copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2022-05-08): Why is the DUP against the Northern Ireland Protocol? [...] Why do the DUP reject the Northern Ireland Protocol? [...] They also believe the protocol undermines the principle enshrined in the Good Friday peace agreement that NI's constitutional status can only be changed with explicit democratic consent.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2021-11-30): Brexit: NI Protocol 'not shattering' for the union, court told The fact that the Northern Ireland Protocol overrides part of the Act of Union is not "shattering" for the union, a government barrister has said.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2021-06-30): Brexit: NI Protocol is lawful, High Court rules The Northern Ireland Protocol is lawful, a High Court judge in Belfast has ruled. A group of unionist politicians, including Arlene Foster and Lord Trimble, had challenged the protocol in judicial review proceedings.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2021-02-23): Many of those involved in taking legal action against the NI protocol have openly opposed the Belfast Agreement or, worse yet, called for the peace treaty to be scrapped entirely. Therein lies the looming red flag of duplicity and ulterior motives, flying higher than any union flag, and blanketing the citizens of this region in its stagnating shadow. [...] Political unionism uniting against the protocol leaves those within unionism who support the protocol with little political space to call home [...] Political unionism uniting against the protocol leaves those within unionism who support the protocol, or who voted against Brexit, with little political space to call home. Unionism no longer holds a majority in Northern Ireland. Opting for reruns of a tired Brexit game instead of seeking workable solutions to the protocol will only further shrink their base.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2022-11-30): The Northern Ireland Protocol "fundamentally shifts the position" of the North compared to the rest of the UK, the British Supreme Court has been told.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2023-12-18): In considering this claim, it is important to take into account the positions of other parties who designate as "Unionist" – as well as the views of those who describe themselves as "Unionist", more generally. When exploring whether the DUP have opposed the NI Protocol, it is important to ask: which one? And what constitutes "day one" with regard to the NI Protocol? [...] An April 2022 a poll conducted by the Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool found that 21% Unionists indicated that the NI Protocol was the most important issue that concerns them (in contrast to 2% of Nationalists, and 4% of neither Unionist or Nationalist respondents). Similarly, in 2021, Lucid Talk surveyed Unionist voters’ attitudes to the Protocol with 91% supporting its abolition and just 6% supporting keeping it in place. [...] The DUP along with other Unionist parties have all opposed the Protocol as outlined in the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement. Polls also suggested a lack of support for the NI Protocol among the Unionist community, more generally.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2024-02-02): The first agreement with the EU, called the Northern Ireland Protocol, came into force on 1 January 2021.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2023-10-18): Brexit has made frictionless trade between the EU and the UK impossible, but the Protocol is a complex system that allows Northern Ireland to remain in the UK customs territory and, at the same time, benefit from access to the Single Market for the movement of goods. [...] The European Commission has launched four new infringement procedures against the United Kingdom for not complying with significant parts of the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland. [...] In a statement following the UK government's announcement regarding the Protocol on Northern Ireland, Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said the EU was ready to continue to seek creative solutions, within the framework of the Protocol, in the interest of all communities in Northern Ireland.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2024-01-27): "The only weapon that unionism has is to say that if you truly want peace and power sharing in Northern Ireland, then you’ve got to face up to the reality of the situation that the Protocol has to go."
