The NI/ROI Protocol

nivilla1982

Member
Livestock Farmer
The 1998 Assembly Election saw UUP, SDLP, SINN FEIN, DUP, ALLIANCE, PUP, UK Unionist, 3 three independent unionists and the NI Women's Coalition all claim more than 1 seat
.
2003 Election saw the DUP, SINN FEIN, UUP, SDLP, ALLIANCE, PUP, UK Unionist and an independent Health Campaigner (West Tyrone) elected.

2007 saw DUP, SINN FEIN, UUP, SDLP, ALLIANCE, GREEN, PUP, Independent Health Campaigner elected.

2011 saw DUP, Sinn Fein SDLP, UUP, Alliance, TUV, Green and Independent Unionist (David McCLarty, a selection issue internal to the UUP in the East Londonderry constituency saw McClarty the sitting UUP MLA run and win a seat as an independent unionist)

2016 saw DUP, Sinn Fein, UUP, SDLP, Alliance, TUV, Green and People Before Profit win seats
2017 saw the same parties returned but with a reduction from 108 MLAs to 90MLAs. With 5 MLAs per constituency rather than 6.

So 1998 probably marked the "highpoint" of party diversity in the Assembly Chamber.
 

alex04w

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Co Antrim
I had an interesting chat with a Roman Catholic in South Antrim last night. He is a retired civil servant.

As far as I know from what he has said in the past, he has for many years voted Ulster Unionist.

He said he could not vote for them this time and he would never vote for the DUP. So this election he is voting TUV as Jim Allister is the only man to trust. His comment was that quite a few in his area think the same and he expected the TUV to do very well.

I was very surprised to hear he was switching from UU to TUV. It could be an interesting election.
 

Ashtree

Member
Hmmm. I’d imagine retired catholic civil servant types, are unlikely to be numerous enough to have a meaningful impact on any election. The well to do Catholics who wouldn’t touch SF with a barge pole, don’t exist in meaningful numbers I imagine.
But, maybe that’s just my impression, and far from reality.
 

pgk

Member
Not that it's a nationalist constituency, but that it's a border constituency. The difference may sound subtle, but it's quite important, especially looking through his eyes. He saw first hand the ethnic cleansing campaign, particularly of protestant farmers, and like with Arlene Foster, it's a scar on their soul and psyche that will remain to the grave. Saying it's because it's a nationalist constituency suggests it's because he just doesn't like Catholics, which I don't think would be the case at all. He doesn't like murderers, especially ones who literally got away with it. And I'm sure the same can be said of many of the families of victims of loyalist terrorists, and of those who believe they were murdered by state forces. They are quite within their rights to bear those scars - they didn't ask to have them. But the problem for the youth of the land is that we need to get on with the business of being normal again, for their sake as well as our own. I think that means paying much more attention to the work of healing those scars than has been done. You could say that's a major failing of the Belfast agreement. Terrorists released to continue their lives, but the victims expected to suck it up for the sake of peace, without much thought for the consequences.
Spot on and from a Nationalist perspective the collusion between the RUC, British security services and Loyalist paramilitaries have left a very deep seated distrust of all things British. Not sure what the answer is but the lack of investigation and prosecutions of serving officers who may have dobbed their paymasters in has left a lasting and uncomfortable legacy.
 

The Agrarian

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northern Ireland
All depends on how you view that 'collusion'. There was probably many times more collusion between the IRA and special branch/MI5 than with loyalists. It's not how any of us would want to see policing done, but apparently it produced enough positive results to make it worthwhile, in their opinion. They were desperate times, and they used desperate measures.
 

pgk

Member
All depends on how you view that 'collusion'. There was probably many times more collusion between the IRA and special branch/MI5 than with loyalists. It's not how any of us would want to see policing done, but apparently it produced enough positive results to make it worthwhile, in their opinion. They were desperate times, and they used desperate measures.
Not sure the limited published info show more collusion between IRA and security forces. The empirical evidence shows the main collusion was with the RUC and loyalists. The difficulty is of course the collusion was so endemic that cover ups were the norm. When John Stalker was investigating a narrow field of this the evidence his team secured was destroyed by fire in what was reputedly the most secure Police Station in the UK. If this had come into the public domain the names of those pulling the strings would have been revealed which in turn would likely have identified the politicians breaking the law. Ultimately one cannot expect people to have confidence in the law if the politicians and morally bankrupt civil servants break the law with impunity. Kind of explains why Boriz and co have no qualms in threatening to breach the NI protocol.
 

wdah/him

Member
Location
tyrone
only way to move past the past is forget all of it from both sides or deal with all of it from both side, problem being too many other stories and cover ups and bigger problem is there would be less money through at ni to keep everyone happy.
 

