A year of Stormont paralysis... waiting list misery, A5 delays and fractured relations
OUR GOVERNMENT ACHIEVED LITTLE IN 2025 -COURTS WERE FORCED TO RESOLVE BASIC DISPUTES
ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, December 31st, 2025
When it comes to devolution, the test for success is in the delivery. And, sadly, 2025 was a year when that was in short supply.
The public has a love-hate relationship with the Executive.
They proclaim it to be useless when it is up and running, but in the times when it has fallen, they demand its return in the mistaken belief that it can solve the dysfunctionality of public services.
In reality, there are limits to what it can achieve in its current form, as seen by another year where it struggled to deliver.
Relations between the DUP and Sinn Fein are poor. The First and Deputy First Minister attend events and make speeches as required, albeit less so in recent times, but sources say there is a cold distance between them.
It is a marked change from when the Assembly was restored and they participated in almost daily joint photocalls.
Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly do not need to be friends to lead the Assembly — they are polar opposites politically — but they do need to work effectively together.
Sinn Fein would argue in 2025 they continued to extend the hand of friendship, with Ms O'Neill attending a Remembrance event in November.
But they would claim that outreach is often not reciprocated.
Bloody Sunday trial
One example came when the DUP leader, Gavin Robinson, posted a picture of a Parachute Regiment flag in the wake of the not guilty verdict in the Soldier F Bloody Sunday trial.
It was seen as an act of outright aggression by nationalists and, to many, it signalled that Mr Robinson is no longer a moderate voice in his party.
It was also not the only time that the courts here have played a role in the politics of 2025.
In June, the High Court quashed a decision by the Department for Infrastructure to proceed with the first phase of the A5 dual carriageway upgrade.
Delivering his judgment, Mr Justice Gerry McAlinden said he was aware that his decision would bring “fresh anguish” to those impacted by accidents on the existing A5 road — one of the most dangerous in Northern Ireland.
But he noted that the plans did not comply with climate targets.
The £1.7bn project is now locked in a cycle of litigation, as two departments — infrastructure and environment — appeal the ruling, with hearings earlier this month.
The courts also must review the issue of Irish language signage at Grand Central Station and whether it is a cross-cutting issue, and thus requires wider Executive approval. Sinn Fein Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins says it is not; the DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons claims it is.
What should have been a relatively simple decision about the station's signage has resulted in a court case that now has two government departments, and one MLA, Timothy Gaston, as notice parties.
In September, politicians felt the full wrath of Mr Justice McAlinden as he called on ministers to enter discussions instead of spending public money fighting a legal battle.
“We need as a society to have a grown-up Executive that works together, not adopting a silo mentality and throwing brush shafts into each other's spokes for political gain,” the judge said.
“It's not working…we are being regarded as a laughing stock. We have moved on from killing each other, but we haven't moved much further from that.”
They were strong words, summing up many people's frustration with our institutions.
Unable to resolve the issue around the Executive table, the case will require a legal ruling in 2026.
However, the judiciary's fatigue in being called on to legislate in the absence of effective rule is clear for all to see.
While climate targets are behind the stalling of the A5 upgrade, the ongoing pollution crisis at Lough Neagh continues to deepen, and guess where that problem is set to be aired? Yes, you guessed it, the High Court.
Declan Conlon — a lifelong eel fisherman from the western shores of Lough Neagh — is challenging the adequacy and lawfulness of Daera's current regulatory approach to the nutrient pollution.
More than 40% of Northern Ireland's drinking water and half of Belfast's is sourced at the lough.
Daera Minister Andrew Muir needs to make 2026 the year of solutions, but that means standing up to the farming sector — the single greatest polluter of Lough Neagh is agriculture — something that he's failed in so far.
Earlier this week, the Belfast Telegraph reported that up to 32,000 people have died while waiting on medical procedures in Northern Ireland since 2022. Up to 868 patients passed away after languishing on the list for more than a decade.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has stepped back from the spotlight, despite once being the public face of his party, with speculation that the UUP will have a leadership contest in early 2026.
Conflicting Priorities and too many Press Officers
Health remains the number one priority for the Executive.
The Department of Health has said waiting list funding “has been earmarked for elective care initiatives in this current financial year” to try to cut waiting times.
It is unclear how many of the department's six press officers, at a cost of £674,747 since the restoration of the Assembly in 2024, were involved in compiling that statement.
They are among 48 press officials employed across the nine Executive departments, costing more than £5m since power-sharing returned last year.
Education Minister Paul Givan was criticised for using the department's social media to publicise his visit to Israel earlier this year.
The vote of no confidence in the minister passed, but failed (welcome to politics, Northern Ireland-style) as only his own party can remove him.
The wheels of justice continued to turn slowly in 2025, with cases taking months and sometimes years to get through the judicial system, and now the Criminal Bar is once again set to strike.
While the barristers are in real danger of overplaying their hand, the Justice Minister Naomi Long needs to get to grips with the situation and bring it to an end.
While Mrs Long secured additional cash to cover the PSNI data breach payouts, it was money that is badly needed to fund frontline policing, as the number of available officers continues to drop.
This is a story likely to still be in the headlines in 2026.
With the next Assembly election likely to be in May 2027, all of the parties will be in full electioneering mode through 2026.
Alliance has seen an end to its bounce and may consider taking an opposition role going forward.
