What are we to make of Loyalist paramilitary groups withdrawing support for the Good Friday Agreement over the invidious trade border that now exists in the Irish sea?
The Loyalist Communities Council, a group that represents the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Red Hand Commando, has written to Boris Johnson and Ireland’s Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, warning of ‘permanent destruction’ of the 1998 peace agreement unless changes are made to the Brexit agreement.
‘If you or the EU is not prepared to honour the entirety of the agreement then you will be responsible for the permanent destruction of the agreement,’ David Campbell, the chairman of the LCC, said.
Could Loyalists return again to the violence that left so many innocent people butchered and terrorised? For now, thankfully, this latest iteration of hard line Loyalist sentiment comes with several caveats.
Dissident Republicans are animated by grievance and thwarted ambitions
Their target is the Northern Ireland Protocol, the greasy lubricant of Brexit that looks to have
disadvantaged all communities on the island of Ireland.
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