The Agrarian

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northern Ireland
Not sure the limited published info show more collusion between IRA and security forces. The empirical evidence shows the main collusion was with the RUC and loyalists. The difficulty is of course the collusion was so endemic that cover ups were the norm. When John Stalker was investigating a narrow field of this the evidence his team secured was destroyed by fire in what was reputedly the most secure Police Station in the UK. If this had come into the public domain the names of those pulling the strings would have been revealed which in turn would likely have identified the politicians breaking the law. Ultimately one cannot expect people to have confidence in the law if the politicians and morally bankrupt civil servants break the law with impunity. Kind of explains why Boriz and co have no qualms in threatening to breach the NI protocol.

Oh sure you know it was massive. The British government was making deals with Adams and McGuinness from about 74 if memory serves me. Special branch thwarted an assassination attempt on Adams by loyalists. And so on and so on. There were agents and double agents, and half of them didn't know who was who by the nineties. Which was part of the strategy that broke the terrorists down. It's not the sort of business you can retrospectively apply clean moral justice to and feel comfortable with the results.
 

The Agrarian

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northern Ireland
He's also got an experienced young ex military man behind him standing in Foyle, most recent deployment I think was training Ukrainian army post russian invasion of Crimea. Have heard him speak. Extremely energetic character, positive, outreaching, liberal, cares about working class kids of any colour. He's still developing, but he strikes me as having an awful lot of promise.
 

nivilla1982

Member
Livestock Farmer
His book "An Ordinary Soldier" is an interesting read.
Joined the Royal Irish as an enlisted man, served for 28 years rising to Regimental Sergeant Major of The Royal Irish, then was granted a late entry commision as a Captain. Earned the Military Cross in Afghanistan (UK's third highest decoration) . Still in Army Reserves as a Major.
 

nivilla1982

Member
Livestock Farmer
Northern Ireland could be forced to follow EU rules on Covid tests
Whitehall infighting over plans to carve province out of UK’s Coronavirus Test Device Approval regulations to comply with protocol
Steven Edginton 11 April 2022 • 9:00pm
Northern Ireland Executive officials have warned there could be fewer or lower quality Covid tests as a result of the change Credit: Geoff Pugh/for the Telegraph
European Union rules for Covid tests are set to replace British law in Northern Ireland despite warnings that the move risks shortages and will infuriate Unionists.
Whitehall is riven by infighting over plans to carve the province out of the UK's Coronavirus Test Device Approval (CTDA) regulations to comply with the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The protocol means the country has continued to follow some EU rules after Brexit, including for medical devices, to prevent the need for a hard Irish border.
The EU's Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation is set to come into force in on May 26 and, under protocol rules, must take precedence over the CTDA in Northern Ireland.
Health officials want a statutory instrument laid in parliament to take Northern Ireland out of the CTDA, which has been in force since July last year. One suggested doing otherwise would mean breaking UK and international law, according to correspondence seen by The Telegraph.
The statutory instrument would "expedite passage and minimise parliamentary handling" an internal document said.
Foreign Office and Northern Ireland Office officials were "strongly against" the move. Emails seen by The Telegraph showed they were angry not to be warned sooner and now feel restrained from action by "purdah" rules ahead of the Northern Ireland elections.
They would prefer a delay until after the May 5 vote, widely expected to be a de facto referendum on the protocol.
Placeholder image for youtube video: fBS-yzH7hhA
The DUP, which walked out of the power-sharing government in protest at the protocol, argues that it is driving a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Britain and the EU are also in protocol negotiations over cutting the number of customs controls faced by British goods entering Northern Ireland.
There has been an uneasy truce since Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, dialled down British threats to suspend parts of the protocol by triggering Article 16, but the supplanting of British law in Northern Ireland is likely to reignite calls from Tory backbenchers for Article 16 to be invoked.
Brussels has warned that such a move would risk the EU cancelling its trade deal with the UK.
Northern Ireland Executive officials have told London they resent being ripped out of the CTDA and warned there could be fewer or lower quality Covid tests in the province as a result. Most of Northern Ireland's supplies of tests come from Britain, which increases the risk of shortages.
Ireland, which could supply EU-compliant tests, put limits on sales of tests during the most recent surge of the virus.
Using the national stockpile to make up a Northern Irish test shortage would risk crippling the UK's emergency response to a new Covid variant, officials warned in documents obtained by The Telegraph.
"Using the stock in this scenario would significantly weaken the UK-wide contingency response if such a response were needed," one said. The tests would still need to comply with the new EU standards, it added, before describing the risk of shortages as "small".
Northern Ireland officials were "extremely concerned about the prospect of being in a separate regulatory regime to the UK and are concerned what this means for both the supply and quality of tests available to the people of Northern Ireland," the paper said.
It warned: "They are also concerned that it could cause increased tensions in the Unionist community."
The CTDA has, for the time being, higher standards for Covid tests than the EU regulation. It sets minimum standards for test performance, while the EU rules do not at this stage.
The Whitehall document includes the draft of a letter which it suggests could be sent to Robin Swann, Northern Ireland's health minister.
"I and my officials have explored ways of keeping Northern Ireland in the same regulatory regime as the rest of the UK, however this is not possible," the letter reads. "I know this is disappointing news as you have been a strong supporter of the CTDA since its introduction."

