Tag: DUP
And I was taken off air by RTE for saying that Gregory was a sectarian extremist
This Gregory Campbell…👇 😬
‼️STATEMENT FROM DÁITHÍ‼️
“If we don’t get Dáithí’s Law, I’m gonna crack up!”
#Time4Action #DáithísLaw
@chhcalling
I don’t know how the good Christians @J_Donaldson_MP and @paulgivan can live with themselves.
One person in this photo voted for the Protocol and said it was an opportunity👇👇
Two others have been recorded praising the Protocol and openly stating it wasn’t a threat to the union
Now they’re raging because a Judge agreed with them
Welcome to unionism 👍
Boris Johnson agreed Brexit protocol knowing it was a ‘mess’, says John Major.
Tuesday 7th February, 2023.
John Major has launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson’s handling of Brexit, saying his administration agreed to NI Protocol the despite knowing it was unworkable.
“That must be the first agreement in history that was signed by people who decided it was useless in the first place,” Major told a Westminster committee on Tuesday.
The former Conservative prime minister did not name his successor but expressed astonishment at the acceptance of the protocol, which Johnson used to promote an “oven-ready” Brexit deal in the 2019 election.
He said Britain’s exit from the EU was a “colossal mistake” that had left the UK outside the world’s main three power blocs. “There is America, there is China and there is the European Union. We should be in Europe.”
The blunder was worsened by the agreement to impose checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, he said.
“The protocol is a mess. It was very poorly negotiated,” Major told the Northern Ireland committee. “I think some of the promises made after the protocol that there would be no checks on trade from Britain and Northern Ireland, how those promises came to be made I cannot imagine because they were patently wrong. The protocol needs changing. I am baffled as to how we could have reached a situation where that protocol was accepted.”
Major, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1997, criticised Johnson’s administration for signing the protocol with the EU apparently on the basis that it would be later reformed. He also criticised Johnson and his successor, Liz Truss, for their threats to override the Brexit agreement.
“Even if the protocol bill was wrong that does seem to be a strange way to proceed because that sort of behaviour is pretty unwise. We, the British, would not respond to threats of that sort. Why do we think that the European Union would?”
Major was appearing as a witness at a committee hearing on the effectiveness of the institutions of the 1998 Good Friday agreement. The Democratic Unionist party (DUP) has collapsed power-sharing in Northern Ireland in a protest against the protocol, leaving the Stormont executive and assembly mothballed. The party says the protocol damages the region’s economy and its place in the UK.
We’re hearing from former Prime Minister, Sir John Major.
📺Watch live here: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/22…
https://twitter.com/CommonsNIAC/status/1622914358056570886?t=sjGlj-WQf7dBVpvIPyHytA&s=09
Major said all sides: London, Dublin, Brussels and parties in Northern Ireland, would have to compromise. “A statesmanlike response would be to recognise that nobody is going to get everything they wish, but to accept compromise in the interest of returning democratic government to Northern Ireland. That will not be easy for anyone.”
He said it seemed Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street team was making progress in talks with the EU. In a tacit rebuke to the DUP – and possibly also an appeal to Sunak to face down Tory Brexit hardliners – Major counselled compromise. “Statesmen who do that will succeed. Politicians who keep shouting slogans to their most extreme supporters will not.”
Major lauded the contribution of his Irish counterparts, Albert Reynolds and John Bruton, as well as Northern Ireland party leaders, clerics, civil servants, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair in paving the Good Friday agreement. “This is a settlement that has many parents. No one can claim full paternity.”
He expressed concern that poverty in Northern Ireland was undermining peace and reconciliation. “Economic hardship is a divisive force.”
With many thanks to: The Guardian @TheGuardian and Rory Carroll (Ireland Correspondent)
@roryrorycarroll72 for the original story.
Follow this link to to find out more on this story: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/07/boris-johnson-agreed-brexit-protocol-knowing-it-was-mess-says-john-major#Echobox=1675785051
Time to enact the St. Andrews Agreement which is to enact the GFA agreement.
DUP and ERG Alliance Threatens Fresh Brexit Headache For Rishi Sunak
18th January, 2023
NI’s Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson gave a well-received address to the Conservative party’s staunchly pro-Brexit European Research Group of MP’s on Tuesday night.
Any alliance between the ERG, Brexit’s most uncompromising defenders in Westminster, and the DUP, which has repeatedly warned the UK government that any deal with the EU on the contentious NI Protocol must satisfy its strict demands before it agrees to the restoration of the province’s collapsed government at Stormont, could prove cumbersome for Rishi Sunak should he reach an agreement with Brussels.
