From harp to shamrock: The true origins of Irish symbols

John Crotty, March 17th, 2026

New research shows the most modern Irish symbol, the Irish tricolour, emerged after the French Revolution of the 1830 and not the 1848 edition. It was inspired by the words of Daniel O’Connell, who turned his attention from Catholic Emancipation in 1829 to the reopening of a Dublin parliament, a cause known as Repeal. There was no more influential voice in Ireland, so it mattered when he said, ‘let orange and green blend their colours henceforth, and let the general object be to render their country that place of plenty and happiness which God and nature intended’.

O’Connell’s right-hand man, Daniel Steele, took note, the Protestant taking to wearing a green sash. Within months of O’Con-nell’s calls, a first-ever fusion of green and orange was seen in a cockade, or rosette, in Cork City in March 1830. July of that year saw a remarkable fusion of ‘orange and green entwined in the cockade of the Apprentice boys of Derry… (and) the fiercest Brunswicker and the most determined radical may be viewed placed back-to-back on the invincible walls, fighting in the same cause, under the very nose of ‘Roaring Meg’.

This was followed by the first fusion of green, orange and white appearing in an Irish tricolour cockade in Dublin, September 1830. Emilia Hamilton is the forgotten female patriot who first united the colours, giving the symbol its meaning with two lines from a poem – ‘let orange and green no longer be seen, bestained with the blood of our island’. Following suggestions it be used as a national flag, the followers of Daniel O’Connell gave the symbol a national launch in December 1830, the device becoming popular in the 1830s in flag, banner and rosette form.

The shamrock is a symbol of Ireland

The green-orange symbol of the same message retained ongoing use, appearing as a flag of green and orange in Portadown in November 1830, promoting a unified approach against church taxes.

Saintly celebrations

The first St Patrick’s Day parade was remarkably recorded in 1601, Irish vicar Richard Arthur, the inspiration behind a pageant in modern-day Florida, then a Spanish colony. Up to this point, the day had been an occasion of solemn prayer and reflection, mentioned as a notable date as early as the 8th century. The Martyrology of Tallaght would call Patrick the ‘Apostle of Ireland’, paving the way for his later ascension to patron Saint.

This veneration continued down the centuries to 1597, Richard Johston stating ‘in remembrance of him, and of his honourable achievements done in his lifetime, the Irishmen keep one day in the year festival, holding upon the same a great solemnity’. Around the first recorded parade in 1601, a change was occurring in Ireland. Patrick was given the Vatican seal of approval in 1631, Pope Urban VIII adding the feast of Saint Patrick to the church calendar. Solemnity was retained in religious services but festivities began to accompany the occasion, fairs and markets were common by the end of the century.

Patrick began to form an association beyond the Church to a wider Irish identity and tradition, as a much older consciousness found its voice in the modern world of nation states.

Parades in Boston in 1737 and New York in 1762 eventually became annual affairs; this uptake supercharged after the famine drove Irish Catholic emigration. Formal organisations like the Ancient Order of Hibernians brought organisation and formality, the New York effort becoming a spectacle from 1848.

There were sporadic parades in Ireland in the 19th century, movements like the Temperance league seeking to curtail spiralling excess on the occasion by marching with calls for inhibition. The much intertwined, the pair getting formal adoption in the 16th century. Their inspiration may be much older, green being eulogised in Ireland’s ancient Annals. Gaelic scribes would attribute Tara’s beauty to its lush green landscapes. While we cannot draw any direct lines from Gaelic Ireland to the 16th century adoption, the message of sobriety was somewhat reinforced when the day was made a bank holiday in 1903, pubs instructed to remain closed. The order was not relaxed until the 1970s. The first state-organised parades in Dublin arrived in 1931, commencing the march toward the uptake of modern times.

A young woman is playing the harp in old Lyon in France

Green for Ireland

The emergence of the shamrock and green for Ireland are very case for inspiration is clear.

The colour was first associated with Saint Patrick in the late 1500s, the link well-established within a century. The most important adoption occurred when green was used in the seal of the Catholic Confederates of Kilkenny in 1641, an emblem which included the harp. The green harp symbol became the de facto flag of nationalist Ireland for 250 years.

Emerging at the same time was the familiar shamrock, first attested in Irish association in the late 1500s. Gaelic Ireland’s ‘Book of Invasions’ spoke of ‘cloverly plains’ emerging after forest clearance, Saint Brigid being said to reside in Kildare after being taken by its ‘plains covered in clover blossom’. English tourists spoke of the association for a century before James Farewell referred to Ireland as ‘Shamrogshire’ in 1689. The use by Saint Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity is first recorded in the early 1700s, with no certainty on its earliest adoption.

The rich period of nationalist expression in 19th century Ireland made the shamrock a favoured symbol, particularly among a growing Irish diaspora hungry for association. Also popular was the wolfhound, remarkably well authenticated as a revered animal in Gaelic Irish Annals. A Roman consul rejoiced in a gift of Irish hounds, which ‘all of Rome viewed with wonder’ in AD 391.