After a slow start, Matthew O'Toole of the SDLP is making headlines from the opposition benches, although that doesn't necessarily translate into votes.
There is no appetite to collapse the institutions from either the DUP or Sinn Fein, but they are limping along, costing a lot and achieving very little.
All that could still change. As Harold Macmillan once said, “events dear boy, events”.
It is almost 20 years since the St Andrews Agreement that reformed the institutions.
And as 2026 dawns, it seems almost inevitable that further reform will be needed, should one of the two big parties once again walk away.
Planned legislation expected to be shelved as assembly time runs out
JOHN MANLEY, Political Correspondent, Irish News, December 31st, 2025
JUST six of almost two dozen items of proposed legislation by individual MLAs are close to being ready for introduction to the assembly in the coming weeks. It now looks increasingly likely that a majority of 23 proposed members’ bills will not progress in this mandate, with executive business expected to be given priority.
The executive has already fallen behind with its legislative programme, meaning even less time will be available to deal with members’ bills in a mandate truncated by the DUP’s two year boycott of the institutions.
Speaker Edwin Poots has ruled that any legislation proposed by individual MLAs must be introduced to the assembly by June 2026, yet that is no guarantee that the bills will be afforded the necessary time for scrutiny.
Mr Poots wrote to MLAs in July warning of the perils of bills being ill-prepared.
He cited an example from the last mandate when the executive adopted a bill introduced by Sinn Féin’s Aisling Reilly that would’ve scrapped hospital car parking charges. Within weeks of the assembly’s restoration in February last year, MLAs voted for the legislation to be deferred because funding wasn’t available.
It remains unclear when car parking charges for patients, staff and visitors to hospitals will be abolished.
“We cannot have that situation again,” the speaker’s letter said.
All but five of the consultations on the 23 members’ bills have been published, however the assembly has confirmed that only six items of proposed legislation are “in progress” and have been either been authorised for drafting or are “at an advanced stage”. The six bills are: Hunting Wild Mammals with Dogs Bill – John Blair (Alliance);
The executive has already fallen behind with its legislative programme, meaning even less time will be available to deal with members’ bills.
Outstanding Bills include:
Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) payment Bill – Declan McAleer (Sinn Féin);
Holiday Hunger Bill – Danny Baker (Sinn Féin);
Regional Jobs, Skills and Investment Bill – Sinead McLaughlin (SDLP);
Irish Medium Education Workforce Bill – Pat Sheehan (Sinn Féin);
Trees Protection Bill – Peter McReynolds (Alliance).
According to the assembly, it is up to individual MLAs to introduce their bill once the required steps have been completed.
The six bills that have so far fulfilled the requirements are expected to be introduced in the first weeks of the new year.
Speaker Edwin Poots wrote to MLAs warning of bills being ill-prepared
The assembly has stressed that its resources are adequate to deal with the volume of members’ bills, including staff to support MLAs in developing legislation.
It notes that “the most significant constraint is parliamentary time”.
“The speaker has made it clear to members that there is a need to learn lessons from the last mandate and that introducing more bills than there is realistic time for has the potential to diminish the quality of scrutiny the assembly and committees can provide,” a spokesperson said.
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said its seven members’ bills were in addition to those being brought forward by the party’s ministers.
“Sinn Féin will continue to work to progress much needed, fit for purpose legislation in this mandate to improve the lives of people in our society,” the spokesperson said.
People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll, who is still hopeful of his people’s housing bill becoming legislation in this mandate, said the volume of members’ bills was “a damning indictment of an executive that has failed to use its power to tangibly improve the lives of ordinary people”.
“It would be a crying shame if bills on issues such as animal cruelty, homelessness, extortionate private rents, LGBTQ+ and disability rights, suicide prevention and the environment were shelved simply because the executive is too far behind its legislative schedule after repeated periods of institutional collapse,” the west Belfast MLA said.
Members’ bills are arguably Stormont’s greatest asset
JOHN MANLEY POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, Irish News, December 31st, 2025
ANALYSIS
WE SHOULD not discount the value of members’ bills (formerly called private members’ bills) in delivering worthwhile new laws and amendments. Stormont is justifiably criticised for its lack of delivery but without legislation brought forward by individual MLAs, its record would be much worse.
Looking at the last 2017-2022 mandate, which like the current one was shorter than it should’ve been, the bills brought forward by executive ministers are distinctly unambitious and underwhelming. Who, for example, recalls the motor vehicles (compulsory insurance) bill, the social security (terminal illness) bill, or the horse racing (amendment) bill?
Yet notable members’ bills from the same mandate included Jim Allister’s legislation tightening civil service record-keeping rules post-RHI, Clare Bailey’s bill creating safe access zones for premises providing abortion services, and Kellie Armstrong’s integrated education bill. It’s unlikely any of these would have received executive backing.
Where members’ bills potentially went awry in the last mandate was when the executive adopted them. The hospital parking charges bill was well-intended but ended up being deferred as soon as the assembly was restored as it was ill-thought-out and lacked sufficient scrutiny, which should’ve identified foreseeable problems.
The climate change bill was originally brought by Green leader Clare Bailey because the then agriculture and environment minister Edwin Poots was dragging his feet.
After Mr Poots’s department developed its own bill, which included elements of Ms Bailey’s, the legislation was endorsed by the assembly. However, as the A5 debacle has highlighted, more attention should have been paid to the bill’s implications during a rushed scrutiny stage.