Donaldson spoke at the ERG’s monthly plenary for over an hour, taking questions from Conservative MPs about the impasse over the post-Brexit treaty, PoliticsHome understands.
A Tory MP who attended the meeting said the ERG and DUP positions on the protocol, and what the UK should be prepared to accept in its negotiations with Brussels, were “indistinguishable”.
Donaldson’s appearance at the ERG meeting will serve as a reminder to the Prime Minister of the political trouble he could potentially face in the event of reaching an agreement with the European Commission.
Despite having voted and campaigned for Leave at the 2016 referendum, Sunak has struggled to convince some of the avid Brexiteers in his party that he is truly one of them, and risks accusations of making too many concessions to Brussels in a bid to strike a deal on the NI Protocol.
The DUP’s support will prove pivotal to the success of any agreement on Great Britain to the North of Ireland’s trade that avoids a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, and therefore the EU, which is politically untenable.
There has recently been a renewed optimism that the UK and EU will be able to reach an agreement on the NI Protocol prior to the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement on 10th April.
UK and EU negotiators are preparing for several weeks of intense negotiations, with a Whitehall source yesterday telling PoliticsHome there was hope that a deal can be done by mid-February.
Speaking yesterday alongside Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said US President Joe Biden’s administration was “heartened” to see the UK and EU make “substantive progress toward a negotiated solution”, in a further sign that a deal could be close.
Ministers hope that reaching a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol, which has strained UK-EU relations since it came into effect at the start of last year, will persuade Donaldson’s DUP to agree to the formation of a power-sharing government in Stormont, having blocked it for nearly a year.
The treaty was agreed as part of Brexit talks with then prime minister Boris Johnson as a way of avoiding a contentious hard border on the island of Ireland. However, it did so by erecting barriers to trade in the Irish Sea, which the DUP says has undermined NI’s place in the UK.
The biggest obstacle to the DUP’s support for any deal reached in the coming weeks is likely to be the role of the ECJ, with Donaldson warning last week that his party would not support any agreement that did not restore NI’s “constitutional” place in the UK.
Currently, EU law applies in the North of Ireland by virtue of the region’s place in the single market, and disputes arising from the post-Brexit treaty are determined by the European judges. Those familiar with negotiations say it will be the trickiest issue to resolve.
With many thanks to: PoliticsHome and @adampayne26 for the original story.
Follow this link to to read the original publication: DUP and ERG Alliance Threatens Fresh Brexit Headache For Rishi Sunak https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/dup-erg-brexit-alliance-northern-ireland-protocol-rishi-sunak
All Eight DUP MP’s Voted For The Border and Nationality Bill – Leading The Way To The Electronic Travel Authorisation Scheme (ETA) – Which Threatens Our Health Service Provision and Tourism in the North Warns Irish Government.
UK’S CROSS-BORDER TRAVEL PLAN ‘HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC’
CROSS-BORDER services face disruption following the planned introduction of a new travel document by the Conservative and Unionist Party
Non-Irish citizens will need to apply under the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme before being allowed to travel to the North of Ireland. But the planned roll-out of the scheme this year has attracted heavy criticism from a broad spectrum of organisations, from human rights groups to businesses, particularly in the tourism sector.
Now the Dublin government has warned that the ETA “threatens the fluid nature of movement on the Island of Ireland and north-south cooperation including tourism and cross-border service provision”.
“The UK’s plans to establish an ETA-type Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme that would apply to non-Irish residents of Ireland and tourists who wish to travel from south to north are highly problematic,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a strongly worded statement.
“The impact on tourism in the North of Ireland, for example, could be very significant as many tourists arrive in the North of Ireland via this jurisdiction. The NI Tourism Alliance and Tourism Ireland have articulated the risks very clearly.”
The Home Office plans to roll out the ETA over the course of this year with full implementation by its end. On Tuesday night London played down the impact of the ETA on cross-border travel and on communities in the region. Officials claimed it will not be “onerous or burdensome”.
The Home Office also said: “There are – and will continue to to be – no routine immigration controls whatever on the Ireland-NI land border, or on journeys within the Common Travel Area.”
It comes as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s latest comments on the post-Brexit protocol are being viewed positively in London. Downing Street, welcoming what it believes is a shift in tone from Dublin, said it had “always felt it was possible to enact the protocol in a way that was flexible”.