Harp of Ireland

Of all Irish symbols, the harp has the most striking pedigree. Harpists were a learned class in Gaelic Ireland; lists recorded as early as the 7th century. Each Irish king across its many territories sponsored harpists for court duties, their contribution essential at court functions. Irish harpists were so revered that they drew praise from Anglo-Norman propagandist Gerald of Wales, who conceded ‘they (Irish harpists) are incomparably more skilful than any other nation’.

Formal use of the harp to represent Ireland is traced to 1260, the heralds of the Capetian Kings of France used the harp on blue. The blue was ‘azure’, not the later creation of ‘Saint Patrick’s blue’, a colour never associated with the saint. The harp on azure flag was adopted by an English king from the late 1400s, creating conflict for later Irish nationalists, which was resolved by placing the harp on a green field in the 1640s. Both examples see ongoing use today, the symbols’ association with musicians, craftsmanship and appreciation of culture making it arguably the most cherished symbol in Ireland.

St Patrick’s Day has become a celebration of all things Irish, many of which prove to be of far more depth and authenticity than we once believed.

John Crotty is the author of The Irish Tricolour: The Truth Behind The Symbols And Struggles That Defined A Nation, published by The History Press.

Ex-Army officer tells court intelligence report alleged Adams authorised La Mon

KURTIS REID, Belfast Telegraph, March 17th, 2026

A former Army officer has told the High Court in London he saw intelligence alleging Gerry Adams authorised the 1978 La Mon restaurant bombing.

And a veteran BBC investigative journalist claimed the former Sinn Fein president must have approved the IRA's killing of Lord Mountbatten.

Mr Adams is facing civil proceedings from three men, John Clark, Barry Laycock and Jonathan Ganesh. They are seeking a ruling that he is personally liable for decisions by the IRA to bomb London and Manchester in 1973 and 1996.

They are suing him for a nominal £1 in damages for “vindicatory purposes”.

Yesterday, the court heard a claim from retired Army intelligence officer, Ian Liles OBE, who said he had access over many years to intelligence reports, briefings and discussions relating to IRA activity and the role allegedly played by Mr Adams within the organisation.

Among the most serious claims in his evidence was that he had viewed intelligence indicating Mr Adams had authorised the IRA bombing of the La Mon House hotel restaurant in Co Down in 1978. The attack killed 12 people and injured over 30 more.

Mr Liles said that intelligence he encountered during his service suggested Mr Adams had been involved in directing major IRA operations during that period.

When questioned about a lack of mention of the La Mon bombing and Bloody Friday, events in which Mr Liles claims Mr Adams had involvement, in his written statement to the court, Mr Liles said he had “verbal briefings” and had seen documentation claiming to link Mr Adams to both. “I have verbal briefings, and documentation and feedback, linking Mr Adams to both events — and in the case of La Mon, giving the authorisation,” he said.

Under cross-examination, Mr Liles accepted that the statement he provided to the court had been written in 2025 based on his recollection of intelligence he had seen decades earlier.

He also acknowledged that he no longer had access to the original intelligence reports and that such material could not be retained or removed from secure locations. However, he said he stood by his recollection of the intelligence picture he had been exposed to during his career.

During questioning, the court also heard details of Mr Liles' Army career, which began in the early 1970s and included several tours in Northern Ireland.

Mr Adams' barrister pointed to Mr Liles' public opposition to attempts to prosecute former soldiers over Troubles-related cases, suggesting he held strong views.

Mr Liles denied that his evidence was motivated by hostility and said he was simply recounting what he had seen and understood during his service.

‘You don't gamble with this stuff’

Earlier in the day, award-winning journalist John Ware also gave evidence, with the former Panorama producer telling the court it would be a “travesty” if history did not record Mr Adams as having been a member of the IRA.

Under cross-examination by Edward Craven KC, for Mr Adams, Mr Ware was challenged over the basis for his conclusions and the reliability of some of the sources he relied upon over decades of journalism.

Asked whether he had doubts about the truthfulness of those sources, Mr Ware replied: “Not especially, I'm interested in objective truth, that's what journalism is about.”

He also recalled an off the record interview with republican Danny Morrison shortly after Mr Adams delivered a speech following his election as Sinn Fein president.

Mr Ware told the court that, during the conversation, which was covertly recorded, Mr Morrison appeared to imply that both he and Mr Adams were members of the IRA.

When challenged in court that the exchange did not explicitly mention either Mr Adams or the IRA, Mr Ware said the meaning of the conversation was nevertheless clear to him at the time.

“If that is how history records Gerry Adams, it's wrong,” he said about the claim Mr Adams was never in the IRA.

He went further, telling the court: “It will be a travesty if history does not record Gerry Adams as a member of the IRA.”

Mr Ware was also questioned in detail about his 1983 World in Action programme, which documented Mr Adams' alleged IRA membership, and his notes of interviews with former RUC Special Branch officer Brian Fitzsimons, whom he said presented his claims based on an intelligence file on Mr Adams.

Mr Ware also defended the editorial rigour behind the 1983 programme, saying productions of that kind were subject to an extensive legal and editorial process and were not put together casually.

