Thus far, Unionism has been unable to produce a workable alternative to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Political commentator
Dr John Coulter argues the case for making Northern Ireland a tax haven as an economic replacement for the Protocol.

Finding a workable alternative to the Northern Ireland Protocol has become the political Holy Grail for Unionism in 2021.

It’s all very well Unionist politicians issuing well-composed statements calling for the Protocol to be scrapped because of the constitutional dangers it poses to the Union in this Northern Ireland’s centenary year, but what exactly does Unionism replace the Protocol with that will actually work for the state’s economy?

Perhaps the solution lies in following the example of the Channel Islands when asking how Unionists can make Northern Ireland work in any perceived post Protocol society - turn the six counties into a tax haven for the globally rich!

The seriousness of the task facing Unionists has been clearly outlined by former First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson when he recently outlined two scenarios - accept the NI Protocol and make it work, or collapse Stormont heralding the return of Direct Rule.

The major problem is, that neither of those two scenarios will work politically for Unionism.

Unionists collapsed the Sunningdale Executive in 1974 and ushered in years of Westminster Direct Rule by politicians who were not voted in by the Northern Ireland electorate, along with decades of terrorism.

Political Unionism in the Seventies simply had no workable alternative to the Sunningdale power-sharing Executive and relied on Unionism’s electoral majority. In 2021, that majority at the ballot box no longer exists.

The thousands of marching feet in 1985 could not undo the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Maryfield Secretariat. So the conclusion of collapsing the current Stormont Executive is a non-starter and will leave Unionism is a much weaker position politically.

The current NI Protocol - as it stands - keeps Northern Ireland economically within the clutches of the European Union and lays the foundation for an economy based on an all-Ireland structure.

The solution - keep Stormont running and produce a workable alternative to the Protocol, which is to convert Northern Ireland into a tax haven similar to the structures which exit in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

In short, Unionism must sell the merits of Unionism as a flourishing economic ideology. If the globe’s legions of super rich millionaires and billionaires can be persuaded to invest in Northern Ireland, Unionism could live with the Protocol being reduced in influence to a meaningless piece of paper.

But such a solution will come at a price. To make this economic Northern Ireland work, Unionism must present itself as an all-embracing ideology, not the concept of ‘a Protestant parliament for a Protestant people’.

The existence of civic Unionism proves that there is a significant body of secular Protestants in Northern Ireland for whom religion is not an issue. Unionism 2021 must be about the agenda of ‘putting people first’, be they pupils, pensioners, or patients.

However, the key question remains - does Unionism have the ideological maturity to sell Northern Ireland as a workable tax haven to the global super rich?

It would be a tremendous slap in the teeth for Northern Ireland if power-sharing collapsed over an Irish Language Act or lack of attendance at North South bodies when the state could have billions of pounds invested in it as the world’s leading tax haven. 

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online

Northern Ireland Tax Haven A Workable Solution To Protocol

Thus far, Unionism has been unable to produce a workable alternative to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Political commentator
Dr John Coulter argues the case for making Northern Ireland a tax haven as an economic replacement for the Protocol.

Finding a workable alternative to the Northern Ireland Protocol has become the political Holy Grail for Unionism in 2021.

It’s all very well Unionist politicians issuing well-composed statements calling for the Protocol to be scrapped because of the constitutional dangers it poses to the Union in this Northern Ireland’s centenary year, but what exactly does Unionism replace the Protocol with that will actually work for the state’s economy?

Perhaps the solution lies in following the example of the Channel Islands when asking how Unionists can make Northern Ireland work in any perceived post Protocol society - turn the six counties into a tax haven for the globally rich!

The seriousness of the task facing Unionists has been clearly outlined by former First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson when he recently outlined two scenarios - accept the NI Protocol and make it work, or collapse Stormont heralding the return of Direct Rule.

The major problem is, that neither of those two scenarios will work politically for Unionism.

Unionists collapsed the Sunningdale Executive in 1974 and ushered in years of Westminster Direct Rule by politicians who were not voted in by the Northern Ireland electorate, along with decades of terrorism.

Political Unionism in the Seventies simply had no workable alternative to the Sunningdale power-sharing Executive and relied on Unionism’s electoral majority. In 2021, that majority at the ballot box no longer exists.

The thousands of marching feet in 1985 could not undo the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Maryfield Secretariat. So the conclusion of collapsing the current Stormont Executive is a non-starter and will leave Unionism is a much weaker position politically.

The current NI Protocol - as it stands - keeps Northern Ireland economically within the clutches of the European Union and lays the foundation for an economy based on an all-Ireland structure.

