UK minister meets NIreland paramilitaries as Brexit looms

Britain’s Northern Ireland minister has met paramilitaries against a backdrop of concern about Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, media reports said on Tuesday.

The Irish News said Julian Smith hosted a reception for about a dozen people linked to the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Red Hand Commando.

It said the meeting took place at the minister’s official Hillsborough Castle residence outside Belfast before Christmas last month.

The Northern Ireland Office confirmed the meeting to AFP, without mentioning the groups or individuals involved.

“The Secretary of State (Smith) continues to engage with a range of groups and individuals from across the community around the latest political developments,” a spokesman said.

News of the meeting will likely stoke fears about the impact of Britain’s departure from the European Union on Northern Ireland.

The UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando are all loyalist groups who were active during three decades of violence sparked by British rule in the province.

Unrest which left some 3,500 people dead largely ended with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that revived a devolved power-sharing government in Belfast.

But Brexit has resurrected dormant tensions as London thrashed out a divorce deal with Brussels, particularly the potential for the return to a “hard” border with EU member Ireland.

The dissolution of British Army and police infrastructure along the 500-kilometre (310-mile) boundary with Northern Ireland’s southern neighbour was a key part of the peace deal.

It was feared republican dissidents in favour of a united Ireland could target infrastructure.

Britain looks set to leave the EU at the end of this month after Johnson won a sweeping election victory in December.

But unionists and more hardcore loyalists fear his deal will place legal, customs and trade barriers in the Irish Sea — separating the province from mainland Britain and spurring it closer to unity with the Republic of Ireland.

Some angry unionists and loyalists have dubbed Johnson’s deal as a “Betrayal Act”, vowing to oppose any “economic united Ireland”.

They warned separate customs rules for Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain was straying into “very dangerous territory”.