Need to ‘deradicalise’ young loyalists in Northern Ireland, academic tells MPs

There is a need to “deradicalise” young loyalists in Northern Ireland, an academic has told MPs.

Dr Aaron Edwards, a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was speaking as he gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on the impact of paramilitarism on society in the region.

He previously worked on major projects to help loyalist paramilitaries transition away from violence.

There are more loyalist paramilitaries today than there were 30 years ago, and I think that's a really disturbing reality. Quite what they're doing is open for serious questions

Dr Edwards described paramilitary groups as “complex organisations” and “networks deeply embedded in the most marginalised and deprived parts of Northern Ireland”.

Public support for them was described as “ebbing and flowing”, but not “widespread”.

“The political dimension has lessened since the ceasefires (in 1994), however since the Brexit referendum and subsequent protest actions on the streets we have seen new life breathed into these old antiquated paramilitary structures,” he told MPs.

Dr Edwards contended that warning signs for the disorder in April 2021 were “missed” due to a focus by security forces on the leadership of organisations.

Trying to deradicalise youth particularly who feel that they need to join the fray, years after the major armed conflict ended, is something I think we need to address

“In April 2021 there was an outbreak of sporadic violence, mainly from within the loyalist community, and those sorts of signs were missed because most of the surveillance and engagement was with leadership and not with the grassroots,” he said.

Dr Edwards was critical of attempts by Stormont to tackle paramilitarism.

“We see hard evidence of the police and Paramilitary Crime Task Force raiding and being very successful, the various organisations that it looks at,” he said.

“But for those who have been around quite a long time and have lived with paramilitarism all their lives and still continue to see paramilitaries with some kind of standing or stature in their communities, I think there’s a shaking of heads and all I can really see the strategy doing at the moment is mowing the grass … essentially, occasionally there are weeds that need pulled out by the roots, but fundamentally the grass continues to grow and we’re continuing to see paramilitary structures continue to re-energise and rejuvenate.

“There are more loyalist paramilitaries today than there were 30 years ago, and I think that’s a really disturbing reality. Quite what they’re doing is open for serious questions.”

There is that insecurity within the wider unionist community that they thought that our place within the UK was agreed, but then with Brexit they see that they’re being kind of treated slightly differently

Quoting Progressive Unionist Party leader Billy Hutchinson on his call for “mindsets to be decommissioned”, Dr Edwards said: “I think that’s correct even today. Trying to deradicalise youth particularly who feel that they need to join the fray, years after the major armed conflict ended, is something I think we need to address.”

He said there was disagreement among academics about the age profile of those involved in loyalist paramilitaries.

He said one report suggested most were men and under the age of 40, but there were also those aged up to 80 who “remain in control of those groups and have been in charge, in control of those groups for a very long time”.

“I think alternative role models are required to break the grip of paramilitary peace keepers,” he added.

Dr Sean Brennan, an independent researcher who specialises in work in the community sector and the challenges of reintegrating loyalist ex-prisoners back into society, contended that loyalists felt they were “demonised” whereas for republicans, there was “almost a conveyor belt from prison to parliament”.

It's not about tackling one issue. It's about a multi-agency approach and it is very challenging to do. There is no sense of pretending otherwise

“There is that insecurity within the wider unionist community that they thought that our place within the UK was agreed, but then with Brexit they see that they’re being kind of treated slightly differently,” he said.

“You can see then from that perspective why loyalist paramilitaries in particular feel the need to remain because they feel that they can’t trust London, and that they’re going to be sold out and therefore they have to defend the people.”

He emphasised that it could not be left to communities to do the heavy lifting on their own, adding that “positive elements” were often “overwhelmed”.

He also described a sense of “hopelessness” in some marginalised communities, and the impact of drugs on the vulnerable.

“It’s not about tackling one issue. It’s about a multi-agency approach and it is very challenging to do. There is no sense of pretending otherwise,” he said.

“We need to focus on the structural transformations as well as the community transformations because without one, you can’t have the other and then we’re just going into an ongoing process of sustaining the deprivation that we’re trying to transform.”