Irish Times, November 4th, 2011
Sir, – The latest initiative by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, to set up a new Government body “tasked with scoping out the models and challenges for different potential ‘constitutional futures’ for the island”, is to be welcomed.
One of the key destabilising factors in Northern Ireland in the past decade has been the Brexit referendum of 2016, which was at odds with prevailing sentiment in Northern Ireland. As Stephen Collins pointed out in his column (“Ireland helping Burnham bring the UK closer to the EU”, October 30th), the Republic is in a unique position for facilitating a rapprochement between the United Kingdom under Andy Burnham’s Labour administration and the EU.
However, the wishes of all the people in Northern Ireland must be paramount. Whether they opt for a united Ireland, to remain in the United Kingdom or for their own independent state, the outcome must initially be their choice.
As the Garvaghy Road confrontation has shown so starkly, any strategy that hopes to be successful must be based on reconciliation rather than political power blocs asserting their historic rights. The way forward cannot be charted with roadmaps based on past grievances. – Yours, etc,
HARRY DONAGHY, Northern chair,
JOHN GREEN, Southern chair,
PADRAIG YEATES, secretary,
Truth Recovery Process CLG.
Taoiseach expands on initiative to examine Irish unity options
By Micheal O Scannail, Belfast News Letter, November 4th, 2026
Ireland’s premier has proposed that a chairperson be appointed to oversee research into potential future scenarios including Irish unification within five years of a referendum.
The Press Association understands that Micheal Martin shared a briefing document with his Fianna Fail parliamentary party on Tuesday, outlining three points of focus in relation to issues involving the future of the island as well as North-South and Ireland/UK relations.
The document says these “explain the priorities which will be followed in the coming period”.
The Taoiseach’s briefing comes after the deputy premier and leader of Fine Gael Simon Harris announced earlier this year that his party will launch a “blueprint” for Irish unity in November.
Opposition parties have also piled on pressure for the Government to make preparations for a debate on a united Ireland.
One of the three main points on the briefing Mr Martin gave to Fianna Fail backbenchers was “a new initiative to define and develop evidence base for debate on future constitutional frameworks”.
Futures Study Initiative
It poses the idea of establishing the Futures Study Initiative (FSI), which would gather informed cross-community voices to explore three potential future core scenarios for the island.
The FSI will seek expert opinion and input from political parties and activist groups on constitutional and legal change, issues relating to the convergence on economy, health and education as well as matters pertaining to security, symbols and culture.
The briefing documents, shared with backbenchers, said that “an informed and genuinely inclusive debate about the constitutional future of the island is essential”.
It continued: “It is our view that for any such debate to be productive, it must start from a position of rigorous, independent and dispassionate evidence.”
The first scenario outlined in the briefing document to be explored by the FSI is “a single unitary republic, governed by institutions primarily based in Dublin which would be fully in place within a maximum of five years of a unification referendum”.
The second consideration would be the outcomes of an all-island state with devolved government in Northern Ireland, “in a manner similar to that which currently operates under Strand One of the Good Friday Agreement”.
The third scenario would effectively be the status quo of long-term co-operation and shared development in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement without any constitutional change.
It is understood the FSI would seek to provide an objective, independent knowledge base to be used to inform debate, and would not be charged with recommending a specific single proposal for Northern Ireland’s governance.
The briefing document shared by the Taoiseach said: “Led by people who are acknowledged as eminent and independent, the initiative would summarise current knowledge, identify knowledge gaps or points of significant contestation and commission work to address these gaps.”
The work would be about defining where there are gaps in knowledge, so that people can design and engage in informed debate about their proposals for the future.
‘Good faith opportunity’
According to the briefing document, this would provide a “good faith opportunity” for those outside the nationalist tradition to participate.
The document adds: “In debating the future constitutional arrangements for the island, as genuinely inclusive a debate as possible is critically important.
“It is essential to avoid the most consistent failure of the last century where initiatives ended up with one side talking with itself and reinforcing division.
“It is our view that we need a new approach, which protects initiatives which have cross-community legitimacy while separately addressing the legitimate need to go deeper on framing an evidence base and proposal for a new constitutional framework.”
It is understood that the unit would operate on the core assumptions that regardless of the potential constitutional scenario in discussion, maximising the welfare of all parts of the island is a priority.
In any outcome, the document says, “broad fiscal and economic convergence should underpin policy and be defined and costed in medium and long-term impacts”.
It is understood backbenchers were briefed that the initiative should be led by a chairperson and at least five others, so that an expert in the six fields of constitutional and legal change, the economy, health, education, security and culture, can oversee the work.
Fianna Fail TDs Erin McGreehan, Brendan Smith and Patrick Gallagher are seen as potential candidates within the party to sit on the body.
