Transition: Is It Really That Complicated? – by Michael Lagan

For 25 years now the PIRA, many of whom were and are members of Sinn Fein have openly denounced dissident Republican violence, have called for peace to prevail, and called for all armed groups to disband, going so far as to offer to meet with the RIRA to talk about moving away from the bomb and gun.  25 years on and we are still waiting for all of the ‘mainstream’ Loyalist factions to put their guns beyond use and cease all criminality.  While armed Republican factions still remain, none hold the same dark cloud of death over our population as Loyalist terrorist factions who never really grasped the GFA or peace in the same way mainstream Republicanism did.

The threat from Loyalist groups has been constantly present, from the so-called flag protests to Brexit and going so far as to threaten any Irish minister who might dare to cross into ‘our wee country’.  Much was made of the PIRA putting its weapons beyond use.  There were newsreels of the weapons being destroyed.  Pictures of Webley revolvers being cut into three pieces, AK47s being sliced and Armalite rifles being dismantled and all under the watchful eye of General John de Chastelain.  

Why weren’t Loyalist weapons given the same treatment?  Yes, many were destroyed but it was common knowledge that much of the Loyalist arsenal was left unscathed by the guillotines and the circular saws of the decommissioning team.  Those remaining weapons were used by Loyalist terrorists to kill and maim members of their own community and of other communities in the years after decommissioning was supposedly finalised…25 years after it was supposedly finalised and those same weapons are still being used today to terrorise communities.  So much for transitioning!

We learned today, thanks to journalist Suzanne Breen, that Simon Hoare MP, Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee met with Loyalist paramilitary leaders in a bid to scope out how they felt about criminality.  The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee released a statement when Hoare’s visit was revealed stating – “The chair’s visit to Northern Ireland was to fact-find to inform House and committee discussion on paramilitary activity and organised crime in Northern Ireland.”  It went on to say – “The visit was not an attempt to represent the committee or communicate its views.”  Later it was reported that Simon Hoare held separate meetings with UDA and UVF leaders in a bid to encourage them to buy into the Windsor Framework.  So which one was it?  A fact-finding mission on criminality or a bid to find out what it would take to have Loyalism buy into the Windsor Framework?  There’s multi-tasking and then there’s this.

So the Chair of the NIAC was in NEI, of his own volition?  Really?  So why wasn’t Simon Hoare’s trip here publicised? Why was it kept quiet and covert until a journalist caught wind of it?  Because he wasn’t supposed to be here! Because it has taken Loyalist paramilitaries over 25 years to transition, millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money (and European money) and gift upon gift to Unionism…and they still haven’t transitioned to ‘peace’.  Indeed today they are still racketeering, selling drugs, kneecapping people, and terrorising mostly their own community.

In fact, hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on trying to lure Loyalist paramilitaries into the realms of transition and peace.  From the promise of funding for training and jobs to starting up community hubs and enterprises, Loyalism has come out of the conflict quite well with shops, roads, and businesses fully funded or partly funded by not only the British government but also the EU peace fund.  The problem was when all these millions of pounds were funneled into Loyalist communities, it was siphoned off by the very paramilitaries it was geared toward getting rid of.  Ex-paramilitaries were running outreach programs and using them as a way to launder money, they were running enterprise schemes designed to help their communities.  For instance, in 2016 the Social Investment Fund (SIF) revealed how loyalist paramilitary figures who sit on the quango’s steering panels are demanding, and being given, huge amounts of public money for their pet projects.

Among those with huge decision-making powers over how the £80 million SIF budget is allocated, is notorious Bangor UDA boss Dee Stitt, who posed for photos with none other than past DUP First Minister Arlene Foster.  Other personalities such as Maze Prison and Lisburn UDA Commander Adrian Bird and UDA gunman Sam ‘Chalky’ White were also appointed to the SIF steering panels which allocate these massive sums of money to Loyalist communities.

Charter NI, which counts Stitt, White, and east Belfast UDA boss Jimmy Birch as senior employees, was asked to manage £1.7 million of SIF cash.  The Hanwood Trust, of which Birch is a director, was given more than £125,000 by SIF to make over its headquarters.  SIF agreed to give the Kilcooley Sports Forum, of which Dee Stitt is a senior member, £900,000 to build a football pitch.  SIF spent £700,000 on buying a Sandy Row office block, which Loyalist leader Jackie McDonald used to conduct UDA business in, and which was gifted to Belfast South Community Resources which he used to work for.  The handover of some £1.5 million of SIF money to the Resurgam Trust, of which UDA leader Adrian Bird is a paid director, and on which the ex-UDA prisoner Colin Halliday holds a senior position.  All these gifts and allocation of funds essentially went straight into the hands of Loyalist paramilitaries.

So essentially, in their eyes, the longer you hold out to transition, the more money you’ll get, and even with all this money being pumped into these enterprises and projects and even with all the promises being made of jobs, education for Loyalist youth and more…young Loyalists are still falling far behind the rest of the country on education.

It’s about time Unionist leaders got together and stood up to Loyalist paramilitaries and said enough is enough.  You’ve had 25 years to transition to peace…but they won’t do that because that threat of violence has worked in political Unionism’s favour in the past and it most likely will again.  Loyalism needs to decommission and transition for their NEI to work.  How long is a piece of string? Ask the UDA and UVF, they seem to be masters at stretching it out and making every inch of it count…not for the Loyalist community, but for themselves.