NI Protocol: Palpable anger but no return to violence, says Sheridan

There is "palpable anger" among unionists over the NI Protocol but loyalists are not thinking of a return to violence, the BBC has been told.

Peter Sheridan, a former PSNI assistant chief constable, made the comments to BBC Spotlight.

Mr Sheridan, chief executive of peace-building charity Co-Operation Ireland, has met loyalist paramilitaries.

On Tuesday, the EU Commission and UK government will discuss the Protocol and unionist concerns about it.

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The Irish Sea border came into effect as a result of the Brexit deal struck between the UK and the EU in December.

Under the terms of the NI Protocol, which came into effect in January, Northern Ireland remains in the EU's Single Market for goods, while the rest of the UK has left.

That means checks are required at ports and airports on certain products arriving from Great Britain.

'Palpable anger'

Before the pandemic took hold, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had warned of possible street protests and attempts to disrupt ports.

Peter Sheridan had been involved in efforts to prevent a hard land border emerging between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland post-Brexit

Mr Sheridan had been involved in efforts to prevent a hard land border emerging between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

He believes the problem with the current arrangement is that the new sea border is an issue of identity for unionists.

"Unfortunately the border down the Irish Sea isn't invisible and therefore it's affecting almost every home in terms of delivery of parcels or plants or whatever it is", he said.

"That visibility has created tensions, and somebody described it in unionism as a 'palpable anger' across the whole of the unionist community."

Mr Sheridan also chaired a meeting last week where a range of groups and individuals, including the Orange Order, who raised their concerns with the UK government and EU Commission on the subject of the Protocol.

In recent weeks graffiti and posters have appeared in areas such as Larne attacking the new arrangements and even, in some cases, threatening staff carrying out the checks.

But Mr Sheridan said threats and the potential for violence should not be overplayed.

'Tension and anger'

"There's tension, there's anger, but we shouldn't read into that that it means automatically there is violence.

"In fact, I know by talking to many people in the unionist community and many people in paramilitary organisations in the unionist community, that's not where their thinking is."

Mr Sheridan said the problems with the new arrangements may be an issue of trade to nationalists, but were something deeper to many unionists.

"For unionists and people who see their natural cultural identity with the rest of the United Kingdom, somehow this does feel as some difference between them and the rest of their, what they see as their fellow countrymen, and I think all of us have to recognise that," he said.

Spotlight airs on BBC One Northern Ireland at 22:45 GMT on Tuesday 23 February.