“You don't gamble with this stuff,” he told the court.

Mr Ware also said he could not think of “a single important event” in the history of the Provisional IRA in which Adams was not “seminally important” or “involved”, including being involved in IRA funerals.

He also said that, in his view, you “simply would not have seen Adams involved in key moments of the republican movement's history unless he had been a member of the IRA”.

Mr Ware claimed in his witness statement that Mr Fitzsimons informed him about intelligence suggesting the murder of Lord Mountbatten “could not have been done without the knowledge and approval” of Mr Adams and former IRA leaders Martin McGuinness and Ivor Bell.

King Charles's uncle Lord Mountbatten was killed by the IRA in a boat bomb in Co Sligo in August 1979, alongside two members of his family and a Co Fermanagh teenager.

The court also played extracts from an audio interview involving the late IRA woman Dolours Price, in conversation with Bob Graham, in which she discussed the planning of bombing operations in Britain in which she is heard saying she “presented her plans to Gerry Adams”.

At the start of the trial last week, Mr Craven said that Mr Adams “emphatically, unequivocally and categorically denies” ever being a member of the IRA.

The case is to resume today, with Mr Adams set to give evidence.

Trial hears Adams pushed for ending of IRA ceasefire in 1996

By Vincent Kearney, Northern Editor, RTE,

A former British Army intelligence officer has told the Gerry Adams civil trial in London that the former Sinn Féin president pushed for the ending of the IRA ceasefire with bombs in England in 1996.

Retired Brigadier Ian Liles told the court that the bombs were intended to force the British government into political concessions.

Mr Adams is being sued in the High Court in London by three victims of separate IRA bomb attacks in 1973 and 1996 who claim he was directly responsible.

Ian Liles is the last of 11 witnesses to be called by the prosecution team in the case.

He was appointed battalion intelligence officer in 1982 and held the role until his retirement in 1990.

In his witness statement, he said that during that time he was privy to a great deal of "high-grade intelligence" including military and police reports showing that Gerry Adams "was a leader within the Belfast PIRA and held various command and support appointments".

Mr Liles said he saw many intelligence reports at the time of the Docklands and Manchester bombings in 1996 that said Gerry Adams believed it was the best time "to take the war to the Brits".

"Adams wanted the PIRA to cause whatever havoc they could on the mainland, Germany and elsewhere to reap the political benefits and send a message to the British that the PIRA were not spent, and to force the weary British into concessions," his statement adds.

"The hope from the PIRA was that the 1996 bombings would leverage pressure on the British because they knew the government would not tolerate attacks on the mainland at this point in the conflict; it would not have been 'an acceptable level of violence'.

"The targets chosen in London and Manchester were deliberately high-profile targets to put this pressure on the UK government, cause economic pain to the UK and gain maximum publicity."

He added that there was simply no way the bomb attacks in England in 1996 "could have happened without the oversight and approval of Mr Adams".

The witness also alleges that Mr Adams was involved in the Bloody Friday bombings in Belfast city centre in July 1972 in which nine people were killed, and that he authorised the attack on the La Mon hotel in which 12 people were killed in February 1978.

He told the court that the British army and MI5 had recruited agents who were close to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness, including Freddie Scappaticci, the former agent known as Stakeknife.

Earlier, the court heard from journalist John Ware.

IRA members were angered by Adams' denials, court hears

A journalist who spent decades reporting on the Troubles told the trial that IRA members he interviewed were angered by his repeated denials that he was a member of the organisation.

John Ware worked for the Sun newspaper, ITV and the BBC, specialising in security issues.

Based on conversations with former IRA members and police sources, he said he believes Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA army council for more than 30 years from the late 1970s and was "one of the single most influential strategists in the Republican movement".

The former Louth TD and West Belfast MP has repeatedly denied ever being a member of the IRA and strenuously denies the allegations against him.

Driving force behind IRA

The journalist said the driving force behind IRA members speaking to him for one of his documentaries about Mr Adams was their anger at his "brazen, unequivocal, and unambiguous denial of his role in the PIRA [Provisional IRA]".

His witness statement adds: "It clearly grated with many of them that when Adams said that he strongly supported the armed struggle, his denial of actual PIRA membership allowed him to avoid taking personal responsibility for their actions.

"They believed it was a slippery way of Adams avoiding personal responsibility for the death and destruction caused by the PIRA's violence, which he had either ordered in the operational phase of his PIRA membership, and later in his strategic phase as a member of the PIRA army council."

Questioned by a lawyer representing Mr Adams, the witness confirmed that he had no first-hand personal knowledge of who was responsible for the three bombings cited in this case.

Asked about his reporting which exposed collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries, Mr Ware agreed that he was on record as saying MI5 and the British army had made statements about the issue that were not true.

Edward Craven KC told the court there had been a pattern of dissemination of false information by the British army, the RUC and MI5.

Mr Ware said he was giving evidence in the trial for public interest reasons, stating that it was his belief that it is "manifestly not the case that Gerry Adams was never a member of the IRA".

He said it would be wrong "for history to record that Mr Adams was never a member of the IRA when it is perfectly clear to me, my colleagues and scores and scores of people" that he was.

