Around 16 years ago I attended the launch of the Conflict Transformation Initiative, a programme designed to help the UDA disband and eventually we were told at the time become an old boys’ commemorative society.
DUP has a history of dialogue with loyalist grouping Nigel Dodds, Jim Allister and the Rev Mervyn Gibson at the Ulster hall rally in December 2019.
Arlene Foster was pictured with Dee Stitt, then chief executive of Charter NI
THE DUP S decision to meet the Loyalist Communities Council to discuss tensions around the Northern Ireland Protocol was met with criticism and claims it was legitimising loyalist paramilitaries.
The body, which was set up in 2015, represents outlawed terror groups including the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando.
However it is not the first time the party has met umbrella groups representing loyalist paramilitaries in times of crisis.