NI deputy first minister condemns loyalist violence

Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill has told MLAs that she condemns recent  violence across the region.

There have been several  hijacking and alighting of buses in loyalist areas recent days, with opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol cited as a factor.

Last week she told the Irish Congress of Trade Unions conference that the Protocol agreed between the EU and UK regarding the region “must be respected”.

O’Neill, the Vice President of Irish nationalist party Sinn Féin told MLAs in Stormont: “I’m sure everybody in this chamber would want to send our thoughts to the bus drivers involved, and also those people that were also taken off the bus, because this is dangerous activity, it’s reckless activity, and it should be condemned rightly by everybody across society.

Sinn Féin itself was linked with the provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary organisation responsible for scores of terrorist attacks across the UK and Ireland.

“There can be no going back, and I think what we need today is calm and steady leadership, and what we need today is less of the sabre-rattling and more political leadership whenever it comes to ensuring that this type of activity is not on our streets.”

The Protocol was implemented to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the wake of Brexit by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods. It has been heavily criticised by unionist groups for allegedly undermining the union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, which remains outside the EU customs union.