead, these two parties betrayed the real interests not only of the people of Northern Ireland but also of the Republic of Ireland by pursuing selfish party political interests which they are now repeating. If either had acted differently, there would never have been a need for a “Northern Ireland Protocol” in the first place.
I hope the electorate in Northern Ireland remember this when the forthcoming Assembly election takes place. – Yours, etc,
JOHN CUSHNAHAN,
( Former Fine Gael MEP
and former leader
of Alliance Party),
Lisnagry,
Co Limerick.
Sir, – Surely there should be a protocol in place to prevent the collapse of the NI Executive? – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL WILSON,
Belfast.
Sir, – The DUP has thrown its Brexit and NI Protocol toys out of the pram. It is now up to its British parent, the mother of parliaments, to place the toys firmly back in the pram and tell its DUP baby that there are no other toys to play with. – Yours, etc,
JACK FLYNN,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
Sir,– Jeffrey Donaldson says he intends “to take the DUP’s case to the people of Northern Ireland so that they could have their say”. The last time this same electorate had their say was to reject Brexit! Good luck with that one, Jeffrey! – Yours, etc,
COLM O’ROURKE,
Marino,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – The action of DUP minister Edwin Poots on border checks, which faces a legal challenge, must surely add to the despair of people across the political divide who need and deserve responsible government at a challenging post-Brexit, post-Covid time of rising inflation and high energy costs. The DUP is optimistic that it will be supported electorally for its stance. I suspect that this will be yet another strategic error, adding to an already lengthy list of same. – Yours, etc,
NEVILLE SCARGILL,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.