Keir Starmer is causing trouble over the Troubles

The government should stop caving in over Northern Ireland legacy issues

Kate Hoey, The Critic, March 14th, 2026

Sir Keir Starmer has just visited Belfast to speak to community and political leaders. He is now in Cork for a two-day “UK-Ireland Summit” with the Dublin government. This is a key part of the “reset” with Ireland of which the Prime Minister is inordinately proud. It replaces the Conservative government’s frosty relationship as it, uniquely, legislated on legacy without Dublin’s agreement much to their annoyance.

These now annual summits are also  seen as an important gateway to resetting relationships with the EU of which Ireland is a disproportionately influential member and one the UK hopes can smooth  paths in the great Reset which I refer to as selling out the 17 million people who voted to Leave the EU.

It was to pacify the Irish government that Boris Johnson was forced to accept that Northern Ireland would become an EU protectorate for trade purposes, while the Belfast judiciary and quangos have ruled that NI must be subject to EU law, not only on legacy but also for equality and immigration purposes. That determination is currently under consideration by the Supreme Court in the NIO’s appeal on the Dillon case. In Cork the Irish will be pushing the PM to stop any further efforts to protect veterans while maintaining its interstate case against the U.K. at the Strasbourg court. Surely our PM will not allow his human rights zealotry to trump support for service men and women? Is it not time for him to tell the Irish to look into their own disgraceful ignoring of IRA killers who fled across the border after a terrorist act?

Lord Hermer advised days after becoming Attorney General in July 2024 that the core aspect in the Belfast High Court judgment by Mr Justice Colton would not be appealed since the Act had breached Article 2 of the ECHR. Hermer had so advised despite having had Gerry Adams as a client in the current London civil suit. He recused himself thereafter.

New Legislation

The unappealed part of the Colton judgment required new legislation by Hilary Benn, the NI Secretary of State. In the first instance, a Remedial Order was published in December 2024 to remove most of the 2023 Legacy Act including the bar on Gerry Adams getting compensation for his 1970s internment. The Order then sat for over a year despite its purpose being said to be urgent. Only in January 2026 did a new version of the Remedial Order pass the House of Commons, but it has yet to surface in the House of Lords. It now avoids mention of Adams’s money being reinstated despite a probable Strasbourg appeal.

The NIO’s Troubles Bill was published and given a 2nd reading in the Commons on November 18th, 2025. It has been dormant for four months as army veterans in the country and their supporters in Parliament mounted an ongoing resistance movement. Human rights lawyers only take account of defence forces once in government and so the MoD hastily produced a list of six protections for veterans — not cleared with a peeved Dublin Foreign Minister — but ones it was reluctantly admitted would apply as much to terror suspects as veterans and are insufficient to safeguard from ongoing vexatious prosecutions The Irish government will be pushing the PM for more concessions in order to prevent changes that would favour veterans while at the same time still maintaining their legal challenge in the interstate case at Strasbourg .Surely it is time for our PM to put British interests in front of his zealotry on Human Rights. There are now 45 pages of amendments on the order paper for the Bill’s committee stage with some that would at least put the 6 protections into the Bill. However given the huge Labour majority  most will receive short shrift. It is only in the Lords where the real battle will occur — one in which I and a large number of other peers will participate.

One set of amendments will be tabled to add those hurdles against veteran prosecutions that appear in Johnny Mercer’s Overseas Operations Act. They were designed to thwart solicitor Phil Shiner’s Iraq lawfare which the Prime Minister worked for in the Al-Skeini Strasbourg case. As I argued in the Commons this  should have extended to Operation Banner service in Northern Ireland but the Government got cold feet.

 These amendments however will not bring much succour to veterans as it is the lengthy process from first knowing that you are being investigated that is the real punishment.

Failed amnesty initiative

It is important to remember how and where Hilary Benn and the Labour Party’s policy on legacy was developed. It was generated in the Lords in opposition to the Tories 2023 Legacy Act and came from a coalition led by Lord Hain, Baroness O’Loan (a former NI Police Ombudsman also appointed to the Finucane public inquiry and to Operation Kenova), and former Metropolitan Police commissioners advised by the current PSNI Chief Constable, Jon Boutcher, also of Kenova (cost £50 million for no Stakeknife prosecutions). These CID police chiefs have an inbuilt antagonism to Special Branch and the Security Services who unlike them do context and politics. Peter Hain had introduced a 2005 Amnesty Bill for Tony Blair which was only scuppered by Sinn Fein when they discovered that it would apply to former soldiers too. Amnesty or drawing a line has been policy on both sides of the border on a number of occasions since the 1920s, but no-one in Government dares to admit it.

The result is an unending series of reinvestigations that will produce neither justice nor the truth, whatever that is, at an enormous cost, the only beneficiaries being legacy practitioners and the rewriting of history. The price of legacy lawfare to date is approaching £2 billion and future costs are estimated,even by Jon Boutcher at another billion.

The Conservatives had already allocated £250 million to its reinvestigation body ICRIR which has in large part been eaten up by the costs of the 200 staff.