It is understood that the Taoiseach also briefed backbenchers on discussions for reform of Strand One of the Good Friday Agreement.
Power sharing
The landmark political deal, signed on April 10, 1998, that largely brought an end to three decades of violent conflict in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles, is structured around three core interlocking administrative and political components, known as strands.
Strand One deals with the devolved power-sharing assembly of government in Northern Ireland based in Stormont, Belfast.
The briefing document states that an inclusive discussion which involves all Northern Ireland parties and the two governments remains the most constructive way to discuss reforms to Northern Ireland’s governance.
It is understood that backbenchers were briefed that Fianna Fail supports reform of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement and that evidence suggests that there is a clear need and public demand to see them operate more effectively.
“A majority of the public believes that the institutions are not working effectively to address the social and economic challenges faced by Northern Ireland,” the document says.
“This is an acute concern because of regular commentary about the possibility of the Assembly and Executive again being collapsed – thereby continuing a cycle of establishment and collapse which has prevented essential progress and planning over the past three decades.
“Rather than let this cycle continue, there should be a substantive discussion about ways to reform the operations of the institutions so that they can prevent legitimate protections for different communities from being used to block wider progress.”
It is understood that the other core point the Taoiseach briefed his party colleagues on was the Government’s need to continue developing and delivering the Shared Island Initiative.
The initiative established in 2020 has seen the most significant investment in the history of the North-South relationship, backed by a Shared Island Fund of two billion euro.
According to the briefing document, to date, more than one billion euro of the fund has been assigned.
Earlier, a spokesman for the Taoiseach said Mr Martin had been considering the FSI proposal since early summer.
The spokesman said the name of the initiative would not include Irish unity as it could be perceived to prejudge an outcome.
NI 'is not fully prepared for future periods of public unrest'
LIAM TUNNEY, Belfast Telegraph, November 4th, 2026
CIVIL SERVANTS WARNED FOLLOWING DISORDER OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS
Northern Ireland is not sufficiently prepared for outbreaks of public disorder, senior civil servants have been told.
Sustained periods of disorder have broken out across Northern Ireland over the last three years.
In August 2024, disorder flared in Belfast following an anti-immigration protest held after three young girls were murdered at a children's dance club in England.
Several days of rioting also took place in June 2025, beginning in Ballymena, after reports of an alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl.
Similar unrest flared in June this year after a knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie in north Belfast, with the PSNI describing the violence as “widespread racially-motivated disorder”.
Hadi Alodid (31) is to face trial in February next year for the attempted murder of Mr Ogilvie.
Overview
At a meeting of Northern Ireland's most senior civil servants in July, Department of Justice officials provided an overview of lessons learned from the disorder.
The group agreed that work should be progressed to strengthen preparedness for future violence.
However, at a further meeting in September, officials noted arrangements were not sufficient to deal with future unrest.
“While many of the issues identified in July remained, some progress had been made through the development of improved information flows, action tracking and a more structured approach to partner returns,” noted the minutes.
“These arrangements were, however, still developing, dependent on variable partner input and not yet sufficiently robust or tested.”
The minutes also noted some “key residual risks” remained, including “limited capacity, skills and resilience” across response systems. Senior officials discussed the need for coherent government messaging during periods of disorder and the requirement for clear roles, accountability processes and the “ownership of risk”.
“Members recognised that existing arrangements were often dependent on a small number of individuals and goodwill, particularly during recovery periods, rather than being embedded sustainably within organisational structures,” added the minutes.
“The group also recognised the distinct challenges arising from racially-motivated disorder and the potential value of drawing on established approaches elsewhere.”
A Department for Justice (DoJ) spokesperson said officials continued to work to strengthen preparedness for future violence.
“Effective preparedness depends on continually learning from experience, recognising progress made and identifying the residual risks that remain,” they said.
“The discussion did exactly that, while recognising the significant work undertaken by departments, agencies, local partners and community organisations before, during and after the disorder.
“Since the summer, partners have continued to strengthen preparedness arrangements, including improvements to information sharing, coordination and action tracking, with further work under way on longer term preparedness capabilities.”
Renewed plea over Disappeared IRA victims
SEANÍN GRAHAM, Northern Correspondent, Irish Times, November 3rd, 2026
Families of Disappeared IRA victims said they had “broken the silence of the past” as they laid a wreath at Stormont in memory of those still buried in secret, unmarked graves.
Relatives hugged and stood shoulder-to-shoulder as they took part in the 20th annual All Souls Day silent walk yesterday.
A black wreath with five white lilies representing those still missing was placed on the steps of Stormont.
Dympna Kerr cried as she spoke about her teenage brother, Columba McVeigh, who was abducted and murdered on Halloween night in 1975. His body has never been found.
“There’s not a day passes that I don’t think of him and don’t pray for him,” she said.
