Unionists aim to break Northern Ireland protocol of Brexit agreement Northern Ireland’s right-wing unionist parties and hardline Tory Brexiteers, with the support of loyalist paramilitary groups, are intent on breaking the Northern Ireland Protocol component of Britain’s European Union (EU) withdrawal agreement. The protocol is a ramshackle and fragile compromise devised to avoid any return to a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It became necessary because Northern Ireland, which remains part of the UK, has left the EU. But neither the UK, the EU or the Irish government want to be seen to reimpose politically and economically ruinous border checks on the island of Ireland.