The big issues in the Lords where the government is likely to have to make concessions if veteran pressure, not least on the danger to current military morale and recruitment, continues, relate to inquests and civil suits. There are some 50 reopened inquests currently stayed. Given Northern Ireland judicial practice, inquests have effectively become public inquiries and take years to conclude. They require military witnesses to give evidence about events 50 years ago with the coroners likely to rule there is a potential prosecution to be considered, as happened after the Clonoe inquest.

The final reinstatement in Hilary Benn’s Bill is to be civil suits. Given allegations of collusion (not itself a crime) every Troubles death can be judged a collusion death as the state, quite properly, had participating agents in all the terror groups. In a Commons answer to Jim Allister MP on 29 January, the MoD Minister, Al Carns, said 123 claims already lodged would “be unfrozen under the Remedial Order”. Added to the existing number, that made 966 in total. At settlements of £50,000 each time, inclusive of legal fees, the cost would be nearly £50 million, and that is before lawfare cranks up with another thousand claims. How can the United Kingdom afford this when our public finances are under so much pressure and the morale of our Armed Forces is so critical to our security.  Why would any young person even consider joining up when they see how those who fought bravely for their country in the fight against terrorists have been treated.

This Troubles Bill is not the answer.

Hybrid attack on Ireland's critical infrastructure 'could cause social collapse within 48 hours'

Cormac O’Keeffe, Security Correspondent, Irish Examiner, March 16th, 2026

A combined physical and cyberattack on a critical electricity transformer would cause “grid collapse” within two hours, impact critical services within six hours, and threaten “social collapse” in just 48 hours, according to experts from the Defence Forces.

A team of engineers and air corps officers told managers of State utilities and engineers working in critical infrastructure that these timelines were based on a “plausible, evidence-based” hybrid attack.

In a series of presentations at a special Engineers Ireland event, entitled ‘Security of Critical National Infrastructure', the Defence Forces experts said it was “likely” that adversaries have already conducted an intelligence operation identifying vulnerabilities in Ireland’s electricity grid and other critical sectors.

Hybrid attacks on Ireland's critical infrastructure 'could cause social collapse within 48 hours'

The Government is 'very vigilant' to cyberattack risk after Stryker hit by hacker group.

How an Iranian-backed group crippled Stryker’s Irish HQ with a ‘wiper’ cyberattack

“They may already have more information about your infrastructure than perhaps your own management board,” Lieutenant Kieran White told attendees.

“The HSE is proof that Ireland is already seen as a target,” he said, referring to the crippling cyber incident in 2021. “The HSE cyberattack happened; the hybrid blueprint you have seen today has not — yet.”

The event also heard other examples of vulnerabilities in, and threats to, Ireland’s critical national infrastructure.

The event heard:

Ireland’s three major ports have very narrow entry points — 150m-200m wide — and, if a ship sank, food supplies would be disrupted within three days and oil supplies would become critical within three weeks.

Transport systems are a “soft underbelly”, and just a “pair of pliers” is needed to open up transport cabinets on city streets and gain access to transport networks.

Drone surveillance of critical infrastructure is not covered in Irish law, unlike in Britain, and drones can carry out infra-red imaging of a substation from outside a perimeter area.

Russian 'shadow vessels' represent a “ticking timebomb” both in their threats to sub-sea cables and pipelines and to marine safety, from pollution. Increased military boarding of these vessels by Baltic, Belgian, and French states could “push” more of them westwards to Irish waters.

Power transformers a 'critical vulnerability'

In presentations to engineers, industry bosses, and utility regulators, the Defence Forces team detailed threats to the country’s critical national infrastructure, focusing on the electricity grid.

Mr White said Ireland’s power transformers are a “critical vulnerability”, not just because they were visible but because the lead time to replace a damaged one was “12 to 24 months”.

He said previous incidents in the US had shown this was technically possible, both from a physical and cyber perspective.

“Engineering analysis suggests there are fewer than a dozen high-value sub-stations [in Ireland],” Mr White said. “An adversary who has mapped this — and they have — knows exactly which ones they are.”

He said the Irish grid, using EU standards, is designed to survive the loss of a single element “without cascading failures”. But he said it is not designed to withstand multiple simultaneous attacks.

Timeline

He gave the following outline of a successful physical and cyberattack on a critical power station:

T+2h (Two hours after action) - Grid collapse: “Regional or national blackout”, with replacement time of station 12-24 months;

T+6h - Critical services hit: Hospital generators have 48-72 hours of fuel; Irish Water pumping stations lose power; communication infrastructure degrades; emergency communications overwhelmed;

T+48h – Social collapse: Water pressure falls across urban areas; food cold chains disrupted; fuel rationing begins; Government authority visibly strained; social media becomes second battle space;

T+72h – Adversary achieves objective: Government credibility damaged; EU Article 5 obligations strained; attack is over, but crisis is not.

The Department of Defence is expected this week to publish Ireland’s first Critical Entities Strategy, mapping out critical national infrastructure, risks to them, and State responses.

