Unionists have let Coveney be in joint control of the talks

Why are unionists allowing Simon Conveney to jointly, along with the secretary of state, bring forth a new text of what is proposed in the talks process?
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Jan 2020, 06:00 BST
Simon Coveney, right, presides over the Stormont talks with Julian Smith last month. Photo by Kelvin Boyes/Press EyeSimon Coveney, right, presides over the Stormont talks with Julian Smith last month. Photo by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye
Simon Coveney, right, presides over the Stormont talks with Julian Smith last month. Photo by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye

Should this not be for the British sovereign government alone?

The Belfast Agreement was the downfall of the Ulster Unionist Party and its leader David Trimble.

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This once great party was torn apart when they agreed the 1998 deal and then were further beaten down by the failure of republicans to honour it fully.

The DUP, seeing their chance, took full advantage of the situation and then agreed, arguably, to even worse in the St Andrew’s and Stormont House agreements.

The unionist architects of this agreement and other hybrid agreements must now stand up and be counted, as republican/nationalist politicians seek to nit pick the pieces that they like and ignore the parts they don’t like.

The Irish government and the Tory secretary of state Julian Smith have done little publicly to back the unionist people.

Now that the Tories plan a border in the Irish sea, is he trying to get Stormont back to get agreement for their plans?

John Mulholland, Doagh

Related topics:UnionistsUlster Unionist PartyDUP