Police 'aware' of Loyalist letter stating 'Irish Government should not be visiting Northern Ireland'

The PSNI has said it has "appropriate and proportionate policing operation in place for any visits to Northern Ireland" by ministers from the Republic of Ireland, following the publication of a letter by the Loyalist Communities Coalition (LCC).

Police said they were "aware" of the letter sent to the NI political leaders warning of "dire consequences" should there be a form of joint authority to plug the power vacuum following the passing of the deadline to restore power sharing and the departure of stand-in ministers.

The Northern Ireland Office has said joint authority is not under consideration.

The letter states that "the Irish Government should not be visiting Northern Ireland whilst the Protocol remains, unless and until there is a significant change of attitude and recognition of the legitimate interests of the Unionist and Loyalist community".

The Northern Ireland Protocol is a trade deal which was agreed between the UK and EU during the Brexit negotiations.

Unionist politicians are against the implementation of the agreement, with the DUP refusing to nominate a speaker to the Northern Ireland Assembly or re-entering a power-sharing Executive until its concerns with the trade deal are resolved.

On Friday, Assistant Chief Constable Crime Department, Mark McEwan the PSNI had been made aware a letter "has been sent to a number of party leaders".

"We will continue to monitor the situation.

"We will have the appropriate and proportionate policing operation in place for any visits to Northern Ireland.”

It comes just nine days after Irish Foreign Affairs Minister, Simon Coveney returned to Belfast to complete a speech that was interrupted by a security alert earlier this year.Mr Coveney was forced to evacuate from a peace-building event in the city in March due to a bomb scare, believed to have been the responsibility of loyalist paramilitaries.

In response to the letter, UUP Leader Doug Beattie tweeted: "These loyalist paramilitary groups are bleeding our communities dry with threats of violence and criminal activity. Their control is about money nothing else. If you take direction from them you undermine the union."

The letter issued by the LCC makes a number of asks in relation to the protocol, without which it says "there is no basis for power-sharing in Northern Ireland and the grassroots Unionist and Loyalist community are firmly united behind this message".

It adds that any "solution" to issues concerning the protocol which "merely reduces, or even completely eradicates, Irish Sea border checks is insufficient".

On the issue of joint authority in the absence of a functioning Assembly, the letter states this has "raised tensions yet further".

"All of our activists are working tirelessly within local communities to restrain Loyalists from lashing out in unproductive ways," it continued.

"The message from Loyalism should be heard and understood clearly: there are no circumstances in which joint authority would be tolerated, and any effort to impose it would inevitably have dire consequences for the progress made from 1994 onwards."

The letter concludes: "There can be no return to Stormont whilst the Protocol remains in place."

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