Chapter 5: Conclusion—the need for a reset
The need for a reset
281.Given the divergent and at times contradictory political perspectives on the Protocol that were put to us in evidence, identifying solutions to the issues that we have identified in this report may seem at first sight an impossible task. Yet, as Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, told us:
“I grew up in the shadow of the Mountains of Mourne, and, therefore, I often use this analogy. The mountains in front of us are no higher than the ones we have already climbed. In Northern Ireland, we have overcome great adversity. We have met many challenges, faced them and found ways to overcome them. I am convinced we can find ways to overcome these current difficulties and challenges.”274
282.However, if the mountain before us is to be climbed, the UK and the EU, as well as the political parties in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland stakeholders and the Irish Government, urgently need to reset the unproductive and self-destructive cycle of claim and counter-claim on the Protocol.
283.Our witnesses identified four core interlinking principles that are needed to underpin this reset: prioritising Northern Ireland’s interests, constructive engagement, trust, and a renewed commitment to relationship-building.
Prioritising Northern Ireland’s interests
284.Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said:
“I do not believe that it has been right for Northern Ireland to be used as a political football in this ideological game that has developed since the referendum in 2016. Northern Ireland has been used as a pawn. … when you play around with the politics of Northern Ireland, you undermine the progress and put that progress at real risk. Therefore, we must find a solution. … we need the European Union and our own Government to put first in this debate Northern Ireland, the peace process and the political progress that has been made, to set the ideology aside, and to find practical solutions.”275
Constructive engagement
285.Co-operation Ireland stressed that:
“Overcoming the political disagreements over the Protocol will require greater engagement by both the EU and UK politicians and officials with impacted stakeholders, including those from politics, business and civic society. It will also require a willingness from those stakeholders to understand the EU and UK perspectives and accept compromises for the sake of progress.”276
286.The Civil Society Alliance and the Centre for Cross Border Studies also stressed the need for the Government to intensify its engagement with a broader range of civil society groups.277 Women’s Platform (formerly known as the Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform), a membership organisation working to promote the implementation of international human rights standards in Northern Ireland, underlined the importance of representation of women in public debate, and in particular engagement beyond professionals with grassroots women and communities. They stressed that such engagement “can go a long way towards easing tensions, building a basis of trust and identifying issues at the core of concerns.”278
287.Doug Beattie MLA, Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said:
“When the Protocol started to come to fruition in 2019 we warned that, without buy-in from politicians in Northern Ireland and the Northern Irish people, it would simply not work. … the issue with the Protocol is that it did not have people from Northern Ireland in the room trying to organise it. … If Northern Ireland politicians had not been in the room when the Belfast Agreement was being talked about, it would never have come to fruition.”279
288.Declan Kearney MLA, representing Sinn Féin, argued that:
“There needs to be a very comprehensive involvement of our political institutions here in the north with the processes that are relevant to the implementation of the Protocol for the north. … The best people to speak on behalf of citizens, business, workers and families in the north are the political representatives and the leaders of civic society.”280
Trust
289.The Centre for Cross Border Studies warned that “we are at an extremely low ebb of trust. This is affecting internal relations, as well as relations across these islands.”281 Professor Monica McWilliams and Emma DeSouza stressed that “the importance of trust in delicate negotiations cannot be overstated.”282
290.Co-operation Ireland stated:
“Resolving the political impasse will require action by all parties to restore this trust. This includes a recommitment to a multilateral process, cessation of unilateral or legal action and working together to identify and implement improved post Brexit trading arrangements, involving stakeholders most impacted in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.”283
291.Professor Simon Usherwood, Department of Politics and International Relations, The Open University284, likewise stressed the need:
“to provide a basis for a progressive rebuilding of the UK-EU relationship on the Protocol. Material actions will matter but can only create positive effects in that relationship if they are accompanied by constructive rhetoric and an acknowledgement that reaching a steady state for Northern Ireland’s position in the post-withdrawal environment will take considerable time and patience.”285
292.Sorcha Eastwood MLA, representing the Alliance Party, said that the “key element” is trust:
“Ultimately, this is an issue between the UK Government and the EU. If trust is lacking between those two partners, that fundamentally needs to be addressed. It needs to be at the core and at the nub. I do not think any outcome will be arrived at that is in good faith or positive to all parties if there is not that trust at the heart of it.”286