The solution - keep Stormont running and produce a workable alternative to the Protocol, which is to convert Northern Ireland into a tax haven similar to the structures which exit in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

In short, Unionism must sell the merits of Unionism as a flourishing economic ideology. If the globe’s legions of super rich millionaires and billionaires can be persuaded to invest in Northern Ireland, Unionism could live with the Protocol being reduced in influence to a meaningless piece of paper.

But such a solution will come at a price. To make this economic Northern Ireland work, Unionism must present itself as an all-embracing ideology, not the concept of ‘a Protestant parliament for a Protestant people’.

The existence of civic Unionism proves that there is a significant body of secular Protestants in Northern Ireland for whom religion is not an issue. Unionism 2021 must be about the agenda of ‘putting people first’, be they pupils, pensioners, or patients.

However, the key question remains - does Unionism have the ideological maturity to sell Northern Ireland as a workable tax haven to the global super rich?

It would be a tremendous slap in the teeth for Northern Ireland if power-sharing collapsed over an Irish Language Act or lack of attendance at North South bodies when the state could have billions of pounds invested in it as the world’s leading tax haven. 

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online

26 comments:

  1. "To make this economic Northern Ireland work, Unionism must present itself as an all-embracing ideology, not the concept of ‘a Protestant parliament for a Protestant people’"

    As ever, unionism's downfall is its leadership at the top, which is in thrall to loyalists at the bottom of the heap. Loyalism is predicated upon an obvious nonsense (Protestant supremacy and fealty and loyalty to an abstract head of state). Economic reality is completely divorced from the majority of those protesting against the protocol.

    Unionism will pay for its chronic, generational lack of robust, visionary leadership. Doug Beattie is something fairly fresh and inspirational for a unionist leader, but his relatively moderate voice will be drowned out by loyalist stamping feat and more dogmatic soundbites, delivered at volume in increasingly desperate acts to intimidate a nationalist population that neither voted for Brexit or asked for the protocol.

    Same as it ever was. The difference, Mr Coulter points out, is that unionism no longer has a majority. Any unionist politician with imagination, character, and foresight would be lobbying traditional non-unionists and offering as much reassurance and vision to them as possible.

    But that isn't happening, and won't happen.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loyalism isn't as basic as you appear to try to paint it Brandon. There are many shades under it's umbrella, including many of us who are 'left-leaning'.

    My Loyalism is towards my community. I remember the Republican bombs, murders, and ceaseless propaganda we had to sit through with enemies all around us and a fairweather friend in Westminster, and this aided and abetted by the Catholic Church from Claudy to Clonard.

    Nobody supported us but ourselves. Mrs Windsor isn't my Monarch nor my Standard. The people of Donegal Pass, Sandy Row, the Shankill, East Belfast, Portadown and the Waterside are the ones I'm Loyal to.

    But it's good to see Beattie has identified the hearts and minds area of Loyalism and appointed Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston to give an articulate voice to those of us ignored in the wash by the Duppers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A tax haven for the super rich, you're kidding? Even working class loyalists would balk at such a suggedtion. Elements of rich unionists might run with it, but they are a tiny minority. Nationalists definately would not accept such rubbish, class distinctive benefitial to the wealthy at the expense of the less well off. As for the EU, most people in the six counties, loyalist and republican, voted remain. In fact this rubbish about the UK voted to leave, translated means England voted to leave the rest had no option. England with her population of 55 million vote to leave. In real terms this United Kingdon does not exist, and the only way the six counties peoples will continue getting the benefits of EU membership is by coming into a united Ireland with the rest of us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Steve R

    "aided and abetted by the Catholic Church from Claudy to Clonard."

    Whilst there is some evidence for a Priest being involved in Claudy, this is a crass generalisation, but one typical of loyalism. The truth is that the Catholic church as an institution was firmly against the IRA.

    "My Loyalism is towards my community."

    What a pity that how that that loyalism manifests as attacking, and claiming supremacy, over other communities. What a pity that, recognising a "fairweather friend" in Westminster didn't facilitate a complete re-evaluation of political loyalty.

    There might be some left-leaning loyalists, but they vote for hard-right religious headbangers. So, ultimately, what difference does it make?

    "The people of Donegal Pass, Sandy Row, the Shankill, East Belfast, Portadown and the Waterside are the ones I'm Loyal to."

    This is what the problem is. What you've written is essentially a map of areas from from where hundreds of attacks were visited upon a civilian population, and which have been torn asunder by the criminality of loyalist paramilitaries.