New rules mean members’ bills should have a single, focused policy objective to ensure they can be easily scrutinised and won’t have significant unintended consequences.
On the whole, however, members’ bills tend to be more effective in gaining cross-party support, with MLAs often appearing less partisan in their sympathies once a direct party political association is removed. The bills would also appear to benefit from a lack of direct civil service influence, which is often cautious and conservative.
At Westminster, private members’ bills are regarded as rather niche and often obscure, whereas with Stormont’s mandatory coalition, where proposed legislation must be agreed and signed off by the executive, members’ bills provide an opportunity to make a real difference.
Is there something to be said for giving them precedence over executive bills?
Cuts to peace work risk undoing progress: MLAs
GARRETT HARGAN, Belfast Telegraph, December 31st, 2025
EXECUTIVE OFFICE URGED TO REVIEW 'WORRYING TREND' OF SLASHED FUNDING FOR GOOD RELATIONS
Cuts to Good Relations projects in Northern Ireland risk undoing years of peace-building work, MLAs have said.
Projects from the Central Good Relations Fund (CGRF) focus on a wide range of activities such as sport, music, drama, arts and crafts, according to The Executive Office (TEO). It adds they are aimed at making a difference in local communities while contributing to “peace building and reconciliation”.
In addition, the projects are said to provide opportunities to develop new skills, gain qualifications, build self-confidence and to celebrate cultural diversity.
But the CGRF budget has dropped from £3.6m in 2021/22 to £2.03m in the current year, falling from 108 successful projects five years ago to 62 today.
The Newry, Mourne & Down, and Causeway, Coast & Glens council areas have gone from having six and five projects respectively in 2021/22 to zero in 2025/26. Other areas have only one or two projects.
Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said: “It's quite shocking that there are parts of NI where scant to no funding is being allocated for Good Relations projects.
“This is not to take away from areas such as Belfast, where there is great work being carried out. However, much more work needs to be done to build the capacity in places where no applications are being approved.
“There is a worrying trend, as well, in some areas where funding allocations are decreasing.
“We know that Good Relations work needs to evolve, with changing demography and multiculturalism, and so it is so important that community infrastructure is protected to enable this important work to be delivered. This is something The Executive Office must review.”
Halved in five years
Good Relations projects in Derry and Strabane have halved in the past five years.
Belfast has gone from having 58 projects in 2021/22 to 34 in 2025/26. However, its percentage share of projects has risen. Five years ago, Belfast had 53% of all projects; this year it has 55% of all projects.
SDLP Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin said: “The decision to cut Good Relations funding in Derry and Strabane is deeply concerning and profoundly short-sighted.
“Eight fewer projects will receive support in 2025/26 than the year before, with organisations like Echo Echo and Greater Shantallow Community Arts left in the dark as to why funding they have relied on for years has suddenly been withdrawn.
“These organisations have played a vital role in building Derry's arts and culture sector, strengthening community cohesion and providing safe, creative spaces in areas that need sustained investment.
“They have been repeatedly praised by The Executive Office for the quality and impact of their work, yet are now being punished without explanation.
“Good Relations work cannot be turned on and off at the whim of a budget line. Pulling funding from trusted, established projects risks undoing years of progress and sends a damaging message to the very communities we should be supporting.”
A spokesperson for TEO said: “From 2016, The Executive Office has supported over 950 projects, benefiting more than 320,000 people through the Central Good Relations Fund. For 2025/26, we received 220 applications from groups, requesting total funding of £7.1m against a budget of circa £2.825m. This enabled 103 projects to be offered funding.
“A list of successful projects for each funding year is available on The Executive Office website and is updated on a regular basis.”
‘Severe underfunding of public services’ is Stormont’s biggest challenge’
REBECCA BLACK, Irish News, December 31st, 2025
O’Neill criticises government while DUP leader Robinson calls for ‘common sense’ in new year messages
THE Stormont assembly’s greatest challenge is the “severe underfunding of public services”, the first minister has said.
Michelle O’Neill conceded that relations within the executive, comprised of four different political parties, are “difficult and complex” but insisted the “greatest challenge is the severe underfunding of our public services”.
She accused the Labour government of not keeping its promise of a “new dawn”, and instead “continuing along a similar path” as the Conservatives, and reiterated her call for a border poll.
A government spokesperson said it is providing “record funding to the Northern Ireland Executive, including £19.3 billion per year on average through to 2028-29”.
In his new year message, DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Northern Ireland “stands at a juncture” and urged the choosing of “common sense over ideology”.
Mr Robinson said: “The Democratic Unionist Party is unashamedly focused on making Northern Ireland work… that is where government effort should be directed, not towards performative politics or endless divisive border poll agitation with a random date that has moved from 2016 to 2030 to 2036 like the proverbial goalposts.”
Recent months saw the Northern Ireland Executive struggle to find the cash to deliver pay parity with colleagues in the rest of the UK for healthcare workers, teachers and police staff.
There have also been spats between Sinn Féin and DUP ministers, particularly around funding allocations.
But in her new year message, Ms O’Neill said London will “never prioritise the interests of the people of the north of Ireland”, and called for constitutional change.
Almost two years on from the restoration of the assembly and re-establishment of the executive made up of ministers from Sinn Féin, the DUP, UUP and Alliance, Ms O’Neill said the “often conflicting political positions are difficult and complex”.
“It has undoubtedly been challenging but when ministers work together constructively there has been real progress made,” she said.
