Sometimes people work themselves into such an eye-stinging moral lather, they miss the major point of the matter completely. Right now many are stuffed from head to toe with indignation. Leading the charge, as so often, is Stephen Nolan.
Stephen, on his radio show, having lobbed in a brief balancer in the form of Michelle O’Neill saying the Troubles were unavoidable, proceeded to drench Education minister Paul Givan in his outrage. It seems Givan had been consulting with the LCC which has representatives of the UDA, the UVF and the Red Hand Commando in its ranks. Which meant the Minister for Education was talking to loyalist paramilitaries! I could almost see little whisps of Nolan’s disgust curling out of my radio.
Listener calls were fielded, views were consulted, Stephen took them and shook them and wondered what this ‘country’ was coming to. You’d think it’d be difficult for a man of Stephen’s bulk to skip over the bloody obvious, but he managed it.
And the bloody obvious is? That the UDA, the UVF, the Red Hand Commando all still exist. Having Paul Givan talking to them is of secondary importance. Givan’s record on the Irish language should have made him highly acceptable to the paramilitaries, who I’d venture have similar thoughts about Irish. They might even share his views on creationism. But that’s not the point.
The point is the UDA, the UVF, the Red Hand Commando all should have dissolved, quit the stage, beaten their swords into ploughshares decades ago. Instead they’re supported in existence by public funds so they can continue to present themselves as half-boy-scout, half-community worker.
Does this matter? It certainly does. How long does it take loyalist paramilitaries to ‘transition’ into lawful members of our society? If you think that’s not an important question, ask yourself “How loud would the screams of outrage have been if the IRA hadn’t quite got round to dissolving yet?” But we’ve been so conditioned to accept the existence of loyalist paramilitaries, that they’re only seen as a problem when the Minister of Education goes to them, cap in hand, to find out what might or might not be possible.
Parity of esteem my arse.
What you don’t seem to realise, Jude, is that the loyalist killers were fighting alongside the uniformed British soldiers to preserve our place in the UK. Whereas the raggle taggle IRA were intent on splitting up the UK. This danger is still obviously present. See Fenian Republican fifth column ‘schools’ looming in the heartland and even the GAA muscling in. We know they are the IRA at play. That’s why the Yeomen can’t leave the scene.
Very good jude god bless Palestine
The north may have changed for the better in so many ways but never forget, it was created as a Protestant state for a Protestant people. It’s in it’s DNA.
Fair point!