In a separate presentation, Commander Cathal Power of the naval service said the recent boarding activities of Russian ‘shadow vessels’ by the Baltic states, France, and Belgium “could push westwards”, into Irish waters, more of these vessels.

He said this is where the new enforcement powers, announced by the Government, would “very much come to the fore”.

HSE precedent

“The HSE is proof that Ireland is already seen as a target,” he said, referring to the crippling cyber incident in 2021. “The HSE cyberattack happened; the hybrid blueprint you have seen today has not — yet.”

Unionism can learn a few things from St Patrick

Malachi O’Doherty, Belfast Telegraph, March 17th, 2026

I don't really take to St Patrick. I don't know enough about him.

So he is said to have driven the snakes out of Ireland. Maybe there never were any snakes here in the first place. Are there any moles?

Maybe some animals just didn't make it this far after the ice receded 10 thousand years ago.

And his routine depiction as a bishop with a mitre and crozier tells us what he didn't look like, for nobody dressed like that in his time.

The image reminds me of 19th century representations I have seen of indigo-skinned Lord Krishna in the uniform of the British Viceroy.

But Patrick will do as an excuse for a party.

It's not what he would have anticipated a millennium and a half after his death, an invasion of the holy land; by which I mean not the crusades, but the influx of students in green tops onto the streets behind Queen's University.

Yet, Patrick has never really evolved in our imaginations in the way that St Brigid has. Feminists have adopted her as an icon, representing the idea that the female has a deeper spirituality than the male (which I can well believe).

A range of perspectives of Brigid shows up in a volume of poetry published by Arlen House two years ago. The anthology, edited by Niamh Boyce and Shauna Gilligan, is called Fire: Brigid and the Sacred Feminine.

Serpent or woolly scarf?

The cover is an astonishingly erotic depiction of a Christian saint by watercolourist Noël O'Callaghan. It is an explicit drawing of a naked woman embracing a green serpent, its tail wound round her neck and held aloft while the head drapes over her thigh.

In fact, you have to look again to be sure the serpent isn't just a long woolly scarf.

In one poem, Maureen Boyle, my wife (interest declared) revives a story about Brigid dealing with a pregnant victim of sexual assault, 'tortured by what was seeded in her without her choosing'. Brigid makes the unwanted foetus painlessly disappear, 'meaning that when the spring comes, she will blossom into herself again.'

It's hard to read that mythic endorsement of abortion fitting neatly into Catholic tradition.

Brid Connolly's poem Red Flannel recalls how: 'Each year on the eve of Brigid's Day, / my mother put a swatch of red flannel, / outside, on the kitchen windowsill, / praying the blesséd cotton would / heal all ills'.

That tradition suggests that faith in Brigid has long been woven into superstition and folk practices.

But Ireland isn't alone in struggling to preserve a viable symbol of itself.

A controversy was stirred last week by a decision to remove famous white English people from banknotes. Jane Austen, Alan Turing, Winston Churchill and WM Turner are to be replaced with wildlife. And while the Bank of England says that the images have to be changed routinely to frustrate forgers, others have complained that this is political correctness at work.

Though none of these iconic figures are as dated as Patrick, they do bring to mind an embarrassing past. Turing was arrested for being gay. Jane Austen depicts an England in which a woman had to find a rich husband in order to survive. Churchill led an approach to war that obliterated whole cities and Turner — well, he was a bit eccentric.

Research suggests that the English want wildlife on their notes, as if the badger and the red squirrel were appropriate symbols of the nation. But they are not really.

A picture of a Marks and Spencer's shop front would be more appropriate. Or something suggestive of the national religion, which is football.

That question of how identity is to be represented came up in a discussion I was part of on Talkback about the referendum among Queen's students on dual language, Irish/English signage in the students' union.

A young unionist asked why there was no discussion on Ulster Scots.

This is what Seamus Heaney called the hearth language, the local dialect that country folk spoke and which was never expected to evolve into a full language that they would all have to learn again if they were to understand census forms and official communications directed at them.

That dialect should never have been claimed as more unionist than nationalist anyway. It was the way my father spoke.

But if unionism does need a symbol or legend that speaks for its tradition, it can learn two things from the remembrance of Patrick.

One is that any old symbol will do as an excuse for a party, even an ancient dressed up as a bishop. And this for a secularising Ireland, which generally reviles bishops now.

And the other is that the older the better, with the least possible known about it so that they can project any idea they like onto it, like that mitre on Patrick.

Why it might not be feasible to target £17m heating oil aid to those most in need

WARNING OVER DISTRIBUTION OF PAYOUTS AS O'DOWD CALLS FOR LOWEST INCOME HOUSEHOLDS TO GET MONEY

GARRETT HARGAN, Belfast Telegraph, March 17th, 2026

Targeting those most in need may not be realistic when it comes to distributing £17m of UK Government aid to people in Northern Ireland who use home heating oil, an expert has said.

It came after politicians from across the political spectrum slammed the funding package — which Finance Minister John O'Dowd said amounts to just £35 per household using heating oil.

His Sinn Fein colleague and First Minister Michelle O'Neill described it as a “slap in the face” that “doesn't scratch the surface” of what is needed, while DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the figure “won't cut it”.