 

Ashtree

Member
Northern Ireland could be forced to follow EU rules on Covid tests
Whitehall infighting over plans to carve province out of UK’s Coronavirus Test Device Approval regulations to comply with protocol
Steven Edginton 11 April 2022 • 9:00pm
Northern Ireland Executive officials have warned there could be fewer or lower quality Covid tests as a result of the change Credit: Geoff Pugh/for the Telegraph
European Union rules for Covid tests are set to replace British law in Northern Ireland despite warnings that the move risks shortages and will infuriate Unionists.
Whitehall is riven by infighting over plans to carve the province out of the UK's Coronavirus Test Device Approval (CTDA) regulations to comply with the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The protocol means the country has continued to follow some EU rules after Brexit, including for medical devices, to prevent the need for a hard Irish border.
The EU's Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation is set to come into force in on May 26 and, under protocol rules, must take precedence over the CTDA in Northern Ireland.
Health officials want a statutory instrument laid in parliament to take Northern Ireland out of the CTDA, which has been in force since July last year. One suggested doing otherwise would mean breaking UK and international law, according to correspondence seen by The Telegraph.
The statutory instrument would "expedite passage and minimise parliamentary handling" an internal document said.
Foreign Office and Northern Ireland Office officials were "strongly against" the move. Emails seen by The Telegraph showed they were angry not to be warned sooner and now feel restrained from action by "purdah" rules ahead of the Northern Ireland elections.
They would prefer a delay until after the May 5 vote, widely expected to be a de facto referendum on the protocol.
Placeholder image for youtube video: fBS-yzH7hhA
The DUP, which walked out of the power-sharing government in protest at the protocol, argues that it is driving a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Britain and the EU are also in protocol negotiations over cutting the number of customs controls faced by British goods entering Northern Ireland.
There has been an uneasy truce since Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, dialled down British threats to suspend parts of the protocol by triggering Article 16, but the supplanting of British law in Northern Ireland is likely to reignite calls from Tory backbenchers for Article 16 to be invoked.
Brussels has warned that such a move would risk the EU cancelling its trade deal with the UK.
Northern Ireland Executive officials have told London they resent being ripped out of the CTDA and warned there could be fewer or lower quality Covid tests in the province as a result. Most of Northern Ireland's supplies of tests come from Britain, which increases the risk of shortages.
Ireland, which could supply EU-compliant tests, put limits on sales of tests during the most recent surge of the virus.
Using the national stockpile to make up a Northern Irish test shortage would risk crippling the UK's emergency response to a new Covid variant, officials warned in documents obtained by The Telegraph.
"Using the stock in this scenario would significantly weaken the UK-wide contingency response if such a response were needed," one said. The tests would still need to comply with the new EU standards, it added, before describing the risk of shortages as "small".
Northern Ireland officials were "extremely concerned about the prospect of being in a separate regulatory regime to the UK and are concerned what this means for both the supply and quality of tests available to the people of Northern Ireland," the paper said.
It warned: "They are also concerned that it could cause increased tensions in the Unionist community."
The CTDA has, for the time being, higher standards for Covid tests than the EU regulation. It sets minimum standards for test performance, while the EU rules do not at this stage.
The Whitehall document includes the draft of a letter which it suggests could be sent to Robin Swann, Northern Ireland's health minister.
"I and my officials have explored ways of keeping Northern Ireland in the same regulatory regime as the rest of the UK, however this is not possible," the letter reads. "I know this is disappointing news as you have been a strong supporter of the CTDA since its introduction."

Another success for Brexit.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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