Mrs Dodds said,
“Richie Neal has always been a friend of Sinn Fein and quick to pay tribute to the IRA so his disrespect for unionists isn’t much of a shock but to suggest the more than 40% of MLAs elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly less than 20 days ago were ‘manufacturing’ their opposition to the NI Protocol is outrageous.
The Protocol has not enjoyed the support of a single unionist MP or MLA since it was forced upon us by Westminster and Brussels. The Protocol is driving up costs on our supermarket shelves particularly in frozen food. It has placed our medicine supply in jeopardy and made Northern Ireland a colony where we are subject to rules but are powerless to change them.
If the US delegation want to be helpful, they should speak up for consensus politics and seek a path which respects Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and can command support of unionists.
From the minute Ritchie Neal’s feet touched these shores, he has been more of a hindrance than a help to progress.”
Neal's outrageous claims highlighted to Ways and Means Committee
24 May, 2022
DUP Upper Bann MLA Diane Dodds has written to all members of the Congressional Ways and Means Committee to record the DUP’s rejection of Rep Richie Neal’s suggestion that our objection to the NI Protocol was ‘manufactured”.