    Actual left-leaning persons would be loyal to the many, not the few, and certainly not by postcode/street.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brandon,

      Where were D Company of the Belfast PIRA based exactly?

      Delete
  5. Actually Brandon, I'll give you a wee clue.

    Here's a link from a former Provo and commenter on this site, have a wee read and tell me the Church was firmly against them.

    https://irishpeaceprocess.blog/2019/08/27/the-ira-the-catholic-church-big-lies/

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Where were D Company of the Belfast PIRA based exactly?"

    At a variety of houses in the Lower Falls. Former commander of D Coy, Brendan Hughes, mentioned one of them was a couple of doors along from my granny's house.

    How many loyalist gangs stored their gear in Orange halls? Does that mean the Orange Order aided and abetted the UVF/UDA from McGurk's to Monaghan?

    There is far, far more evidence that the Orange Order was deeply involved in murder than the Catholic church. I'll await your damning them to Hell for aiding and abetting terrorism.

    I had a read of the article that you suggested I look at. Have you read it? If you have, you would realise that it contradicts the points that you are making. The Catholic church, much like the nationalist population, endorsed Sinn Fein *after* the IRA's ceasefire.

    "The Catholic church in Northern Ireland has belatedly joined the Pan-Nationalist Civic Shinner Front after *spending many years condemning the IRA murder campaign*."

    "*Bishop Edward Daly’s and Cardinal Cahal Daly’s efforts to thwart paramilitarism* have been completely annulled by their nationalist episcopal successors in the new Pan-Nationalist Front."

    Perhaps you meant to copy this link: https://irishpeaceprocess.blog/2017/11/02/catholic-priests-and-the-ira/

    That link contains literally the only reference I have ever read to an "IRA HQ" in Clonard Monastery. I imagine that's because, if it ever happened, it was for a specific opportunistic time. I have also read of IRA lectures taking place in schools, houses, derelict factories and so on.

    None of this means that the Catholic Church in Ireland aided and abetted the IRA. There is a wealth of evidence that totally contradicts the point you are claiming. There is a vast difference between some members of an organisation aiding and abetting the IRA and the entirety of that organisation aiding and abetting the IRA.

    Using your methodology, the following organisations also aided and abetted the IRA: UK Customs & Excise; British Telecom; The RUC; the Prison Service of Northern Ireland; the UDA; the UVF; The Northern Ireland Civil Service; the British Labour Party; the Conservative & Unionist party; the Palace of Westminster.

    Will you be damning all of those organisations for aiding and abetting the IRA? Or just the one that was used as a handy signifier of ethnic belonging for the sectarian murder gangs emanating from the areas to which you profess loyalty?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brandon

    You are correct that the vast majority of catholics rejected the IRA and that the church also opposed the IRA. Didn't John Paul II call on them to stop in '79? However, the world and his wife knows that Clonard Monastery fully supported Adams and the IRA had a fully functioning ops room within the building.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peter,

      I think your earlier assumption about him being a 'sneaking regarder' becomes truer every day. Probably a shinerbot on another account.

      And Brandon, fuck the Orange Order and the Loyalist paramilitaries who've brought nothing but shame and terror upon my community and yours. I've no time for any of them.

      Delete
  8. Peter,

    I lived in the Lower Falls, have read extensively about the IRA, and know many former IRA members. I have heard of Clonard being used to mediate being feuding republicans, and as a place for Adams to meet Father Alec Reid (who was acting as a facilitator for tentative moves to an IRA ceasefire), but have simply never, ever heard even a rumour about an "IRA HQ" or "fully functioning ops room" in Clonard.

    Here's Alec Reid's exact words about his interactions with Adams:

    "The thing first of all, was to persuade John Hume if he were prepared to talk to Gerry Adams he would enable Gerry Adams then to talk to the IRA in a way that could at least persuade them to stop.

    I used to say I represent the next person who's going to be killed in this struggle. That was the line I took, that I don't belong to any political party, the only interest I have in this thing is the interest of the next victim."

    Aside from the far-fetched notion of an entire Monastery acting in unison to cover up for the IRA using it as an HQ/Ops Room, there's the small matter of blatant security considerations.

    Does anyone have any tangible evidence of this?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brandon

    My aul man, who is a god botherer, used to be close friends with a retired Presbyterian minister. This minister was very active in the 70s in the ecumenical drive to try to quell the Troubles in West Belfast. He recounted to my da that one night he was working late in Clonard and it seems the monks forgot about him. He was trying to find his way out and came across a room where people were listening to army radio and speaking in radios as well. He stood outside listening for a bit then slipped out. He said he went straight to Tennents Street barracks and reported it. When I was in the UDR I told that story to some old hands and they it was common knowledge. I never heard it mentioned again until Shane Paul O'Doherty started talking about it on his blog. I have no definitive proof but the old Rev had no reason to lie.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @ Stevie R

    "I think your earlier assumption about him being a 'sneaking regarder' becomes truer every day. Probably a shinerbot on another account."

