The clearly expressed view of the electorate across all sections of our divided society is that paramilitary groups have had their day and have no contribution to make to any political decision-making process.
This is a simple reality, but what can only be described as the mixed messages emerging from the loyalist sector over recent days indicate that it has yet to be fully grasped in some quarters.
A pro-union think tank, the Northern Ireland Development Group (NIDG), made a number of constructive points in its Reframing The Debate document, which was released to mark the anniversary at the weekend of the 1994 loyalist ceasefire.
The organisation known as the Combined Loyalist Military Command, representing the UVF, UDA and the Red Hand Commando, announced 30 years ago that loyalists would “universally cease all operational activities”, some six weeks after a similar move by the IRA.
Both cessations were to be periodically abandoned, tragically resulting in the loss of more innocent lives, but the long term momentum was only in one direction as the 1998 Good Friday Agreement demonstrated that paramilitary groups should be firmly consigned to the history books.
Although some have continued to exercise a criminal influence in loyalist areas, the NIDG report raised the prospect that a final disbandment could be completed within five years.
Dr John Kyle of the NIDG expressed frustration over the slow scale of progress, but was entitled to highlight the need for a wider social transformation which matched the vision of the late and much-missed Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine.
It was therefore perturbing to hear another PUP former leader, Brian Ervine, the elder brother of David, say on Friday that paramilitary groups might continue in the background, “waiting on a time when they may be called upon”.
Brian Ervine summed up the confused thinking still present within some elements of loyalism when he attempted to justify his position by saying: “The problem is we can’t trust that the union is safe and we can’t trust government.”
It should be obvious to unionists, nationalists and the unaligned that putting any kind of trust in successive Westminster administrations has always been foolish, as the DUP discovered painfully through its shambolic association with Boris Johnson.
The union plainly could not have been safe since unionists lost what was designed to be their permanent majority at Stormont, and its future will be in the hands of the voters when a border referendum is finally called.
Everyone will have the opportunity to democratically campaign for their preferred outcome, and the constitutional question will be ultimately resolved through the ballot box rather than through the intervention of any shadowy loyalist figures.
The clearly expressed view of the electorate across all sections of our divided society is that paramilitary groups have had their day and have no contribution to make to any political decision-making process
