Top DUP member tells Stephen Nolan party intends to renege on Irish Language Act if NI Protocol remains

Stephen Nolan, who broke the story on Monday morning, said he had been briefed by a senior member of the DUP that the party was going to take the Irish Language Act "off the table to see how Sinn Fein might react".

The Northern Ireland Protocol has been a source of tremendous concern and frustration for unionists and loyalists.

The protocol, which is part of the withdrawal agreement designed and signed up to by both the British government and the European Union, keeps Northern Ireland inside both the EU's single market and customs union while Great Britain sits outside both.

It effectively means a trade and customs border now exists in the Irish Sea.

Unionists and loyalists have blamed Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance Party, the British government, the Irish government, the EU and the European Commission for the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The Irish Language is part the New Decade New Approach which restored power-sharing in Northern Ireland in January 2020.

The Northern Ireland Protocol predates the New Decade New Approach agreement.

"More idiocy - does it really have to be spelt out that the NI Protocol was negotiated between the EU and the DUP's Tory buddies?," said SDLP MLA for Mid Ulster, Patsy McGlone.

Responding to the story, loyalist activist, Jamie Bryson, said: "Unionism’s position will not improve until the hard words translate into political action," tweeted Mr. Bryson.

"The Bel [Belfast] Agreement is the root of all problems; corrective action is needed & that means pulling down the institutions.

"Blocking an ILA is not enough; it should never have been agreed anyway," he added.

The DUP has been asked if it would like to issue a response or provide a clarification.

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