    Are you talking about me? Perhaps address the comments directly, if so? And substantiate? Otherwise you're simply doing what you did with your foolish comments about the Catholic church: throwing accusations about and hiding behind the words of others.

    And you say "fuck the Orange Order and the Loyalist paramilitaries who've brought nothing but shame and terror upon my community and yours. I've no time for any of them" but you've also said that your loyalty is to the areas where these organisations are strong, supported and active.

    This is the problem with crass generalisations. They're easy to unpack, and simple to expose.

    @ Peter

    I asked if anyone had any tangible evidence. What you've presented is basically gossip. Surely, as a UDR man, you'd understand that most IRA operations didn't need an "ops room" or an HQ when they were being planned?

    It just doesn't remotely stand up to any sort of scrutiny. It is interesting that the two people on this blog buying into the notion of the Catholic church, despite the mass of contradictory evidence, are a (former?) loyalist, and a former UDR man.

    I wonder why that is?

    I'm unsure of Shane Paul O'Doherty's motives, but he doesn't offer any tangible evidence either.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Brandon

    "This is the problem with crass generalisations. They're easy to unpack, and simple to expose."

    "It is interesting that the two people on this blog buying into the notion of the Catholic church.... are a (former?) loyalist, and a former UDR man."

    Oh the irony! You do realise that there were hundreds of catholics in the UDR? I try to be fair and reasonable with you and you reply like this? You really are a nasty wee shit, the hatred is hanging out of you. You also realise that we are talking about the early 70s when the IRA operations were vastly different, involving large columns? I don't know Shane's motives but he details many occasions when monasteries, monks and priests were involved in IRA operations. I find it interesting that you are so willing to defend an institution that raped and buggered Irish children for centuries and covered it up, murdered illegitimate Irish babies and stood by while the famine killed hundreds of thousands of its parishoners. The RC church is a vile, evil empire but at least they have you to defend it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. @ Peter

    Are you able to list a single thing I've said that could remotely be construed as hateful? Hint: no, because it isn't there.

    Likewise, I haven't defended the Catholic church. Again, that's a figment of your imagination.

    Of course I'm aware that approx 3% of the UDR came from nationalist communities. What does that have to do with anything? The RUC had a much higher percentage.

    The point I am making, Peter, is that crass generalisations about communities leads to terrorism directed against that community. It is generally accepted that Ian Paisley was responsible for creating a climate of disdain and hatred towards those labelled Catholics by those claiming a Protestant identity. A major part of that scapegoating was, and apparently still is, the imbecilic claim that the Catholic church was somehow in league with the IRA.

    Because if even their Priests are all for the Provos, a Taig walking home from the pub would support them too, huh?

    There is absolutely no difference between believing the myth that the Catholic church "aided and abetted" the IRA, and believing the myth that attacking schoolgirls at Holy Cross was somehow the fault of the IRA.

    There are both fantastical, scapegoating stories loyalists tell themselves to justify their beliefs and behaviour.

    "I try to be fair and reasonable with you and you reply like this? You really are a nasty wee shit"

    This is perhaps the most unintentionally funny thing I've read on this blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Holy Cross again?

      We've been over this before. Why were the kids left alone from the 1960's if was about them? Hint; it started when the known Provos who were also parents started antagonizing the residents of Glenbryn in one last push to get the huns out. Stopping an overtly taking down number plates and the like. As usual my lot took the bait.

      If there was an issue in the past why didn't the parents simply take them the other way that didn't go right through the contentious area? Paint yourself as a victim all you want you are fooling nobody.

      Delete
  13. This thread is degenerating into an unpleasant and unproductive spat of "whataboutery".

    I am not going to attribute any blame but a little civility while holding onto sincerely held positions would help a lot. Try some empathy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has got a bit acrid. It is better that people trade ideas rather than insults but games don't stop because of the occasional rough tackle.

      Delete
    2. Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth......lol

      Delete
  14. Brandon


    "There is absolutely no difference between believing the myth that the Catholic church "aided and abetted" the IRA, and believing the myth that attacking schoolgirls at Holy Cross was somehow the fault of the IRA."

