The DUP are basking in the glory of promises that won’t be delivered and grandstanding to English Tories, who will destroy the Union

As a dyed in the wool unionist brought up on the border through the depth of the Troubles, going to school with the DUP deputy leader and being brought up in the same community as the current DUP leader, I continue to be appalled by their actions.
By John Irvine
Published 6th Oct 2019, 07:00 BST
Guest Speaker Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP at the DUP conference last November with DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds MP left and leader Arlene Foster MLA. Picture Arthur Allison/Pacemaker PressGuest Speaker Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP at the DUP conference last November with DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds MP left and leader Arlene Foster MLA. Picture Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press
Guest Speaker Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP at the DUP conference last November with DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds MP left and leader Arlene Foster MLA. Picture Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press

How can they condone putting a line in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland? They are basking in the glory of grandstanding to the Tories and false promises that have not and will not be delivered.

These are actions that will pale those of Robert Lundy into insignificance in coming years as Northern Ireland moves away from the UK.

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I remember reading in your newspaper some 40 years ago that the demographic shift would lead to a republican/nationalist majority by 2020. That is coming to pass, the only thing masking this was the comfort of cross border arrangements in the EU meaning that many people had no desire to disrupt the status quo.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

In the assembly elections after the Brexit poll the swing to Sinn Fein was clear evidence that this buffer was disappearing. Lines between North and South and NI and GB will only serve to move the demand towards unification and given the inept actions of NI politicians in supporting their people many will start to ask why not, even from the unionist side, the south have progressed well towards a cosmopolitan and successful society under the auspices of the EU.

One has to ask, why on Earth are a unionist party doing this? Why are they being led by English nationalists into a destruction of the Union?

An obvious answer is they are stuck in 1970s, but that cannot be all of the DUP. An alternative is that like Sinn Fein, the DUP can see themselves being marginalised in a prosperous and successful Northern Ireland and so they seek to disrupt progress, preventing business success and creating divisions just so as they can be elected to an Assembly that seems to have little prospect of returning.

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Brexit is going to hurt Northern Ireland terribly unless it becomes some sort of free trade zone, but how is that good for the unionist tradition?

So what chance has Northern Ireland of remaining in the UK? Well there is a knight, or perhaps crocodile, in shining armour. The belligerence of the current Sinn Fein generation and the possibility of them linking up in the Dail with their brothers in the South is the Unionist Saviour. The Southern politicians do not want such a block in the Dail, for them that is even worse than having the DUP there.

Professor John Irvine, St Andrews

Related topics:DUPNorthern IrelandSinn Fein