Andy Robinson (loyalist)

Andrew Robinson is a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary leader. Robinson held the rank of "Brigadier" in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and was leader of the organisation's North Antrim and Londonderry Brigade as well as a member of the UDA's Inner Council.

Robinson, from Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, served with the British armed forces at an early age, enlisting in 3 Commando Brigade. He later joined the Ulster Special Constabulary. He joined the UDA at an unspecified date early in its history and was a close lieutenant of local brigadier Glenn Barr. In November 1974 Robinson joined Barr, Andy Tyrie, Tommy Lyttle and Newtownabbey-based Harry Chicken on a trip to Libya. According to historian Ian S. Wood, Tyrie was invited to the country in order that a UDA delegation might meet Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi had apparently been impressed by the UDA's role in the Ulster Workers' Council strike and had sent an invitation through an Irish businessman as a result. Steve Bruce contends that the trip was actually arranged by Walter Hegarty, the secretary of the Dublin-based group Development of Irish Resources, a business organisation that wanted to develop the search for oil off the coast of Ireland. They felt that the governments both north and south of the border were showing too little interest in the project and wanted to involve Libya as an alternative.

The trip itself was largely unsuccessful as the UDA delegation was followed throughout by British Special Branch agents and they never actually got to meet Gaddafi. They were kept under tight security, denied access to alcohol and in their hotel Robinson spotted a delegation from the Provisional IRA (PIRA). The funding they had hoped to get, including a scheme to purchase the Belfast News Letter and turn it into the UDA's official mouthpiece, did not materialise and no weapons were secured either.

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