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2021-06-08): The situation in Northern Ireland is deeply uncertain, as the quotation in my title indicates – it is from David Campbell, chair of the Loyalist Communities Council speaking in Parliament to the NI Select Committee. Unionism has mobilized against the Brexit NI Protocol, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has unexpectedly changed leadership to restore its conservative roots, various brands of politicians warn of imminent violence on the streets, relations with the Republic of Ireland – already poor – are deteriorating, and the United States recently elected president, Joe Biden, celebrates his Irish identity in his interest in Northern Ireland. In its briefings about the Protocol the UK government swings from stinging denouncements of EU intransigence to claiming signs of progress. [...] By this stage on her way out of office, Foster took the opportunity to promote the anti-Republic of Ireland narrative as the source of the hated NI Protocol. Her successor to the leadership of the DUP – Edwin Poots – immediately declared upon election, that relations with the Republic had never been worse. Prime Minister Johnson’s promise of ‘unfettered’ trade across the Irish Sea within the UK is the goal of unionist antipathy to the Protocol.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2022-04-28): The Protocol represents an existential threat to the future of Northern Ireland’s place within the Union. [...] In the recent Chancellor’s Spring statement, Northern Ireland had to be excluded from important cuts to VAT for households installing energy efficiency measures because of the operation of the NI Protocol. That is simply unacceptable. [...] The Government knows that the Protocol does not enjoy the support of Unionists – not a single elected unionist supports the Protocol - and Brussels can be in no doubt that the Protocol has cast its long shadow over Northern Ireland’s political arrangements.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2022-06-19): Brexit: Plans to ditch parts of NI Protocol are economic vandalism - Irish PM - Published - comments [...] The government wants to change the Northern Ireland Protocol to make it easier for some goods to flow from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. [...] "Not one unionist MP or MLA supports the protocol but instead of Dublin trying to understand or recognise our objections, they repeatedly lecture us, talk down to us and demand we change our mind.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2023-01-23): The Northern Ireland Protocol has become the thorniest issue in the new relationship between the UK and the EU. The Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP), signed by the UK and the EU as part of the Withdrawal Agreement in 2020, has become the thorniest issue in the new relationship between the two sides. In the run up to the 2016 referendum there was almost no consideration, let alone discussion, of the implications for the Northern Ireland peace process that a Brexit vote might have. Since 2020 the discussions about Northern Ireland have been endless and often ill-tempered. The failure to resolve the difficulties has poisoned the day-to-day functioning of the UK’s new trading relationship with the EU and effectively blocked any attempts to bring the two sides closer together. This analysis will look at the origins of the current situation (the ‘what’), the specific issue of the Brexit trilemma (the ‘why’), and how matters might be addressed (the ‘how’). [...] Their position has hardened to say that they will not re-join the power-sharing agreement needed to get Stormont (the Northern Ireland Assembly) up and running until the Northern Ireland Protocol is abandoned.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2024-06-01): Did Unionism always oppose the Northern Ireland Protocol? [...] On 15 March, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP told the National Press Club in Washington DC: "Unionism rejected the NI Protocol from day one."Articles |
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2024-02-16): However, cooperation was short-lived. Foster stepped down in April 2021 after facing pressure over new trade checks on goods traveling to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK as a consequence of the Northern Ireland Protocol. She was replaced by the DUP’s Paul Givan, who in turn resigned in February 2022 in protest against the protocol. May 2022 elections made Sinn Fein the largest party in the assembly for the first time, but the DUP’s continued boycott kept the government out of commission into 2024. In January 2024, the UK government reached a deal with the DUP to update the protocol and pave the way for a restored government under Sinn Fein’s O’Neill as first minister. [...] But the protocol has spurred backlash from unionists. The DUP, which supported Brexit as a way of drawing closer to the UK, now sees the Irish Sea border checks as driving a wedge between them; many rank-and-file unionists likewise interpret London’s support for the protocol as a betrayal. This grievance helped spark riots in April 2021, the worst violence Belfast had seen in decades, and has caused the DUP’s ongoing boycott of the Northern Ireland executive.