Sir, – Like many hundreds of thousands of Northern Ireland voters, I am seething with anger ("DUP says it will not nominate Stormont speaker", News, May 13th). How can the DUP, a party with 25 seats out of 90, deny the people of Northern Ireland the working Assembly they voted for? That is not democracy.
As a member of the Alliance Party for over 50 years, I canvassed for this election in many parts of Northern Ireland as well as in my own constituency of South Belfast. Everywhere people said they wanted action on health, on the cost of living, on education and on the environment. No one mentioned the protocol to me. The majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU. That we have a hard Brexit is the fault of the DUP, which supported Boris Johnson’s version of Brexit . Not allowing a Speaker to be elected and not nominating a Deputy First Minister means that the DUP is denying all the other Assembly members the opportunity to carry out the promises they made in their manifestos. – Yours, etc,
MARGARET MARSHALL,
Belfast.
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Sir, – Boris Johnson has made the astonishing discovery that the institutions set up under the Belfast Agreement "aren't functioning", that political governance in Northern Ireland "has collapsed" and that these strange phenomena are attributable to the dastardly protocol ("Taoiseach warns UK about protocol", News, May 13th). Mr Johnson clearly hasn't been paying attention if he thinks the collapse of political governance in Northern Ireland is something new.
It is worth repeating that Boris Johnson assured the DUP when he was in election mode that he would not stand over an east-west trade border in the Irish Sea. He then negotiated and delivered his “oven-ready Brexit” which he knew would have, and which was designed to have, precisely that effect. His immediate predecessor, Theresa May, said something similar but tried to do deliver on her undertaking by negotiating a UK-wide backstop which Mr Johnson rejected as part of his campaign to replace her.
In resiling from his protocol now, Mr Johnson is following the time-honoured approach of creating a diversion abroad to distract attention from his multiple domestic difficulties. And yes, Belfast is even more “abroad” than is Brussels to Mr Johnson and his ilk.
God love the DUP if it persuades itself yet again that a British Conservative prime minister is riding to its rescue for anything but the most selfish of reasons. Will it ever learn? – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – Andy Pollak asks why we do not hear more from unionists as to why they are "so passionately opposed to the NI protocol" (Letters, May 13th).
Perhaps it’s simply because they are not so passionately opposed and there is nothing to say. Pre-election surveys indicated this and, consequently, the majority of those elected to the NI Assembly publicly supported the protocol.
Regrettably, the answer is essentially party political and may be found in the fact that the result of the NI election provided the DUP with the opportunity to revitalise its long-standing antipathy to the EU and, indeed, the Belfast Agreement, aided and abetted by the Johnson-led government in London.
Of course, the burning question remains: would the NI protocol have prevented the DUP from taking up the position of First Minister had the results gone their way? – Yours, etc,
MARTIN McDONALD,
Dublin 12.
A chara, – Synonyms for protocol include agreement, obligation and contract.
Putting Northern Ireland in front of the word must change the synonyms to rudeness, disagreement and bad manners. – Is mise,
DERMOT O’ROURKE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – The biggest problem with Boris Johnson’s “oven-ready” Brexit deal is that they forgot to pre-heat the oven. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BRISCOE,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – The belligerent British foreign secretary Liz Truss is quoted as having made it clear to the EU that the UK’s “overriding priority” is to protect “peace and stability in Northern Ireland’, as she attempts to appease the DUP. What if the major NI Assembly party, Sinn Féin, were to equally stubbornly dig its heels in by refusing to participate in government if the protocol were changed? Would that in effect neutralise Ms Truss and her “overriding priority”? – Yours, etc,
PETER O’LEARY,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – The DUP takes its seats in Westminster in the hope that slavish loyalty to the Tories will be rewarded, but instead it is routinely humiliated. It refuses to participate at Stormont, which is its natural home, because of bruised pride.
Sinn Féin, meanwhile, refuses to take its seats in Westminster, where its passion and vigour could actually stir up some improvements for the citizens of Northern Ireland, but will take its place in Stormont where it will administer rules and budgets passed in Westminster.
It would be funny if it were not so ridiculous. – Yours, etc,
FRANK NEENAN,
Carlow.
Sir, – If the DUP fails to nominate ministers to form a new Executive at Stormont then its MLAs should not receive any salary. – Yours, etc,
MIKE CORMACK,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Finland and Sweden should be concerned about their mutual security pacts with the UK in light of Boris Johnson’s apparent willingness to undermine legally binding international agreements if it suits his narrow personal political requirements. – Yours, etc,
DAN DONOVAN,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.