The Loyalist Paramilitary Problem

There is something rotten about the continuing presence of loyalist paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland. The IRA, for all  the arguments that will continue over its legacy, eventually made the decision to put the gun down. Its armed campaign ended. Its weapons were decommissioned. Its organisation disappeared from the stage as a functioning paramilitary force.

Yet decades later, loyalist paramilitary organisations remain embedded in parts of working-class Northern Ireland.

That should be an embarrassment—not a bargaining chip, not a quaint feature of “community life”, and certainly not something to be endlessly explained away by politicians terrified of offending their electoral base.

There is an especially ugly hypocrisy here. Unionism quite rightly demands that nationalism demonstrate its commitment to peaceful and democratic politics. It should demand exactly the same standard of itself. You cannot credibly lecture others about the rule of law while tolerating men whose organisations retain the capacity for intimidation and violence.

Nor should we romanticise the word “community”. A paramilitary organisation does not become legitimate because it runs youth clubs, paints murals, organises bonfires or claims to represent a neighbourhood. Community work is admirable. Paramilitarism is not. One does not cleanse the other.

The argument that these organisations are somehow necessary to maintain order is even worse. In a democratic society, the police maintain order. Political parties contest elections. Community organisations represent communities. Paramilitaries have no legitimate constitutional role whatsoever.

Northern Ireland cannot endlessly demand that the past be confronted while allowing a residue of armed tribalism to survive in the present.

If loyalism wants respect, it should start by doing what democratic politics requires: bury the guns, dismantle the organisations and stop pretending that intimidation is a form of representation.