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2023-08-05): Much of the wrangling and negotiating that followed—including the much-publicized disputes over the so-called backstop and the Northern Ireland Protocol, both of which established trade barriers in the Irish Sea—were aimed at mollifying nationalist concerns. [...] In a last-ditch effort to reform the protocol and secure Northern Ireland’s place inside the United Kingdom, the DUP—Northern Ireland’s largest pro-Union political grouping—withdrew from the region’s governing bodies, refusing to reengage until substantive changes were made to the Protocol. Although the DUP’s boycott has come under intense criticism from nationalist politicians, it’s extremely popular among unionists. According to one poll from LucidTalk, nearly two-thirds of unionists believe their politicians should refuse to reenter the regional executive until the protocol is either changed or scrapped entirely.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2021-07-25): Irish nationalists and republicans believe that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has only itself to blame for the political and economic damage of Brexit. It campaigned for Brexit, and then refused to back former Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal with the European Union that would have eliminated the prospect of a ‘hard’ border. When the European Union continued to insist that a customs and regulatory land border on the island of Ireland was a deal breaker for an EU-UK trade agreement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to put one – under a joint UK-EU Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP) – in the Irish Sea instead, something he previously claimed that no British prime minister would ever contemplate. [...] First, Dublin should be more attuned to unionist sensitivities over the NIP. Diplomacy in Belfast may reassure more moderate elements within the DUP that the protocol can be turned into a workable, and in some respects, advantageous instrument for Northern Ireland. Micheál Martin, the Irish Taoiseach, has already helpfully suggested that a proposed poll on Irish unity should not be considered in the next few years given the political tensions and uncertainty caused by Brexit.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2024-07-16): Political reaction to implementation [edit]Unionist reaction [edit]Unionist reaction to the Protocol was uniformly negative. In October 2020, the de facto border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland bore criticism from Lord Empey, the Ulster Unionist Party's chief negotiator during the Good Friday Agreement and former Stormont minister. He described a border on the Irish Sea as "the most significant change that has taken place since partition"[40] and that "Northern Ireland's centre of gravity could gradually move in a Dublin/Brussels direction. This cannot be without constitutional consequences."[41] In February 2021, then DUP leader Arlene Foster objected to its implicit "red line down the Irish Sea", contrary to the Prime Minister Johnson's assurances.[42] [...] In September 2021, the four Unionist parties (DUP, PUP, TUV and UUP) released a joint declaration affirming their "opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol, its mechanisms and structures" and reaffirmed their "unalterable position that the protocol must be rejected and replaced by arrangements which fully respect Northern Ireland's position as a constituent and integral part of the United Kingdom." However the parties declined to form an electoral pact that might maximise the number of anti-protocol MLAs to vote on continuance of the protocol as provided for in Article 18.[44] [...] - ^ Halliday, Gillian (28 September 2021). "Unionist leaders sign declaration in fresh bid opposing NI protocol". Belfast Telegraph.
Claim: Unionism was against the NI Protocol from day one (Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, 2023-03-15)
Evidence (2022-10-06): While Irish-unity advocates polish their credentials, the putative defenders of Northern Ireland’s place in the UK immolate their credibility. The DUP has alienated liberal Protestants by resisting same-sex unions, abortion rights and other social changes. It has collapsed power-sharing at Stormont to protest against the Northern Ireland protocol, leaving the region rudderless in the midst of a cost of living crisis and reinforcing a sense that Northern Ireland, as a political entity, simply does not work – long a cherished goal of the IRA. Meanwhile the Tories, officially the Conservative and Unionist party, have prioritised Brexit over the union. In a 2019 YouGov poll, 59% of party members said they would accept Northern Ireland leaving the UK as a price of Brexit. Boris Johnson exhibited this disregard in agreeing to the protocol, which puts a trade border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. Liz Truss seeks to empower her government to rip up parts of the protocol with a bill currently at the House of Lords but that was devised before her fiscal policies put financial markets and her own party in revolt, reordering her priorities. There are signs Truss is preparing to cut a deal with the EU. Why else, the DUP nervously wonders, did the arch-Brexiteer Steve Baker, a Northern Ireland minister, last week apologise to Dublin and Brussels for previous behaviour?
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2018-01-28): The claim is accurate.On 28th January 2018, IrishCentral claimed that “Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples.”