“The greatest challenge that we face collectively is, of course, the severe underfunding of our public services.
Labour’s false dawn
“When the British Labour Party came to power in 2024, they promised a new dawn after years of Tory cuts and austerity. Yet with a continuing cost-of-living crisis and a recent budget that failed to support workers, families and businesses in a meaningful way, Labour has continued along a similar path to the Tories.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill has accused the Labour government of not keeping its promise of a “new dawn”, and instead “continuing along a similar path” as the Conservatives
“Austerity, cuts and stealth tax increases are all measures that hit those with the lowest incomes, rather than taxing the wealthy. That is a wrong.
“The reality is London has never and will never prioritise the interests of the people of the north of Ireland.
“Only where we can make our own decisions on this island will we be able to build sustainable public services.”
Ms O’Neill urged the British and Irish governments to engage in preparations for constitutional change now.
“Sinn Féin has called for a referendum by 2030, and I will continue to press that case,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ms O’Neill hailed 2026 as “promising to be an exciting year”.
“Belfast will host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, a significant moment for Irish culture and language, building on the historic appointment of the North’s first Commissioner for the Irish Language in October,” she said.
“There is an Irish saying: Tús maith leath na hoibre – a good start is half the work.
“Let us make a strong start to 2026. The future is ours to shape and, by working together, we can make it a brighter one.”
Mr Robinson said his party’s focus is “on the people who rely on functioning public services and a stable economy”.
“Northern Ireland deserves leadership committed to improving this place, not running it down,” he said.
“We will also continue to challenge those who seek to undermine the very foundations of devolution.
“Cross-community consent is not an inconvenience to be brushed aside when it becomes awkward. It is a safeguard that protects stability and inclusion.
“In a world that is becoming more unstable and uncertain, Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom matters more than ever. It provides security and stability. Our future is best protected by serious leadership rooted in reality, not by gestures or grandstanding.
“My hope for 2026 is a change of direction, towards realism over radicalism and politics grounded firmly in common sense.”
A UK Government spokesperson responded to Ms O’Neill’s comments, saying: “This government is providing record funding to the Northern Ireland Executive, including £19.3 billion per year on average through to 2028-29. In addition, the recent autumn Budget confirmed an extra £370 million for the executive through the Barnett formula.
“This means Northern Ireland will continue to receive at least 24% more per person than equivalent UK government spending in England.
“It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to determine how this funding is spent.
“In addition, the government is committed to supporting economic growth and investment in Northern Ireland, including through the four city deals, new defence and industrial strategy investment, and the new Local Growth Fund.”
Country where many are resolute in not finding resolutions
MARK BAIN, Belfast Telegraph, December 31st, 2025
I don't do New Year's resolutions — can't see the point in something being such a good idea one day when it wasn't the day before.
And while I'd never want to be part of the Northern Ireland political world, I do believe, in that respect, I'd fit in quite well.
A resolution is hard to keep and equally hard to find, depending on what meaning you take from the word.
Another one of those words in the English language that can mean different things to different people, in different circumstances.
It can be a firm decision to do or not to do something. Resolution also describes the act of being determined.
It can be the action of solving a problem or a contentious matter.
As a nation we have, it seems, resolved not to find resolutions, and are resolute in continuing that dance off where the partners never meet in the middle, and instead leap around making wild hand gestures at each other, striking poses and pointing fingers to the air — Saturday Night Fever-style — in never-ending demonstrations of grandstanding for the audience.
Where the Good Friday Agreement was a 'resolution' of sorts, it quickly ushered in a new era of 'resolve'.
Drawing battlelines is the priority
Almost from day one, the battlelines were drawn.
Classified files were released — as they are at the end of every calendar year — showing stand-offs almost immediately over the flying of flags on government buildings within the new NI Executive. God forbid anyone actually gets on with trying to knit together a broken country.
It filters down, right to the bottom rung of the political world, the place where the 'bread and butter' issues politicians love to speak about are supposed to be dealt with, where a resolution can also be 'an official decision made after a group or organisation has voted'.
There are 11 local councils in Northern Ireland, all with an extensive list of tasks they are supposed to perform on behalf of ratepayers.
Perhaps as 2025 gives way to 2026, it's time to remind them of just what those responsibilities are in the hope that they resolve to concentrate on the job at hand, rather than get carried away with their own puffed-up self-importance, lofty ideas and ideals.
The NI Direct website sets out an extensive list of tasks bestowed on councils including: waste collection and disposal; local planning; grounds maintenance; street cleaning; upkeep of cemeteries; food safety; environmental protection and improvement; dog control; licensing such as entertainment licensing; enforcement bye-laws such as those around litter; sports, leisure services and recreational facilities; parks, open spaces and playgrounds.
That list is far from exhaustive. There are many more cracks in the social pavement they are responsible for filling, like support for local business, off-street parking and encouraging tourism.
There's a lot to be getting on with through the network of committees set up in every council to debate, suggest and ultimately resolve on the best way to improve the district they serve.
What Northern Ireland doesn't need is a council getting ideas above its station. Ideas which deflect from the admittedly rather boring but nonetheless important things they are supposed to be doing. Three nights before Christmas and at short notice, some councillors were given less than two hours to attend a meeting at Belfast City Council, while the continental Christmas market was in full swing outside.
Surely it must have been something of such importance that all councillors were asked to leave their families, their shopping, their Christmas week preparations and attend for the evening?
