“Loyalists have been left behind by the peace process” is the assessment by Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former Chief of Staff. His words have been echoed by loyalism in Northern Ireland, often used in its defence when questions arise around parades, housing and academic attainment. But is there any truth it in?

First Minister Arlene Foster seemed to suggest so on BBC Spotlight, questioned after awarding Charter NI (an East Belfast community group with links to UDA) £1.7 million from the Social Investment Fund (SIF).

Defending the award, Mrs Foster cited her party’s mandatory coalition with Sinn Féin. In other words, if the Good Friday Agreement enabled what she perceives as the IRA’s morphing into a legitimate presence in the Northern Ireland Assembly, then the same opportunity can be afforded to other paramilitary groupings.

Ironically, Martin McGuinness also announced his support for funding to organisations with links to Loyalist paramilitaries.

However, on Nolan Live last week the allocation of SIF funding to Charter NI was equated to grown men “being awarded for bad behaviour”.

The difficulty in recognising that loyalists have been left behind by the peace process lies with the misplaced perception that prior to 1998 they had nothing to lose. They had everything to lose.

When Catholic men were prevented from taking up a trade, education became the alternative. The imbalance between the intake of Catholics and Protestants in our universities is continuing testament to this. What exacerbates this situation is that the plethora of manual jobs that used to be readily available for Protestant working class males no longer exist.

During the Troubles and beyond, loyalists were abandoned by leaders of capital-U unionism whilst nationalists cared for their own.

As the old saying goes, big house Unionist politicians ‘marched them up to the top of the hill and left them there’. The recent deal reached by protesters at Twaddell in the absence of elected leadership is a case in point.

Are we witnessing the First Minister attempting to change the tide in this regard, implementing the same tactic her partners in government did years ago?

It begs the following questions: will funding awarded to such groups really close the economic and political gap between loyalists and republicans that Jonathan Powell accuses the peace process of creating?

Is there substance in Mrs Foster’s belief the SIF will encourage paramilitary affiliates to get on board with the democratic political tide, or is it simple naivety that will result in such funds ultimately strengthening the leadership of unwanted and unelected leaders?

For many this presents a hard pill to swallow but, despite the extension of an olive branch between loyalism and big house unionism is well overdue. It needs to be grasped for the sake of us all – and fast.