    The first line of my first post in this thread - "You are correct that the vast majority of catholics rejected the IRA and that the church also opposed the IRA." I agree with you Brandon. Many loyalists, though not all, spread the myth that the RC church was in league with the provos. Just like many republicans spread the myth that the UDR was in league with the UVF. What we both have to accept is that some within the church, and the UDR, were in league with terrorists. I have heard from a trustworthy source and from Shane O'Doherty that the provos had some sort of ops room in Clonard. I have no proof, which I already admitted, but if I were a betting man I wouldn't like your chances.

    "It just doesn't remotely stand up to any sort of scrutiny. It is interesting that the two people on this blog buying into the notion of the Catholic church, despite the mass of contradictory evidence, are a (former?) loyalist, and a former UDR man."

    I didn't "buy into the notion" that you claim. I don't think that the RC church supported the provos, just that some did. You got on your high horse and decided to define me by my membership of an organisation I left nearly 30 years ago. You should try to temper your hatred of unionists, it makes you look like a dick.

    ReplyDelete
  15. @ Barry

    I don't think it is. I think some commentators have degenerated into abuse. I haven't, and don't. I have asked people to justify egregious, damaging but enduring myths.

    Perhaps you should wonder why, when they are unable to justify their mythologies, they switch to personal abuse.

    ReplyDelete
  16. AM,

    You may be in a position to shed some light, did Belfast Brigade use Clonard Monastery as an Ops room, HQ or some sort of safe house in any capacity that you were aware of?

    Were you aware of any Clergy who offered support at anytime during the conflict that went beyond the pastoral?

    Brandon,

    ".. but you've also said that your loyalty is to the areas where these organisations are strong, supported and active."

    So what? I assume you are from a CRN area, are you an active supporter of Sinn Fein/IRA? I do not assume you are but pointing out the illogic of assumption.

    Perhaps if you approached the topic of mythologies with a far less abrasive and arrogant touch this thread wouldn't have becoming acrimonious.

    I'm a Loyalist, not a former anything. Loyalism does not equate to paramilitarism but you seem to conflate the two easily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve - I don't recall ever having heard it before. At the very start of the state and street political violence, it as a Belfast pastime to listen to the police communications on radio - every street seemed to be doing it. And it is possible that in the period immediately post-August 1969 vigilantes as they were called (including IRA personnel) might have been in Clonard Monastery monitoring the radio traffic. But an IRA ops room seems a stretch. There were priests who helped the IRA and were members - Patrick Fell did time in England, Patrick Ryan who outlined his role in a recent televised documentary but they were renegades as far as the Church was concerned. There was never collusion between the institution of the Church and the IRA that resembled the institutional collusion between British state forces in the north and the loyalist combatants.
      Why this exchange has become so cantankerous is that Peter detects a sneering contempt and Brandon detects abusive name calling.
      If both are right, the exchange will end up producing more heat than light.
      Which would be a pity because if the lemons are taken off the menu there is much else being served up that the most of us find appetising.

      Delete
  17. AM

    Have you read the Shane Paul O'Doherty article?

    https://irishpeaceprocess.blog/2018/04/03/gerry-adams-and-god-why-the-ira-hasnt-repented/

    Clearly the man has an agenda but he is adamant and it does coincide with the time my source said he found it, 71/72. What do you make of the rumours that Clonard was bugged and the Belfast Brigade compromised as a result? The rumour that the confessional was bugged seems a bit far fetched!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. just took a quick glance through it. No reason to doubt Shane's attendance at that meeting. I don't share his wider view of things but I have found him candid. The difficulty - which he seems to allow for - is that he does not know how long it was in place for. I would hazard a guess and put it down to individual priests rather than the institution. His interpretation of the place as a full operations room would need to be supported by firmer evidence.
      The bugging of the place even extending to the confessional would be within the realm of the plausible but without somebody actually firming it up, we might never know. The BB was compromised by many things and the state had other ways of getting information.
      We have Shane and the minister saying something similar, so the balance of probability is that something was going on but my best guess is that it would not have been an institutional matter.

      Delete
  18. Yeah, I don't for one minute think that the church supported or colluded with the IRA but some priests and monks did, no doubt. Clonard is an interesting one. It would be hard to have an HQ or OR without institutional collusion. Whatever the truth, it is not just a loyalist myth as Brandon wants to vigorously assert.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it was the hyperbole in your comment that led to the myth allegation:

      However, the world and his wife knows that Clonard Monastery fully supported Adams and the IRA had a fully functioning ops room within the building.

      The support for Adams from the monastery was support to wind up the IRA not for its campaign. The World and his wife probably know that. But very few seem to know anything about a fully functioning ops room within the building.

      Delete