Michael McDowell: Violence in North highlights failure at political level

The rash of public disorder in loyalist areas of Northern Ireland bears all the hallmarks of behind-the-scenes orchestration by paramilitary groups which were understood to be dormant. It is hard to understand the motivation for such organised disorder.

At one level, young rioters hijacking vehicles and petrol bombing Police Service of Northern Ireland patrols may have nothing better to do than engage in some early-season recreational rioting. Inconveniences rising from the Northern Ireland protocol hardly affect the rioters’ day-to-day existence.

However, the DUP has, as a party, entered into dialogue with the Loyalist Communities Council over a number of weeks in relation to the protocol.

Clearly the DUP believes that loyalist displeasure at the protocol can be harnessed as part of the doomed campaign which it is waging on a number of levels to have the UK renege on the protocol – a solemn treaty obligation with the European Union.

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The UK’s unilateral postponement of parts of the protocol could be seen as shape-throwing designed to assuage unionist unhappiness at their betrayal in relation to the so-called Irish Sea border.

Cynics would juxtapose the assurances given by Boris Johnson to the DUP conference with the sell-out of the DUP position embodied in the protocol. As Alex Kane pointed out here recently, such betrayals are to be expected at the hands of the Tories.

Subtext

In the fetid zero-sum game of politics practised by some in the North, the subtext may well be that DUP/loyalist dissatisfaction will be noticed only if the international media carries footage of rioting and petrol bombing – a bizarre version of a “cry for help”.

There was no case whatsoever for the funeral parade or for the uniformed escort of old Provos wearing a natty new uniform

Now the decision made by the North’s prosecutor not to charge those responsible for the grotesque Bobby Storey funeral parade with breaches of the Covid regulations is claimed to add fuel to the fire.

If indeed that parade was the result of any kind of negotiation between Sinn Féin and the PSNI, there are questions to be asked. The PSNI has denied that such negotiations took place, but questions remain.

Exactly what basis could there possibly have been for according to the parade almost complete exemption from the funeral restrictions? Why would Storey’s obsequies be deserving of special treatment when so many families must bury their loved ones in forlorn isolation from their communities?

It isn’t necessary to dwell on Storey’s record in directing the IRA campaign of robberies and violence.

Even if all that was disregarded, there was no case whatsoever for the funeral parade or for the uniformed escort of old Provos wearing a natty new uniform – this season’s change in team kit from polo necks, berets and sunglasses.

Nor is it necessary to ask why the funeral, which was to end at a crematorium, paid a weird detour to the republican plot in a cemetery without interment.

The episode was disgraceful in its entirety. It ran directly contrary to any appetite for community reconciliation in the North. The boys in the felons’ club who planned it, the leaders of Sinn Féin, North and south, who agreed to participate, and the misguided police who apparently approved of it, should all hang their heads in shame.

One might think that the North, as a society with its own economic and social problems, could expect something better of its elected leaders

Every word spoken anywhere by Sinn Féin on Covid and lockdowns rings very hollow.

Of course, the parade was intended to be provocative and offensive. Moreover, it was intended to celebrate power – over the law and the community. In Provo ideology, there is a special place for funerals and graveside demonstrations. Sinn Féin is still strangely wedded to funerary politics.

Reconciliation

After our Civil War, there was general shared understanding that reconciliation and peaceful coexistence between the rival factions was more important than sporadic ritual commemoration of perpetrators and victims. Did the organisers of the Storey funeral parade ever ask themselves whether the occasion would add to or detract from the process of reconciliation and cross-community healing in the North? Of course not.

These recriminations all play into the hands of both sides’ petty sectarian warlords and their parliamentary allies.

One might think that the North, as a society with its own economic and social problems, could expect something better of its elected leaders. Targeting the chief constable and the protocol or parading the remains of Storey are as futile a political agenda as can be imagined.

Instead of seeing the advantages of being simultaneously part of the EU and UK economies, the very minor (and easily remedied) inconveniences in respect of trade between Britain and the North have been blown up into an existential threat to unionism itself.

The DUP and Sinn Féin should ask themselves whether communal disorder and tension helps or hinders progress and prosperity in these challenging times?

A shameful story – however you spell that.