Sir, – If it is accepted that unionists are the British presence in Ireland then the same logic dictates that Irish citizens are, post-Brexit, the EU presence in the North.
It must also follow that if there are to be safeguards for the unionist identity in the circumstances now applying there then the Irish/European identity should be similarly safeguarded.
There are two obvious ways in which the rights of those holding European citizenship may be protected. The Irish Government enables all Irish citizens resident on the island to elect MEPs or it devises some other route to democratic expression in Europe for those citizens North of the Border.
The need for such action assumes added urgency now as the British government floats the suggestion that it will unilaterally amend the Belfast Agreement to comfort unionism.
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A failure to act in face of this possibility places Irish citizens in the six counties at risk of being treated less favourably than other citizens by both the UK and the EU.
If this were to be the case, the anniversary of the Belfast Agreement could somewhat embarrassingly coincide with an erosion of the parity of esteem it is meant to embody. – Yours, etc,
PAUL LAUGHLIN,
Derry.