The ‘Irish News’ has reported that an “Alliance MP has hit out at “nods and winks” to past gunrunning, after a senior Orangeman invoked the 1914 UVF at an anti-protocol rally.”
“Stephen Farry criticised the reference by Grand Secretary of the Orange Order, Rev Mervyn Gibson. Rev Gibson warned at a rally in east Belfast that “apathy” was not an option for unionists in the fight against the protocol – a post-Brexit customs measure which has effectively created a border in the Irish Sea.”
“If left in place the protocol makes you and I subject to the laws and regulations of a foreign power and in time their influence will spread like a cancer,” he told protesters at Bloomfield Roundabout on Friday.
“Apathy was not an option when in 1912 people signed the (Ulster) Covenant. Apathy was not an option when guns were landed at Larne and Donaghadee. Apathy was not an option in 1921 when Northern Ireland was founded. Apathy was not an option during the dark days of the Troubles.”
The report from the ‘Irish News’, went on: “The Larne gunrunning, organised in April 1914, saw almost 25,000 rifles and between three and five million rounds of ammunition from the German Empire – just months before the beginning of the First World War. The operation aimed to equip the UVF.
Mr Farry, the MP for North Down, criticised Rev Gibson’s gunrunning reference. “There is no place for guns and gunrunning in NI politics and society,” he said. “Nods and winks to past examples are not acceptable. The election candidates and parties sharing platforms should make clear their sole commitment to peaceful and democratic means.” (more…)