A mix-up in the bin collection dates, which would leave rubbish overflowing around the streets to the delight of the growing local rat population? A crumbling building threatening to come down on a street packed with city centre shoppers?
No. Personal interest was once again overriding the collective need.
There's no doubt that what is going on thousands of miles away is emotive, rouses passions and in so many ways casts a reflection on what Northern Ireland itself has come through — no matter on what side of the Israel/Palestine conflict sympathies lie.
But to the casual observer, the trooping in of councillors to debate a motion 'in support of pro-Palestine hunger strikers' was little more than a divisive political stunt which went well above and beyond the remit of why a local council exists.
There may have been legalities permitting the meeting to be called, yet in Belfast City Council they seem resolved to debate matters which, while they may be of huge significance in the world, are simply not going to make the cleaning of Belfast's streets any more efficient.
Some have, sadly, resolved to be resolute in trying to dance on the 'big stage' when they're much better suited to amateur dramatics.
I just can't work out what Northern Ireland has resolved to do to improve itself.
Perhaps that's why so many simply can't understand how we try to go about our political business — and won't understand until we can find a resolution worth sticking to.
PSNI officer in court over ‘theft of ammo’
PAUL HIGGINS, Irish News, December 31st, 2025
A POLICE officer appeared in court yesterday accused of stealing ammunition and abusing his position of trust within the PSNI.
Appearing at Antrim Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Ballymena, 63-year-old Robert Charles Rodgers confirmed his name and that he understood the eight charges against him.
Under firearms legislation, Rodgers, whose address was given as c/o PSNI Brooklyn, Knock Road in Belfast, faces charges of possessing a firearm and ammunition under suspicious circumstances, possessing an explosive substance, namely gunpowder, under suspicious circumstances, having ammunition without a certificate and without the authority of the Secretary of State as well as non-compliance with the storage of firearms.
All the alleged offences were said to have been committed on October 8 this year.
The 63-year-old officer, understood to have been suspended pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings, is also charged with the theft of ammunition of an unknown value “on a date until 7 October 2025,” in addition to an accusation of fraud by abuse of position and making or supplying articles for fraud on July 27 this year.
The fraud charges disclose allegations that Rodgers made a Chubb security swipe card intended for the use in a fraud and also that he abused his position of trust by creating the “Chubb security card to gain access to armoury,” with the intent to make a gain for himself or to cause loss to the PSNI.
In a statement released at the time Rodgers was charged to appear in court, PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said: “The sensitivity of the material which is alleged to have been stolen by this officer is obvious and makes his alleged actions all the more egregious.”
Deputy Chief Constable Singleton added that any such allegations would be investigated, “fully and without fear or favour”.
Giving evidence, a detective constable said he believed he could connect Rodgers to each of the charges.
When District Judge Mark Hamill asked what the background to the charges was, the officer told him it relates to the “alleged theft of ammunition from the Steeple complex”.
Rodgers’ defence solicitor asked if the defendant could be excused from attending on the next date, or until there is “substantive progress in the case”.
While the prosecutor confirmed the resident judge would ordinarily excuse defendants who are in employment, Judge Hamill said his usual practice was for defendants who have been granted bail, to appear on the next occasion “and then thereafter can be excused”.
Rodgers was freed on his own bail of £500 with conditions that he does not contact any Prosecution witness, that he resides at his home address and the suspended officer is prohibited from being on any police premises.
The case was adjourned to February 10.
‘There has to be more focus on ending child poverty’
How sight of eight-year-old boy filling pockets with food for his sister inspired Stormont draft holiday hunger Bill
REBECCA BLACK, Irish News, December 31st, 2025
THE sight of a child taking food to bring home to a sibling has inspired a new member’s bill aimed at tackling holiday hunger.
One of the newest MLAs in the assembly is behind the proposed legislation expected to be debated in the chamber this year.
It is one of a number of member’s bills that are being worked on by MLAs in the hopes of having them passed before the end of this mandate in 2027.
Danny Baker is proposing that the 90,000 children here in receipt of free school meals, receive support during the holidays, including summer, Christmas, Halloween and half term breaks.
It is calculated to cost around £22 million a year.
That is based around giving parents of children entitled to free school meals the cost of a school meal, which will be just over £3 from January.
Sinn Féin West Belfast MLA Danny Baker is a former volunteer youth worker
Earlier this year the executive agreed a draft anti-poverty strategy.
The Sinn Féin MLA for west Belfast said that while his proposed bill is just one piece of a wider puzzle to tackle poverty, it is an “important piece”.
He said even though it is a fairly small bill, it has taken almost two years to get to this point – most of the time he has been elected.
The former volunteer youth worker said he got involved in elected politics because of young people.
He said he has been involved in projects where breakfast and lunch were provided to young people, and seeing the level of demand out there.
Mr Baker recalled at one of the projects seeing an eightyear-old boy who kept filling his pockets with food.
“It turned out that he was bringing food home for his sister,” he said.
“His mummy was out working, she was a single mother, and there just wasn’t enough food in the house over the summer.
“That’s why I really wanted a private member’s bill on this – this has to happen, because this is what is happening out there. I know this bill won’t reach everyone, but it’s a start, one piece of the puzzle to help support families on the breadline.
“Other legislation needs to come forward, there has to be more focus from some departments on ending child poverty.
“But we as MLAs have a part to play as well with the legislation that we can bring forward.”