Two-thirds of homes here use heating oil, the price of which has risen rapidly due to war in the Middle East.

Mr O'Dowd wants our share of the £53m UK-wide package to go to “those on the lowest incomes”.

He told reporters at Stormont: “It's extremely disappointing, in terms of the quantum of funding that has been made available to the Executive.

“The funding package, it is below par, significantly below par; there's a need for proper funding to be brought forward. It's left us in a position where we can only now help those on the lowest incomes.

“Many, many workers and families out there are struggling. We need a proper package to support everyone moving forward.”

DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said he “will not be found wanting” when it came to finding a way to best distribute the money.

But Paul Mac Flynn of the Nevin Economic Research Institute said: “Providing support to households as a direct payment is very tricky, as we discovered during the Ukraine energy crisis.

No quick solutions

“Back then the government gave up on trying to support particular households and gave a universal payment.

“It would, of course, be better to target it. But given time is a factor, I'm not sure how feasible that would be.

“I think the benefits system is probably the more fruitful short-term option, possibly providing support through the universal credit system.

“However, if this crisis persists, households outside the benefits system will need support, and government would do well to start work on designing a payment system for that just in case.”

England will receive £27m, Scotland £4.6m and Wales £3.8m.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “This funding has been allocated based on census data, reflecting where the greatest need is, and it will be allocated directly to the devolved governments, with the expectation that it will be used to support vulnerable households.”

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said there was a “discussion” to be had about means testing.

He added: “If the outcome of a process of engagement and willingness to support those who need our support when it comes to their home heating oil is to offer £20 or £30 at a time whenever costs have doubled, it won't cut it.

“And that's why I'm indicating not only a willingness to work with the Economy Minister, but a requirement for her to sharpen her pencil and get going with discussions about how best this Executive can target the resources effectively.”

Mr Lyons said while the money was welcome, “it does not go far enough”.

He added: “The responsibility for energy policy lies with the Department for the Economy (DfE). However I know the public want action taken as soon as possible therefore I have directed my officials to engage with DfE and DoF (the Department of Finance) to understand the most expedient way to deliver a scheme that can help people in Northern Ireland.

“Unlike others, I will not be found wanting on this matter but we need clarity on the parameters for a scheme including eligibility and how the scheme could be administered.”

The UUP insisted “much more must be done by both Westminster and the Executive”.

It added: “A targeted scheme in partnership with the Executive would be ideal for those hardest hit, but given the urgent need, a universal approach would be faster and more effective to support the many thousands adversely impacted.

“When we met the Prime Minister last week, we urged him to strengthen the Competition and Markets Authority, so it can properly tackle profiteering by some energy companies. Today's announcement only underscores the wider debate we must have on UK's energy security. We cannot keep tying our hands by ignoring the North Sea reserves.

“The government must wake up to reality: the quickest route to genuine short-energy security is to begin issuing new licences now and to reinvest the resulting profits into green energy technologies for the long-term.”

Alliance MP Sorcha Eastwood called on the Executive to engage with Westminster “without delay” to put in place a scheme to support the vulnerable.

“Behind every statistic is a family dreading the cost of keeping their home warm,” she said.

“That is who I have been fighting for, and I'm glad my calls last week were not just heard, but heeded at the highest levels of government. But the job is only half done — 68% of households in Northern Ireland depend on home heating oil, and this must be front and centre of how this money is distributed. Proportionality isn't a preference, it's a matter of basic fairness.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he recognised a spike in home heating oil prices was “a very big issue in places like Northern Ireland”.

He said: “In recent days I've visited community centres in England and Northern Ireland, and I know people are really worried about what this means for them.”

Prior to the attack on Iran by the US and Israel, 500 litres of home heating oil could be purchased here for around £305. The price has since doubled to around £600.

Why Michelle is wrong to snub Trump today

MÁIRÍA CAHILL, Irish News, March 17th, 2026

I ONCE almost made it to the White House for St Patrick’s Day.

I was a senator and invited during Barack Obama’s term.

Except someone forgot to confirm with us that we were going, and as we drowned our shamrock in Dublin, an email came through asking me to make my way to the Pennsylvania Avenue gate of the American president’s house.

I am still green when thinking about it.

Would I go now? I wouldn’t: not just because Trump is in situ, but because I have seen how people from here operate in such environments.

Watch the footage uploaded to social media later this evening, and you will see egos tripping over each other, cameras shoved in faces, and all manner of falseness as politicians jostle for the perfect camera angle, while hangers-on’s eyes rove the room, scoping out the best people to be seen with.

One time, at an event in Dublin, a former taoiseach asked his aide: “Who is that person who keeps shuffling over beside me and smiling?”

When the name of the northerner was duly given, the politician replied “Well, what the f*** do they want?”

The aide laughed and said: “A photograph with you for their social media account.”

And that is what happens. Little meaningful engagement, and lots of self-promotion on the selfie circuit.

I am not much of a mingler. Give me a cup of decaf tea and a good book over a crowd of starry-eyed, spangled, mannerless politicos any day.