McVeigh (19), from Donaghmore, Co Tyrone, is one of 17 people known as the Disappeared. They were murdered and secretly buried by the IRA during the Troubles. To date, the remains of 13 of the victims have been recovered.
Joe Lynskey, Robert Nairac, Seamus Maguire and Lisa Dorrian were also remembered as a fresh appeal for information was made at the walk. Their remains have yet to be found.
“Those of us who are still waiting and who had their loved ones returned, we stand here with warmth, strength and solidarity,” added Kerr.
“We’ve broken the silence of fear, of the past . . . all that is gone. We now speak out, we won’t be silenced and we are not going to rest until the terrible wrong of denying our loved ones a Christian burial is put right and all the Disappeared are returned home.”
Maria Lynskey (78), the niece of Joe Lynskey, used her walking stick to reach the steps of Stormont as she and Kerr carried the wreath.
Abducted
Lynskey’s uncle was a former Cistercian monk and IRA intelligence officer from west Belfast who was abducted, killed and buried by the IRA in 1972 after he was reportedly involved in a relationship with the wife of another IRA man.
Joe Lynskey was the first to be disappeared. Last year, the hopes of the Lynskey family were raised for the second time in a decade after a fresh search got under way in a Co Monaghan cemetery. However, the human remains exhumed were not his.
“I’ve been coming to the walk for 16 years. It’s symbolic as it all souls day,” said Maria Lynskey. “I find it very difficult but you’ve always good support.
“It’s to highlight what we’re going through. If this didn’t exist, we would be on our own.
“It’s coming 55 years this year for Joe, it’s so hard after what happened last year.”
The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR), the body set up by the British and Irish governments during the peace process to find the Disappeared, was also represented at the event by its lead investigator, Eamonn Henry.
While Lisa Dorrian’s disappearance came in 2005, outside the remit of the commission (which can only take cases from before April 10th, 1998) she is included as one of the Disappeared by the Wave Trauma Centre, which supports those affected.
Wave’s chief executive Sandra Peake walked with the families to the steps. The charity has organised the event since its inception.
“Today, 20 years on from that first walk to the steps of Parliament Buildings, there are still five white lilies in the wreath,” said Peake.
Weapons find on Shankill linked to 'extreme right-wing terrorism'
ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, November 4th, 2026
HUMAN RIGHTS BODY EXPRESSES ALARM AS PSNI INVESTIGATION REVEALS CONNECTION
The PSNI has confirmed that an investigation into a huge haul of explosive devices discovered in the Shankill Road area of Belfast at the weekend is linked to “extreme far-right terrorism”.
One man, 35-year-old Wesley Thomas Fletcher, has been remanded in custody charged with storing explosives and detonators.
Fletcher, who has posted support for extremist group Combat 18 on social media, is further accused of having a consignment of Taser stun guns.
Police seized the devices during searches at properties on the Shankill Road and Edwina Street over the weekend.
A number of residents had to be evacuated from their homes as a precaution while the security operation was carried out. Detectives charged Fletcher with three offences linked to the seizures. The accused, with an address on Leopold Street in the city, appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday to face two counts of possessing explosives in suspicious circumstances.
The court was told 17 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and two detonators containing a charge were also discovered. He was further charged with possessing five stun guns without the authority of the Secretary of State.
It represents the largest haul of weaponry linked to the far right ever seized in Northern Ireland.
Former Orangeman
With no bail address available, the former Orangeman was remanded in custody and no further details were read out in court.
However, the PSNI has confirmed that the investigation is linked to “extreme right-wing terrorism”.
No other police forces are currently involved in the investigation being carried out by the PSNI's Terrorism Investigation Unit.
While loyalist paramilitaries have had strong links with groups such as Combat 18 and the National Front dating back to the 1980s, this is the first time that a weapons haul of this size has been linked exclusively to far-right terrorism. Fletcher's social media has posts showing support for far-right extremism and he is also thought to be part of a men's online group, urging “white Christian men”, to train in martial arts to get ready for future “wars”.
There have been growing links between anti-migrant activists in Northern Ireland and those linked to extremist groups in England.
Linked to riots
In September, Daniel Thomas, who goes by Danny Tommo on social media, was pictured in the east of the city with local far-right figures as disorder gripped the streets. Thomas previously said he “came away inspired” after his time in Belfast during the riots.
He is currently remanded in custody, accused of criminal damage, after a video appeared to show him slashing a boat in the English channel with a knife, while a rescue crew member was on board.
For the last three years there have been race hate riots in Northern Ireland with dozens of families displaced from their homes as a result.
Patrick Corrigan, Head of Nations and Regions at Amnesty International UK, said: “It is deeply alarming that this explosives and firearms find is being linked to far-right extremism.
“Northern Ireland has already suffered years of escalating racist violence, leaving in its wake children who are afraid to go to school, families who are scared to leave their homes and communities scarred.