Mr Baker said he is hopeful of getting support from across the chamber for his bill after wide support for a number of motions in the assembly against child poverty.
“Everyone is in support of it, so when it comes to the assembly my argument will be: this is what counts, this is why we’re here, to make big decisions and difficult decisions, because this will take money away from other projects that the minister wants to fund,” he said.
“You can’t support motions all the time, and then when it comes to a big decision, don’t do it.
“This is where you’ll see where people really stand on big societal issues.”
Studio Ulster: Creating ‘environments impossible to find anywhere else’
Mark Hennessy, Irish Times, December 28th, 2025
There is a line in the 1989 Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams, where the narrator tells Costner’s character Ray Kinsella to build a baseball field in his Iowa cornfield: “If you build it, he will come”.
In the decades since, the quote from the film – which sees long-dead White Sox and Yankees baseball players later playing in the field – has been often garbled, and subjected to a thousand interpretations.
The quote’s essence springs to mind as one approaches Studio Ulster’s home in the Belfast Harbour Studios complex on the left-hand side of Belfast Lough, just before the M2 swings left for Ballymena.
Today, Costner would not have to go to Dyersville, Iowa, or to Galena, Illinois, or Boston’s Fenway Park to film Field of Dreams, since every blade of corn or wisp of grass could be created on Studio Ulster’s giant LED screens.
Put aside thoughts of computer-generated imagery (CGI) that looks fake, however: “We can create environments in this building that are impossible to find anywhere else: the Mojave desert, or a blizzard, or anything else,” says Declan Keeney, the chief executive and co-founder of Studio Ulster.
Inside its cavernous interiors, one stage is filled with a backdrop of a harbour at night-time, with lights flickering from a portside café, a ship bobbing on the water’s edge. Everything has been created on LED screens. And it looks real.
Past efforts to do anything like this would not have looked as realistic, would have cost fortunes to make and would have taken weeks to build and dismantle. Here, everything can be done within days. Hours, often.
Pointing to the screens, Keeney says: “It depends on what they want. If they want it in this configuration, it’s just a matter of throwing up the content. If they want us to move the wall, that’ll take a little longer.”
Everything can be moved on omnidirectional wheels, he says, as he seeks to find the joystick required. “They’re hiding it on me. They get very nervous when they see me coming,” he says, laughing.
“We can start from scratch and rebuild the stage. It literally takes three people to do it all, two to make sure we don’t run into anything, and one to move it. Then it’ll take a day or so to reset and do all of the other bits and pieces.
“For anybody else in the market currently that’s work that takes five or six weeks. For them, it’s like starting from scratch each time, even if they have only to move four feet to the left,” Keeney declares.
The Dargan Road premises, which just opened in June, has already been used by two critically-acclaimed BBC series, Blue Lights, centred on the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and the four-part Titanic Sinks Tonight series.
Alyssa Boyle, the studio’s head of operations, has so far shown Studio Ulster off to 500 leading executive producers from around the world since January.
“There is a huge interest in this, it has been phenomenal,” she says. “We have a busy new year ahead. That’s a great complaint to have. From then, everything really kicks off in a way that even we could not have anticipated, and we have tried to anticipate everything.”
Though much of Blue Lights is filmed on location across Belfast, some night-time scenes were brought indoors to Studio Ulster “and done at two o’clock in the afternoon, rather than two o’clock in the morning in the rain”, says Keeney.
Titanic changes in technology
For Titanic, set designers used a 3D model of part of the ship created by a preservation society in England to “create a bit of the deck of the ship, and the cabins, and it looked extraordinary”, Keeney tells The Irish Times.
The finished product was so good that executives at Sony, which owns the makers of the series, the Belfast-based Stellify Media, came to see for themselves: “They couldn’t understand just why, and how it looked so good.
“It just feels like you’re on the ship. Look on camera and you can see the whole ship at sea, the water’s dynamic, it’s live,” says the Donegal-born Keeney, who, besides his role in Studio Ulster, is also professor of screen technologies and innovation at Ulster University.
“The actors loved it because they just felt that they were standing on the deck”, rather than against blue and green screens used by film-makers up to now for digitally-created backgrounds, Keeney goes on.
Studio Ulster does not exist in a vacuum, however. Standing on the roof of its building, one can easily see across the Lagan to the Titanic Paint Hall at Titanic Studios, where much of Game of Thrones was filmed.
“Eight seasons of Game of Thrones, the very biggest serialised drama show in the world, has helped us build an infrastructure here that is world class, one that can cope with any scale of production here,” he says.
Today, Northern Ireland is home for up to 1,200 highly-trained film crew along with 6,000 extras, says Boyle: “We could have three feature films, two or three TV series and a whole lot of other stuff going on at the same time.”
Though the land that is home to Studio Ulster came from Belfast Harbour Commissioners and the project itself has been heavily backed by British government money, Studio Ulster is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ulster University (UU).
The university is investing heavily in film and animation. Today, there are 845 students enrolled in 10 degree courses run by UU’s Ulster Screen Academy, “ones endorsed by the industry”, Keeney tells The Irish Times.
“We are building quite a complex ecosystem here,” he says, adding that about 400 of the film crew already available in Northern Ireland are fully trained in virtual production, with a couple of hundred equally-skilled graduates emerging each year.
Everything works together with the university’s Costar Screen Lab, one of several such technology hubs around Britain funded by the British government, specialising in developing new waves of technology.
