Letter: The DUP and the UUP have fallen for Sinn Fein’s Trojan Horse trap and now serve no useful role in defending NI's place within UK

On November 24, 2014, Gerry Adams (a Sinn Fein TD at the time) said that he was often asked what the point of Sinn Fein sharing power with the DUP in Stormont actually was.

His response was revealing: “The point is to actually break these b******s - that’s the point. And what’s going to break them is equality. That’s what we need to keep the focus on and that’s the Trojan Horse of the entire republican strategy...”

That the republican movement is scheming, conniving and duplicitous was not, and is not, shocking nor surprising. But what has surprised many in recent weeks is just how quickly the DUP has abandoned its opposition to the NI Protocol, embraced Sinn Fein as a trusted partner in the executive and assembly and attacked the politics and character of unionists who remain opposed to the constitutional and economic damage inflicted on NI by the Protocol.

Within the space of three months the DUP has metamorphosed from a party honouring its electoral mandate to reject the NI Protocol and to refuse to restore an executive at Stormont, to today’s position in which they de facto accept NI’s economic and political detachment from the United Kingdom and behave in a subservient manner to Sinn Fein at Stormont.

Perhaps blinded by power, patronage and positive accolades from the self-perceived ‘good and great’ across civic society and elements of the media, the DUP has, in recent weeks, accepted the primacy of EU regulations and law in NI, committed their ministers to operate a customs border between NI and the rest of the UK, embraced and supported the proliferation of the Irish language and culture throughout NI, as well as pledging millions of pounds of UK taxpayers’ money to the GAA.

These actions appear intended to reflect the DUP’s new ‘progressive’ and ‘liberal’ disposition. However, they are doomed to fail, for the republican movement has absolutely no intention of making NI work for anyone, never mind work for everyone. They have killed and maimed thousands of innocent citizens in pursuit of a ‘Brits out’, 32-county republic and they are not going to abandon this objective and settle for a powersharing assembly at Stormont.

What they will do, however, is allow the DUP to fulfil the role of ‘useful idiots’ in implementing policies and initiatives that serve the republican movement’s objectives. For example, whilst the DUP believe they are demonstrating their desire for parity between British and Irish identities through the promotion of ‘Irishness’ to NI (through Gaelic language, culture and games), the republican movement understand that such initiatives serve to hollow out the Britishness of NI and to further demoralise the unionist community – exactly as Gerry Adams revealed back in 2014.

The DUP and the UUP have both fallen for Sinn Fein/IRA’s Trojan Horse trap and unless and until they escape, they can serve no useful role in seeking to defend and strengthen NI’s position within the UK.

Thomas Smyth, Belfast