THERE is something deeply, fundamentally wrong at the heart of this society when it comes to loyalist paramilitaries. And the thing that is wrong seems so deeply embedded that it’s hard to see what can be done to bring us to a place where we are all agreed that murdering drug-dealers can have no place in everyday life here.
It seems surreal – insane, even – to point out 30 years after the first ceasefires that loyalist paramilitaries continue to play a central role in the life of communities here, but that is self-evidently the case. What is even more surreal, what goes way over and above insane, is that the very same paramilitary groups which one day baseball-bat some people over drug debts and take benefits books off others who can’t repay extortionate loans will the next day be chatting to public servants.
Last week a Stormont committee heard that the PSNI are advising migrants who are experiencing threats and intimidation within loyalist communities to go speak to the UDA and the UVF about it. It was perhaps one of the most startling revelations to have been made about the PSNI since it replaced the RUC, but after a day of harrumphing we moved on. The same PSNI that views loyalist paramilitaries as an informal part of the criminal justice system policed the Orange Order parade past Ardoyne at the weekend; the same PSNI which believes that killer drug cartels can play a constructive, informal role in resolving migrant issues goes on ‘protecting and serving’ a Catholic community which the UVF and UDA spent 30 years murdering.
This week, as plans move ahead for an Irish language primary school in East Belfast, the DUP Minister for Education met the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) to hear them call for the school to be scrapped. The LCC is an umbrella group representing the UDA/UVF.
Had we known amidst the surge of optimism and hope brought by the ceasefires and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that all these years later loyalist paramilitaries would be talking to an Education Minister about the education of our children, would we have considered devolved government a destination worth the journey?
The majority of us realised a very long time ago that the UDA and the UVF had no interest in moving from violence to politics or community work. But we looked on as unionist politicians kept assuring us that their transitioning was happening and that occasional forays into drug-dealing, extortion and murder were merely bumps in the road.
30 years on it is time to say enough is enough. The Irish government is making noises about withdrawing IFI funding for loyalist paramilitaries. That must happen. But more importantly, the PSNI must start treating the UVF and the UDA as criminals and not consultants, and the Stormont Executive must make it clear the only thing they want to hear from the UVF/UDA is the word goodbye.