“That’s the really critical piece. Independent research lies cheek-by-jowl with commercial industry. That’s the difference. It’s not that Studio Ulster owns a research wing,” says Keeney, “That’s not that unusual.
“But what’s unusual is that we have an independent, government-funded research lab, one of the best funded in Europe, right in the heart of the business. That is a fundamentally different ecosystem to anywhere else,” says the former BBC news cameraman.
Opportunities
The alliance creates opportunities for small local tech companies, north and south of the Border. Their number is growing: “They’re creative technology companies inside film, animation, games, immersive. It’s not only just about film,” he continues.
Studio Ulster’s technological advantage has been hard-won, but Keeney and his colleagues have gone to extra lengths to ensure that that advantage remains. “Everything here has been future-proofed,” he says.
Ninety fibre-optic cables “with 32 channels of 8k uncompressed video at the same time” serve the building. For professionals in the trade, the numbers just quoted would “leave their jaw sitting on the floor wondering how that is possible”, he goes on.
Under a deal finally announced in November, but long in the planning, Dell Technologies supplies the building’s world-leading IT sinews: “Dell are quite proud of what they’ve helped us achieve here. We have a mini data centre here,” he declares.
The pride felt by everyone involved in the technological leap it offers is evident, but encountering the reality on one of its sound stages filled with the backdrop of a jungle genuinely impresses.
The backdrop changes as one walks “into” the jungle, unveiling previously unseen parts. Turn left, or right, and the view changes again, with new paths becoming visible, while one can bend down and touch. For the watching cameras, one is in a jungle.
Pointing back to Blue Lights, Keeney said that it is just one example of how the film-making world will be changed by virtual production – with far fewer locations needed, far greater productivity, far lower costs.
“Like I said about those night-time shots for Blue Lights, those can be done at two o’clock in the afternoon, perfectly dry, unless they need rain on the vehicle. If so, that can be arranged with the flick of a switch.
“The quality of life for the actors, for the crew will improve, too. They’re avoiding the late nights; the productivity is twice as high. They can get through maybe nearly half as many again sequences in a day.
“And you don’t have cars backfiring and ruining images,” he says, adding that directors of photography “love” virtual production because they can use many cameras and know “nobody is going to fall off the back of a low loader”, he goes on.
The end of needing to go “on location” for months at a time, working all the early-morning and night hours that God sends to get the shots required by film directors means that film becomes attractive for workers who had moved away from it.
“People who have stepped away because they couldn’t work in the middle of the night because they have young families or whatever can go back in. They can be fairly sure that studio days can be fixed daytime office hours,” he continues.
Without the opportunities offered by Studio Ulster, the makers of the Titanic TV series might well have had to go to Cape Town in South Africa for filming on water, or use CGI blue and green screens.
Life-like backgrounds so good that no one could tell that they were filmed by the side of Belfast Lough are just a part of Studio Ulster’s capabilities, as a display of its “motion capture” equipment quickly shows.
Forty-five years ago, Christopher Reeve was mounted on to a fibreglass body and attached to a counterweighted rig that allowed him to “fly” for the Superman sequences that made him a worldwide star.
No computer-generated imagery, still in its infancy, was used, but multiple cameras and highly-reflective screens created the illusion that Superman was flying at lightning speeds. It was the work of months of planning.
Child’s play
Today at Studio Ulster, such matters are simpler, if not child’s play. Sensors attached to an actor track movement, creating a life-like avatar: “So, all the small breaths, the little twitches, all the little nuances are captured,” says Eranka Weerasuriya.
Weerasuriya, Studio Ulster’s head of production, is but one of several sought-after international staff who have been attracted by the opportunities it offers to make their home in Northern Ireland.
Now little more than three months in Belfast, Weerasuriya, who lived in London for a decade, saw the position advertised on LinkedIn: “I never had it in my head to go to Belfast but I came anyway and fell instantly in love with the place,” she tells The Irish Times.
She came with a reputation, though she has to be pressed by Keeney into giving details of her past career, which includes working for Star Wars creator George Lucas’s production company Lucasfilm.
Once Lucas sold the company to Disney, Weerasuriya worked on the Marvel films before moving to London where she joined others “initially dabbling” in the early days of virtual production, before moving on to Netflix.
Even with that background, Weerasuriya is clearly impressed by the things that Studio Ulster can do that would have been deemed impossible until now, saying that she had “never seen anything like it before”.
Multiple shoots can be held at one time, stages can be changed, while film-makers can block-book times for a series of scenes confident that they will not be delayed by weather, traffic or anything else, she says.
Belfast appeals, too, she says: “First of all, I love the people. They have a generosity of spirit that I haven’t experienced elsewhere. And they’re funny. Good craic, too,” she says, with a smile.
India Vadher-Lowe is another who has come to build her field of dreams. Raised in Oxford, she arrived last January for the Titanic series, even before the studio officially opened.
She started as a runner in a company making video games in 2015. Following time working on Disney films, she entered virtual production during Covid when film-makers could not take anyone anywhere for filming.
“I’ve settled here. Everyone’s lovely. The place is changing a lot. But you’re never more than 10 minutes away from everything. I’m not travelling an hour and a half into London to go to work. I travel 12 minutes down the road.”
Now living in a small town in Co Antrim, Callum Smith-Halvorsen is yet another arrival, and one equally taken by the lifestyle offered by life in Belfast, rather than the southeast of England.
