Unionists will take a stand against the Northern Ireland Protocol but not on London’s betrayal of the Libya-IRA dead

Three years later, on June 6 1990, he and my grandmother — James and Ellen Sefton — were murdered by PIRA terrorists who thought that their murder would somehow advance their cause for a united Ireland.

I was aged nine at the time, I clearly remember being taken out of school that morning with no explanation, then taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital then being told what had happened.

In his book ‘The Secret History of the IRA’, Ed Moloney, went out of his way to name Martin McGuinness as having approved the operation.

Myself and other family members fought for years for some sort of investigation.

But nobody wanted to know.

Successive power sharing administrations in Northern Ireland have sat in power with the very people who carried out such atrocities with nary a word of condemnation.

When the victims banded together and tried to sue Libya for supplying the Semtex that directly led to the murders of their loved ones the British government, far from lifting a finger to help, actively hindered the victims’ efforts.

This in contrast to the American, French and German governments who all provided first rate material aid to their citizens.

First it was a case of “it’s a private matter, you talk to the Libyans yourselves”.

Then when the United Kingdom had bombed Libya Back to the Stone Age, that excuse morphed into “well we’d love to help but there’s no Libyan government to talk to”.

Innocent victims get the short end of the stick yet again while terrorists are appeased and unionist politicians (for whatever reason) look the other way.

I was a police officer for nearly 20 years. I still wonder why I helped defend an organisation and a country that rewards terrorism and lambasts victims.

You can therefore imagine my surprise, or lack of, when the thing that sends local politicians into a frenzy is the Northern Ireland Protocol, where there has been a plan to bring down Stormont.

Forget sharing power with unrepentant terrorists or apologists for terrorism, forget successive British governments treating victims of Irish republican terrorism like refuse.

The DUP’s real red line is the availability of fresh produce.

The DUP, a few years ago, had the Tories over a barrel and decided that the victims were worth casting aside in favour for economic deals ... a deal that has echoes of Tony Blair’s betrayal of the victims in favour of business contacts with Libya.

One would think that betrayal after betrayal by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and now Boris Johnson might spur local politicians into taking a stand.

But no, it seems the unfettered availability of canned goods and cheeses trumps murder and carnage.

Maybe Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP could shed some light on the talks in which he was involved with the Tories in 2017 to secure the ‘confidence and supply’ arrangement.

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