“It now appears that the far right aim to intensify this in the most chilling way and we need assurance from the police that everyone involved will be brought to justice.”
SAS commander reveals dramatic farm raid that captured IRA sniper
SAM KILEY, Belfast Telegraph, September 11th, 2026
BERNARD MCGINN WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE KILLED NINE PEOPLE BEFORE ARREST IN 1997
Special Forces veterans have revealed details of how a notorious IRA sniper was hunted down and captured during the final years of the Troubles in an operation they say illustrates how their secret war helped create the conditions for peace.
British forces had been chasing Bernard McGinn for months. He had, they believed, killed nine people with a powerful new rifle.
Seen as a key target, McGinn's arrest in 1997 came at one of the most politically volatile times of the peace process when intense negotiations were continuing despite continued IRA attacks on the mainland.
Now, for the first time, the soldier who commanded the operation describes what unfolded that day in April in the latest episode of SAS: The Shadow War .
In order to reach McGinn, the SAS commandos had to get past scores of IRA lookouts protecting him and three others gathered inside a secluded farm complex near Crossmaglen, south Armagh.
“[It was] very difficult in broad daylight to have got onto target without the cover being blown… but we did manage to do it without anybody knowing,” says the former SAS operative, identified only as Tom, whose voice has been disguised.
His team, backed by surveillance teams from 14 Intelligence Company and specialist police, were intent on arresting the gang but knew violence was likely.
“There was at least one sniper who'd killed nine people with a 50 cal weapon, a 50 cal sniper rifle, and a couple of other AK-47s and some quite determined people there,” he says. “So when you're going into that farm complex, we're all professional, but it concentrates the mind.”
‘Absolutely startled’
The SAS swept into the entrance of the barn, leaving the IRA “absolutely startled. Surprised.” But one man was separate from the other three. He realised something was wrong as soon as the assault began.
“He sniffed something was wrong. And the moment things went live and noisy, he was off in a shot. Luckily, somebody out of the corner of their eye saw a man running at high speed, and he and a couple of others gave chase,” Tom told the podcast.
The fugitive made it roughly 200 metres before exhaustion overtook him: “He was knackered, basically, and hid under a bush — big thorn bush. But they saw where he went, and they got him out.”
In 2016 former SAS veteran and star of Channel 4 reality TV show 'SAS: Who Dares Wins' Mark 'Billy' Billingham spoke publicly about his role in the capture of McGinn.
Speaking to The Times, he said “We had to get him to reveal himself. I ended up leading a patrol into the open, knowing he would be there waiting for me.”
Billingham was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery for his role in the operation.
McGinn was tried and sentenced in 1999 to 490 years for multiple offences, including three murders, among them the killing of Bombardier Stephen Restorick, who was killed by a sniper's bullet in 1997.
His arrest came amid an effort to increase the level of terror attacks by the IRA, despite the peace talks behind the scenes. A year earlier, a massive bomb had rocked the Docklands in London, killing two and injuring more than 100.
Mainland Plot
One former surveillance operator interviewed by The Shadow War, identified as Bob, describes an even more ambitious mainland plot which, he says, British intelligence uncovered.
According to his account, five IRA members operating in London were planning a massive, coordinated bombing campaign involving 10 one-tonne truck bombs.
Bob says surveillance led the security services to lock up garages containing around 10 tonnes of homemade explosives, additional explosives, weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
He says the plan involved around 50 IRA members who were to arrive from different parts of Europe, collect the specially prepared vehicles and drive them to targets including Downing Street, financial districts and other transport nodes.
The scale of the plan was so large that the police decided not to allow the plot to develop further and moved against members of the cell already in London. During a raid on a bed and breakfast in Hammersmith, IRA quartermaster Dermot O'Neill was shot dead by police.
Bob describes the intervention as the disruption of what he believed could have become the IRA's largest mainland operation.
Several former special-forces soldiers interviewed for the Shadow War series believe that, by the mid-1990s, the IRA had been penetrated so deeply by intelligence and placed under such sustained operational pressure that its leadership knew it could not win militarily.
Others do not agree — given that it was equally clear that the British knew there was no military solution to the conflict.
Mary Kelly, the veteran Northern Irish journalist who reported for the Belfast Telegraph and covered the political evolution of the conflict, says military pressure played a role but was not the decisive factor.
“I think it is a theory more beloved of people who believe in the military standpoint,” she said. “I think it was a factor, but I don't think it was the overriding factor.”
Kelly says the more important change began after the 1981 hunger strikes. Bobby Sands was refusing food when he was elected to Westminster and was the first of 10 to die that year demanding political status for IRA prisoners.
Political option
Sinn Féin increasingly realised that politics could achieve more than armed struggle, Kelly believes.