READ MORE:
◾Who were the government ministers from *orthern Ireland who voted along with the Tory Party for the Border and Nationality Bill? That ‘could cost the north’s tourism sector up £160m’? http://seachranaidhe-irishandproud.blogspot.com/2022/04/who-were-government-ministers-from.html?m=1
Mr Varadkar, who became taoiseach last month for the second time, recognised that the protocol had made unionists feel separated from the UK and said the EU was “willing to show flexibility and to make compromises”.
The Home Office plans full implementation of ETA by the end of this year. It applies to all citizens of countries that do not need a visa to enter the UK. The European Union is introducing its own ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) visa waiver document in November but it applies only in the Schengen travel area, not Ireland. While not all details have yet been worked out, the ETA is likely to be valid for two years once successfully applied for. A government spokesperson added: “Those arriving in the UK, including NI, will need to continue to enter in line with the UK’s immigration framework, and follow Electronic Travel Authorisation rules when introduced.
John McGrillen, chief executive of Tourism NI, said in an interview last week: “There’s a little bit of a nonsense.”On the one hand the government are saying you’re required to have it but on the other hand they’re saying no-one will be checking to find out if you have one or not.”
Mr McGrillen, believes tourism will suffer despite assurances from London that they are working “to mitigate concerns”. “If you think of an agent who has been selling Cork and Kerry for decades, and we’ve only started to convince these people to start to sell the North of Ireland, the risk is that when they’re talking to a client they might suggest to them, ‘well, you can save yourself that hassle by just staying south of the border’, he said.
“That’s one of the key risks.”
Transport companies are going to be expected to check and confirm a traveller has the right documentation prior to travel and face penalties for failing to do so, according to the Home Office’s own published documents. The fine could be up to £2,000 per person, the NI Affairs committee heard last year.
The Home Office did not immediately comment on the amount. While the emphasis in the legislation passed last year was on airlines and ferry companies, the onus could land on train and bus firms, tour operators and even taxi companies.
Translink on Tuesday night declined to comment on the potential impact. In its statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs, now led by former taoiseach Micheál Martin, said: “It is welcome that in recent months the Home Office and the NIO have articulated an increased awareness of the complexities such a scheme presents in the context of the North of Ireland and are engaging with us on this matter.
“We will continue to press for exemptions to the UK’s ETA scheme.”
With many thanks thanks to the: Irish News and John Breslin for the original story. Follow these links to find out more on this story:
‼️New rules to apply for non-Irish or British nationals crossing the Irish #border from mid-2023
http://seachranaidhe-irishandproud.blogspot.com/2022/07/new-rules-to-apply-for-non-irish-or.html?m=1
Rebordering NI after Brexit: Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) https://dcubrexitinstitute.eu/2022/06/rebordering-northern-ireland-after-brexit-electronic-travel-authorisation/?s=09
Who were the government ministers from *orthern Ireland who voted along with the Tory Party for the Border and Nationality Bill? That ‘could cost the north’s tourism sector up £160m’? http://seachranaidhe-irishandproud.blogspot.com/2022/04/who-were-government-ministers-from.html?m=1
UVF/UDA Terrorism in association with the DUP
Praise for Tory MP who put the DUP in its place over lack of energy price cap in NI
How surprising, actually to be able to praise a Conservative member of Parliament for pointing out the facts of life to other politicians who have harmed the people! Energy is a devolved responsibility in Northern Ireland, and the reason people there don’t have the safety of a cap on the price of energy per unit is…
Praise for Tory MP who put the DUP in its place over lack of energy price cap in NI
DUP only damaging itself through desire to shift the goalposts on Irish unity
Ian Paisley’s fantasy legislation only continues party’s trend of weakening the Union as perception grows that reunification is looking more likely
Belfast artist Brian John Spencer’s take on DUP MP Ian Paisley’s suggestion of a border poll supermajority bill
The most compelling reason to believe that Irish unity might happen is not that nationalists are likely to win a border poll, but that a hapless unionism might lose it.
Ian Paisley Jr is not a stupid man, but this week he set out a monumentally stupid idea.
(1) Ian Paisley Jr is not a stupid man, but this week he set out a monumentally stupid idea. In attempting to strengthen the Union, he weakened it – just as the DUP has been doing for years. The episode confirms Jamie Bryson’s role in directing DUP policy.
(2) Cartoon of Ian Paisley’s hapless attempt to move the goalposts on Irish unity drawn yesterday at very short notice by the outstandingly talented @brianjohnspencr.
seachranaidhe1 
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