The Protocol Brawl!

The Irish Government:
The first question is what Coveney has done to help and bring closure to this saga. The answer, next to nothing. His bland Frankenstein appearance added to his thoughtful insights, like any unliteral action by the UK to change the protocol could undermine the peace process, is without foundation. This was a guy who as part of the Varadkar government who used the pretence of violence to ensure that there was no hard border on the island of Ireland. Then there is Neal Richmond” The Grumpy” who bangs on like a broken record about lying Boris and he signed it blah blah blah. I know he signed it and I know he lied about the protocol and duped the DUP. What we now need is a solution to ensure stability and let our guys and girls get on and pretend that they are governing and making difference to people’s lives. Political pragmatism my friend, political pragmatism. Do you really want to undermine the GFA? Then there was Emer Currie who from a political viewpoint was Richmond in drag, though her revelation that the solutions to the protocol are within the legal framework of the protocol. The question is, why has anyone in her government not found it. When asked a straight question, what is more important the protocol or the GFA, the answer, prevarication.
Finally, Micheál Martin would be better spending his time in Brussels with his European counterparts rather than in Belfast and being the bridge between the UK and the EU that the Irish Government should always have been.

The DUP’s:
The fact that the DUP were screwed by Boris is irrefutable however, they continued from then to be engaged in political self-harm by pandering to Bryson and Allister. They were a Brexit party and poor old Jeffery has been trying to dig them out of the protocol hole ever since. There are clearly flaws in the protocol which need addressed, the major one being its over bureaucratic implementation based on a zero-risk strategy.
Advice, keep Ian of the media, no more representation at anti protocol rallies, keep away from Allister and be grateful that Edwin came across as engaged and reasonable on Nolan Live. The protocol will not be scrapped but can be amended to work a lot better for businesses and consumers here and in addition ensure the integrity of the EU single market. I understand you have a mandate around these issues but capitulating to the unsavoury elements of the anti-protocol coalition that are suggesting civil unrest will cause yet more political self-harm. When this is sorted, one of your guys or girls must without prevarication embrace their new job title as Deputy First Minister.

Sinn Fein:
It is quite simple that in raw political terms, a party who do not recognise the legitimacy of Northern Ireland and whose primary goal is Irish unification, why would they do anything other than support a protocol that makes life difficult in Northern Ireland. This is not any type of political analysis but the nature of politics in this place. In terms of social cohesion, maybe the Sinn Fein strategy is that a little social unrest does not do “us” any political damage when seen through the prism of Irish unification. The reality is when a border poll is called it might be the electorate in the 26 counties who begin to go off the idea of unification. To me politics has always been about trying to improve the human condition through the art of political pragmatism, here it is about tribal advantage wonderfully expressed by Mary Lou.

The Alliance Party:
The party that is impaled on the picket fence of politics and is morphing into the image of their great leader with their spokespeople boringly on message “It’s not our fault gov.” It seems they have abandoned the underlying principle of politics, which is problem solving.
Stephen Farry the intellectual beating heart of the party with a PhD in International Affairs, just disappoints. On Newsnight he said that the protocol had the strong and broad support of the electorate. Seriously, most people I known have not read it, even fewer understanding it, let alone actively support it. Then he followed up with the usual platitudes of building trust, goodwill and partnership with the EU. He went on to say there were major challenges in the protocol though it had advantages in accessing the single market. Oh! the fence thing again. Furthermore, he mused that we are a diverse and interdependent society, what that has exactly got to do with the practicalities implementing the protocol, is beyond me. Now you can understand what I mean by a party that wants to be all things to all people all the time.
The SDLP, UUP AND TUV:
Not going to tire my two index fingers on these three.

The EU:
As someone who voted remain, I am bitterly disappointed with the lack of political pragmatism shown by the EU. I get that Boris signed it and it is a legally binding international agreement, but its implementation is genuinely causing problem, as has been acknowledged by all parties here. I cannot understand the political rationale of the EU dragging this thing on. Can I suggest, we start from the premise that a zero-risk strategy is stupid. Let us all agree we want to remove 90% of checks and 90% of the paperwork for goods that are consumed in the NI by the NI consumer and NI businesses. Is this really rocket science?

I am also surprised by how much oxygen and bandwidth this is taking up in the EU. The UK, the EU’s most important security ally in Europe is also the largest single supplier of arms to Ukraine. This effort by the UK is playing a significant part in protecting the EU’s eastern border. The UK’s contribution is greater than Germany, France and other EU countries such as Belgium. It was Belgium’s PM who threatened a trade war with the UK if the UK unilaterally changed the protocol. What planet is he on?
Article 16 states the following: “If the application of this Protocol leads to serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade, the Union or the United Kingdom may unilaterally take appropriate safeguard measures. Such safeguard measures shall be restricted with regard to their scope and duration to what is strictly necessary in order to remedy the situation. Priority shall be given to such measures as will least disturb the functioning of this Protocol.” Is there likely to be any serious economic, societal or environmental impact on the EU because of the protocol, I think not.

The US:
My only advice to Nancy is, butt out. Threatening your closest and most important ally who is the second largest contributor to the war in Ukraine with no trade deal over a movement of goods protocol, quite frankly beggar’s belief and she does not even espouse any Irish ancestry. The suggestion that this dispute between the EU and the UK is going to threaten the peace in the North is the sort of nonsense that got the trade border moved from land to the sea. Chollet called for no unilateral action, maybe he can quietly knock heads together to get some action. He is right to suggest that a stand-off between allies over the movement of sausages and stuff, in the middle of a battle between democracies and authoritarianism, is a bit pathetic.
The British Government/ Tory Party.
It is self-evident that the Tory Party and Boris pulled of a fast one on the entire UK population and the EU to “Get Brexit Done” and to reiterate I voted to remain. The protocol is the unfortunate legacy of that, but it still needs sorted and not because of the rantings of Bryson and Allister but because elements of the protocol are just silly. I ordered a pair of walking boots from a company in England who informed that they no longer supplied customers in Northern Ireland. I changed my delivery address to my nephews in Liverpool and he forwarded them to me. Now, really is this not just daft. The EU and Simon may have a justifiable gripe with Boris, Lord Frost and Co and believe me so do I, but surely you must have the wit to understand it is not worth sacrificing social cohesion up here or, is it simply that Simon does not really care about us.
I make a request for the British Government, the EU, the Irish Government and a sensible caucus (if one can be found) from here to get on and put this dam protocol issue to bed in the interest of the collective sanity of all citizens of this province.

“I swear on the Holy Good Friday Agreement that I will never mention the Protocol ever again”

Let us know what you think in the comments section 👇