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2024-10-01): Percentage of births born outside of wedlock in Northern Ireland - [...] For the first century that Northern Ireland existed, the majority or plurality of its population identified with Protestantism, and with its founding, the region was intended to have a permanent Protestant majority.[41] With the 2021 census, Catholics outnumbered Protestants for the first time. [...] - ^ "Racial Equality (The Executive Office)". Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2024-07-03): Politics & Government 5 - Premium Statistic Number of seats won in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections 2022 - Basic Statistic Long-term policy survey for Northern Ireland in 2021 - Basic Statistic Irish reunification survey in Northern Ireland 2021 - Premium Statistic Share of votes in UK elections in Northern Ireland 1974-2019 - Premium Statistic Public opinion on the impact of Brexit on peace in Northern Ireland in 2018 [...] Long-term policy survey for Northern Ireland in 2021 [...] Share of votes in UK general elections in Northern Ireland from 1974 to 2019, by political party -
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2023-03-30): A publication entitled "The Northern Ireland Poverty and Income Inequality report (2021/22)" was published today by the Department for Communities. [...] - Figures presented in this publication are taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset, which is based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The FRS has been running in Great Britain since 1992 and was subsequently introduced to Northern Ireland in April 2002. [...] - Follow us on Twitter: @CommunitiesNI
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2024-10-09): Mr Connolly said this has increased the drinks sales in Newry "exponentially". [...] Mr Gosling said one of the big issues is that not enough people are in third level education, which means the technical and academic skills needed for the economy in Northern Ireland are not there. Additionally, many people go to Britain for university and do not return. [...] At the same time, securing housing in the North is becoming increasingly difficult for many people. There is a shortage of homes. Housebuilding is at a 60-year low, and there is nowhere near enough social housing to meet demand. That has pushed more people into the private rental market.
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2024-09-29): [edit]There were five attempts to introduce same-sex marriage in the Northern Ireland Assembly, with a majority supporting legalisation in 2015 but the Democratic Unionist Party exercising its veto powers by filing a petition of concern.[50] Around the time of the successful Irish same-sex marriage referendum in 2015, an Ipsos Mori poll carried out between 20 May and 8 June 2015 found that 68% of people in Northern Ireland supported same-sex marriage.[58][59] [...] A December 2016 LucidTalk poll of 1,080 found that 65.2% of people surveyed supported the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.[78] However, a majority of Unionist respondents was opposed to same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, with only 37.04% in favour (with support rising to 71% for Unionists aged between 18 and 24 years of age).[78] By contrast, 92.92% of Nationalist/Republican respondents and 95.75% of Alliance/Green/PBP voters were in favour.[78] [...] - ^ "76% of Northern Ireland back marriage equality in latest poll". Gay Times. 9 April 2018.
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2022-09-23): The results have been described as "a seminal moment" by leaders of Irish republican parties – who favour the reunification of Ireland and draw most of their votes from the Catholic population, and have caused disquiet in unionist camps – who want to remain in the United Kingdom and are supported mostly by Protestants. [...] However, caution is required when interpreting the results and their political applications, Peter McLoughlin, a senior lecturer in political history at Queens University Belfast, told Al Jazeera. [...] It was noticeable that both main unionist parties briefed the media to downplay the significance of the results before they were even announced.
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2022-09-22): It is essential not to draw facile, hasty or triumphalist political conclusions from these new census figures. A cultural Catholic plurality in Northern Ireland does not automatically translate into a rapid majority favouring a united Ireland. There is an ebb and flow of opinion among Catholics in favour of devolution within the UK over the last two decades depending on the effectiveness of power-sharing. Many nationalists still need to be convinced Irish unity would enhance their political and economic well-being. They see the need for more community reconciliation, a fuller working out of the Belfast Agreement institutions and greater participation in the Irish Government’s Shared Island initiative before that decision is posed and made. Preparation for possible futures as part of a transformed Irish state or within a reformed United Kingdom is nevertheless advisable for all communities in Northern Ireland. A weakening, more fragmented and less prosperous UK union drives the debates on Scottish independence, Welsh futures and Brexit, making it prudent to anticipate potentially rapid change in Britain. The importance of ‘others’ in the North’s electoral politics, reflected in growing support for the Alliance party, makes it necessary for unionists to develop convincing pragmatic arguments in favour of the UK’s union or of Irish unity by its supporters. [...] The immediate priority should be to restore the power-sharing institutions and develop them so they can better reflect this more pluralist Northern Ireland.
Claim: Seventy percent of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of its Assembly Members support marriage equality for LGBT couples. (IrishCentral, 2018-01-28)
Evidence (2024-10-01): - ^ Clakre, Liam (3 October 2014). "Slim majority in Northern Ireland supports same sex marriage law". Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2014. [...] - ^ "Survey shows 70% support for same-sex marriages in Northern Ireland – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2016. - ^ "76% of Northern Ireland back marriage equality in latest poll". Gaytimes.co.uk. 9 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2019.