293.The then Minister for Europe and North America, Rt Hon James Cleverly MP, acknowledged that “there are tensions and maybe even a degree of distrust, and we will have to find a way of working through that. … I have always found that a good way of building trust is to help the counterparty to understand your motivations.”287
Relationship-building
294.Owen Reidy, Assistant General Secretary, Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Northern Ireland, said: “the real problem is the political interpretation and connotations around how people perceive the Protocol in Northern Ireland, particularly how the two large traditional communities perceive the Protocol. Unless we can square that circle, I cannot see how ultimately we will make progress.”288 Sir Jeffrey Donaldson emphasised that “we need to get an outcome that both unionists and nationalists can support.”289
295.Matthew O’Toole MLA, representing the SDLP, regretted that Brexit had placed London and Dublin on opposite sides of a table, which “has had an impact on how parties and communities in Northern Ireland are able to interact with one another.” He said that the key to the peace process had been:
“relationship building, trust and people feeling that they owed one another something more than just shouting at them and stating a position. There does have to be trust, but a lot of that comes from acknowledging that there is a degree of interdependence and co-operation that we need.”290
296.Dr Sylvia de Mars, Dr Colin Murray and Dr Clare Rice stressed that:
“The UK Government’s relationship with the Irish Government also needs to be rebuilt. Political stability in Northern Ireland cannot be disentangled from UK-Ireland relations, and a fractious relationship between the UK and Irish governments makes it difficult to support Northern Ireland’s parties in the process of returning to power-sharing.”291
297.Co-operation Ireland likewise emphasised the need to rebuild relationships between the UK and Ireland. They added:
“Compromises between the UK and EU’s position that respect both sides’ concerns can be found if actions are first taken to rebuild trust and if all parties expend intellectual effort thinking their way into the perspectives of the other parties to the negotiation. This must include developing an appreciation of the concerns both Northern Ireland unionists and the EU hold about precedents that may be set by any concessions made now regarding NI/UK/EU trading arrangements. It requires all parties to rethink their political approach to the Protocol and to work together to find a more stable platform for NI/ROI/UK/EU relations.”292
298.Co-operation Ireland concluded that critical to the relationship-building that underpinned the peace process was a growing level of formal and informal contact between officials, leading to a high level of trust and mutual understanding, “which encouraged and reinforced an appreciation of alternative perspectives”, but:
“It appears that at present there is no equivalent attempt to understand the very difficult issues that underlie the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol from the perspective of those who find themselves holding opposing views. The observation is too frequently made that in the current context trust and mutual understanding have diminished to a level not seen since the period before the [Belfast/Good Friday Agreement] negotiations.”293
Conclusions
299.Our July 2021 introductory report concluded that “addressing the issues of conflicting identity that first Brexit, and then the Protocol, have brought to the fore seems for the moment an insoluble problem. That was also true of the political situation in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. But through a slow and painstaking process led by political leaders in Northern Ireland and successive governments in London and Dublin, the peace process took root and flourished, leading to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent steps towards a power-sharing arrangement. This process took time, patience, dialogue, and most of all trust. The same is true in addressing the problems that Brexit and the Protocol present for Northern Ireland. There is therefore an urgent imperative for all sides to make concerted efforts to build trust by recommitting themselves to that process of dialogue, repairing the damage caused to relations across these islands during the past five years, in the interests, as the Protocol rightly acknowledges, of communities in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.”294
300.It is a matter of deep regret that, in the intervening twelve months, so little progress has been made towards achieving these aims. If anything, the situation has deteriorated still further. We therefore urge the UK and the EU, together with the political parties in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland stakeholders and the Irish Government, to make a renewed commitment to work together to prioritise Northern Ireland’s interests, participate together in constructive engagement, rebuild trust, and engage in effective relationship-building.
301.In the words of one of our witnesses, those who negotiated the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement “were able to do so because of their ability to appreciate the perspectives of others and willingness to work together and take risks to achieve a common goal despite historic differences. Such a courageous approach is needed now.”295
275 Ibid.
277 Written evidence from Civil Society Alliance (FUI0008) and written evidence from the Centre for Cross Border Studies (FUI0016)
284 Written evidence submitted in a personal capacity.
293 Ibid.