So, I feel a degree of sympathy for Emma Little-Pengelly, who is flying the flag for the north today with Trump, while her counterpart, Michelle O’Neill, once again sidesteps the hard yards.

The Shinners have stated that her non-attendance is due to the US’s alliance with Israel. How noble.

During Trump’s first term, people associated with the US-based Friends of Sinn Féin made multiple donations to US Republican candidates and committees.

The DUP’s Jonathan Buckley recently told the assembly that Sinn Féin’s “so-called position of principle is easily traded on the back of a $100 note”.

It’s not a phenomenon particular to the Shinners, but it does weaken their supposed ideological argument.

Perhaps it is because the SDLP leader Claire Hanna and the Alliance leader Naomi Long declared they were not attending that prompted O’Neill to take her stance.

They can afford not to – neither is leading the executive. But O’Neill is, and, to Joe and Mary Bloggs, it looks like another example of her aversion to responsible governance.

We saw it last month when she skipped British Government briefing meetings while hundreds of Irish people were stranded in the Middle East.

Northerners deserve the very best political service – God knows, we’ve suffered enough to get here. Is it too much to ask?

Fear not, republicans, Sinn Féin will still be in Washington, ready to advance its interests. It is a prime opportunity to feather the party’s nest.

“It was welcome to hear Emma Little-Pengelly state that she is in Washington to ‘maximise our full potential’

Improving back yards or collective spaces?

And that, my friends, is indicative of the problem that we have very often here: our politicians are too interested in improving their back yards, and not enough in our collective spaces.

So, it was welcome to hear Little-Pengelly state that she is in Washington to “maximise our full potential”.

It is a pity that the shamrock-giving by Micheál Martin to Trump isn’t a three-way affair.

That would not only recognise the north in the ceremonial aspect, but take some of the heat off the taoiseach, who has been caught between a rock and a hard place.

Today, his is the unenviable task: how to hand a tyrant a bowl of shamrock without his spirit wilting, or his in-built fact-checker registering on his face when the American president opens his mouth.

Why is he doing it? Because he is a grown-up politician elected to office, who has to take the rough with the smooth for Ireland’s benefit.

Snub it, and Ireland would face economic ruin at the hands of an unpredictable bully who dangles tariffs, noose-like, over a small country’s economy.

So, he’ll go, and grin, and we will breathe a sigh of relief when he is on a plane home, that he hasn’t added to our cost of living woes by doing something to upset the apple cart.

O’Neill could take a lesson or two.

Happy St Patrick’s Day.

Paedophile former DUP councillor is spotted at race hate march in England

NIAMH CAMPBELL, Belfast Telegraph, March 17th, 2026

An ex-DUP councillor convicted of child sex offences attended a 'March for Unity' in England organised by an anti-immigration group.

William Walker, a former chairperson of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, was sentenced to community service and probation in 2023 after admitting two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child.

Walker (63) pretended to be a younger man online as he sent what he thought were two children messages of a sexual nature, asking them to send him pictures of them in their school uniforms.

In reality he had actually contacted members of a vigilante so-called 'paedophile hunter' group.

He was one of 40 activists pictured on March 7 in Bristol at a march organised by the 'Bristol Patriots'.

Flyers promoting the event called for people of all major religions except Muslims to unite against a “growing challenge from Islamist extremism”.

A range of fascist and neo-Nazi groups were represented at the protest, alongside other criminals, including far-right activist Mark Sinclair.

The 56-year-old Belfast man, who goes by the name 'FreedomDad' online, is a self-described “citizen journalist”.

Expelled from Orange Order and Royal Black Institution

A former member of the UVF, Sinclair served 17 years behind bars for a string of bank robberies in Scotland.

Walker is understood to be living in Blackpool following his conviction.

He had also previously been a member of the Orange Order and the Royal Black Institution, but was kicked out of both.

He had set up a fake profile in the name of Peter Patterson and initially contacted someone he understood to be a 14-year-old girl.

He also sent her a picture of a topless man claiming it was him, suggested giving her £100 and told her “I bet you look stunning in your school uniform”. The contact then ended.

Around the same time Walker also began communicating with another decoy who was also pretending to be a teenager.

Using the fake profile, he sent her a friend request and later shared his phone number, after which their conversation continued on WhatsApp. During the exchange, he suggested that they could meet the following month.

Walker asked her to send photographs of herself wearing her school uniform.

When police arrested Walker, he admitted that he had created and used the fake profile.

He claimed he never intended to meet either of the 'girls'. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child.

The Bristol Patriots is a group that emerged in 2025, targeting hotels housing asylum seekers in the city.

Around 200 counter-protesters turned up for an 'anti-extremism' demonstration on March 7. Six people were arrested after disorder broke out.

Ryan Ferguson, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi from Liverpool, was filmed shouting “Heil Hitler” while speaking to Jewish counter-protesters.

Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they are investigating the footage.

Ferguson was jailed last year for making false 999 calls, and in 2024 also received a nine-month jail term for racially abusing a football player in 2023.

Walker has been contacted by the Belfast Telegraph.