Empey and Dodds in bitter clash over DUP’S culpability for Irish Sea border
LORD Dodds has labelled calls for DUP resignations over the party’s role in Brexit as “pathetic”.
Ulster Unionist peer Lord Empey told the BBC it had failed in its duty to protect the Union and that senior figures should consider quitting.
He said: “The fact is, on the October 2, 2019, they (DUP) agreed a border in the Irish Sea. Now, how could any unionist do that?
“They pulled away from that two weeks later but the damage was done, the floodgates were open, and Brussels and Dublin took advantage.
“I don’t think that is a good story and some of them need to consider their positions because what we are hearing with regards to this protocol and the statement (from Michael Gove) is a direct result of their dereliction of their duty to make sure the Union is protected. They failed.”
Lord Dodds hit back at Lord Empey and the UUP’S role in the Good Friday Agreement talks process.
“It is pathetic, really, for someone like Lord Empey, who basically negotiated an agreement that released terrorist prisoners onto our streets, destroyed the RUC and put Sinn Fein in government without any decommissioning whilst they were still murdering people — the IRA were doing that — to lecture other people,” he said.
“The reality is that he is wrong and it is a falsehood and a lie to say the DUP agreed a regulatory border. We did no such thing. What we said is there could only be such a regulatory difference if the Assembly and the Executive agreed to it. That would have been a safeguard for Northern Ireland.
“A mixture of whingeing and pathetic falsehoods will not deter us in the DUP from doing what is right for Northern Ireland, which is grappling with the issues, to protect the economy of NI, protect the constitutional position of NI and to work with the Government and business.
“We have made some progress already on the protocol.”
Speaking later on Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show, Lord Empey said: “I was called a liar this morning and a purveyor of falsehoods.
“The position I am simply putting to Nigel Dodds and his colleagues is that on October 2 last year they agreed a border in the Irish Sea, and if I am wrong on that you can get your researchers to check it out, read the document I referred to.
“It is there in black and white. It is factual. I wish it wasn’t.
“All of unionism should be pulling together but we should challenge, and my party leader Steven Aiken has challenged, the fact that the consent in the Belfast Agreement is being breached by a border in the Irish Sea.
“We are looking at all options as to how we might resist that.”
On Wednesday Cabinet Office Minister Mr Gove revealed details of the latest agreement between the UK and EU.
He said that Brussels officials would be permitted at Irish Sea border checks here once the transition period ended.
Mr Gove also gave assurances around unfettered access to Britain for local businesses.
The DUP responded by urging the Government to ensure that EU personnel were “not empowered to direct matters”.
The party also voiced concerns about elements of the agreement that were “characterised by grace periods and time-limited derogations”.
‘All of unionism should be pulling together’