NI election 2022: What do voters think of NI Protocol?

Most politicians elected to Northern Ireland's Assembly want the NI Protocol to remain in place, but unionists are against it

A week after voters went to the polls to elect a new assembly, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has threatened to paralyse Northern Ireland's government until its concerns about the NI Protocol are resolved.

It and other unionists say the part of the Brexit deal which relates to Northern Ireland damages its economy and undermines its place in the UK.

But most of the politicians elected to the assembly, including Sinn Féin, which overtook the DUP at the election to become the biggest party, are in favour of the protocol remaining in place.

Sinn Féin has accused DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson of holding society to ransom.

So what do voters on the streets of Belfast think of the protocol?

'It is putting up prices'

Gordon Esler believes Northern Ireland should be able to trade freely with the rest of the UK

Gordon Esler supports the protocol and wants Northern Ireland to remain in the UK, but he believes the DUP should not use it as an excuse not to go back into government.

"Northern Ireland is British, it is part of Great Britain so why do we have to have a border in the [Irish] sea?" he said.

"The majority opted out of Europe so I think we should be out, no arguing at all. Because you can already see it is putting up the prices here at the minute.

"I would like to see them going into the assembly because look at the health service at the minute, they could do with a lot of help."

'There are more important things'

Gillian Brown said the protocol "can't be the most important" issue that politicians need to deal with at the minute.

"They're squabbling about it and I just think there are more important things than the protocol," she said.

"I'm more interested in getting our healthcare up and running, our education, dealing with the mental health crisis and the poverty that we're living in."

• A simple guide to the Northern Ireland Protocol

Ms Brown said a resolution was needed to ensure politicians returned to Stormont.

"People are waiting on surgery, our nurses and doctors have come through the most horrendous time, that's going to get worse for them," she said.

"On top of that we have the cost-of-living crisis. If I don't go to work I don't get paid, but if they don't they're still getting their pay cheque."

'People are suffering'

Esther Robinson said she was worried for Northern Ireland's future

Esther Robinson described the talks surrounding the protocol as an "absolute waste of time", and said a solution needed to be found as soon as possible.

"The whole thing is a lot of nonsense," she said.

If politicians continued to disagree over the issue, people would suffer, added Ms Robinson.

"People are suffering already. I think they're going to suffer even more and it's going to make young people want to move away," she said.

"I want my daughter to leave the country because it's just getting ridiculous, there's no future for anybody if it goes on."

'I don't know what it means'

A further issue with the protocol is simply around awareness of what it is and how it affects people.

Grainne McMullan said she did not really understand it.

"Truthfully I don't have a clue, I really don't know what it means," she said.

"More should be done to raise awareness of it and what it means for normal people."

• GOVERNMENT CRISIS: What happens next?

• HISTORIC MOMENT: From IRA politics to NI's biggest party

• SINN FEIN: What does the party want?

• THE ASSEMBLY: How power-sharing works in Northern Ireland

• RESULTS: The assembly election in maps and charts