He also came even before Studio Ulster opened and was then persuaded to stay. He did “amazing work”, says Keeney. Smith-Halvorsen stands, looking embarrassed.
Life in Belfast suits, he says: “It’s nice. I’ve come from a small village, so I’ve gone into another village and I’m building a home up there. It’s been good, very good. Life here is so much more,” says the softly-spoken Englishman.
In 2007 I had hope. Now I don’t think anyone cares about the chaos we’re in
ALEX KANE, Irish News, December 31st, 2025
Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness after being sworn in as first and deputy first ministers in what was described as a ‘new dawn’ for Northern Ireland in 2007
A FEW days after Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness were elected to the roles of first and deputy first minister – May 8 2007 – Stephen Nolan asked me what I was hoping for over the next few years.
His question was on the back of a piece I had written, before the new executive had been appointed, in which I had argued that the DUP/ Sinn Féin deal, unlikely though it seemed just months earlier, would probably be the last chance of establishing stable, genuinely cooperative government in Northern Ireland.
It was the sheer unexpectedness of the deal – although I had suggested in January 2004, shortly after the Donaldson/Foster defections to the DUP, that there was nowhere else for the party to go – which fuelled my unusual levels of hope.
The risks Paisley and McGuinness were taking were, in fact and extent, far greater than the risks taken by Trimble and Hume in 1998.
The DUP and Sinn Féin were polar opposites, as were their support bases.
So, I reckoned that the sheer scale of the risks both parties were taking suggested they were serious about working together.
Yet it soon became clear, particularly from the DUP side of the relationship, that the Chuckle Brothers (younger readers may have to Google the reference) act wasn’t winning over their respective bases.
Within a year Paisley had been toppled by an internal revolt and replaced by Peter Robinson.
His approach to McGuinness was less personal than Paisley’s had been; and there was unambiguous evidence that Sinn Féin’s base wasn’t warming to him in the way they had embraced Paisley.
I’m not sure what might have happened had Paisley hung on for even another year, yet within months of his removal it was clear that any chance of an improving SF/ DUP relationship was dead in the water.
In fairness, Robinson and McGuinness kept the show on the road for a few years (both knew the consequences of a potential collapse), and some useful work was done during that period.
Crucially, though, the executive parties – DUP, SF, UUP and SDLP – had embraced the silo approach to business, rather than a fully agreed programme for government for which they accepted joint accountability and responsibility. That was a huge mistake.
Almost 20 years later, it is a mistake which has not been rectified.
Indeed, it is worse: with the silos converted to personal fiefdoms.
The relationship between the DUP and SF is immeasurably worse, too; and it is blindingly obvious that all of nationalism is on what might be described as ‘Irish Unity Now’ territory, while the overwhelming majority of unionism has, to all intents and purposes, abandoned the idea that the assembly and executive can be relied upon to protect and promote the interests of the unionist communities.
Another hope (yes, I am capable of more than one hope at a time) I had in 2007 was that we might actually see the emergence of entirely new, post-Good Friday Agreement political/electoral vehicles.
During the 1998 referendum I had argued that long-term change in Northern Ireland would depend on new parties and new choices: “I want my children, when they reach voting age, to have choices that were not available to me. I don’t want them lumbered with my generation’s baggage or still arguing about our past.”
That didn’t happen either, of course. The big five pre-agreement parties (DUP, SF, UUP, SDLP, Alliance) are still the big five and still behaving as if it was 1996.
A few smaller parties have appeared, but none has done anything remotely describable as game-changing.
Ironically, it could be the TUV, a throw-back to 1970s new-generation unionism, which could upend unionist electoral dynamics altogether and render the assembly inoperable.
Mind you, I’ve no idea what Jim Allister has in mind if that reality did come to pass in the 2027 assembly and council elections.
I saw my 1998 hopes dashed fairly quickly. I did support the Good Friday Agreement generally, but up until I entered the polling station on referendum day, I was still seeing compelling arguments for Yes and No.
I opted for Yes because it was a moment which hadn’t occurred in my lifetime and I calculated that the risk was worth taking.
I saw my 2007 hopes dashed fairly quickly, too, leading me to conclude that whatever the majority of voters here wanted, it certainly wasn’t a ‘we’re all in this together’ approach. Which is a criticism I now apply to Alliance also.
I’m not sure if there is a viable successor to those earlier hopes. No new voices. No new vehicles. No signs of the parties prioritising cooperation or abandoning the daily attack-dog emails to the local media.
The most worrying thing of all: I’m not persuaded that any of the parties gives an actual toss about the chaos, let alone their part in it.
LETTERS: Continuing partnership with Allianz is cowardly decision by GAA mandarins
SO, the GAA has opted to continue its partnership with Allianz insurance company.
It’s a shameful, cowardly decision by the mandarins in Croke Park. It’s clear that money is more important to them than the lives of countless thousands of innocent Palestinians.
In typical, soulless, corporate speak, they issued a statement characterised by a total lack of empathy. Obviously, they are more concerned with ending a commercial contract than the genocide in Gaza. The claims about it being complicated are weak and spineless. It is not complicated to show moral courage, to do the ethical thing and end the partnership with a company that prioritises profit over unimaginable human suffering.
The GAA’s Ethics and Integrity Commission states that Allianz has no involvement with Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. Do they take us for fools or, to use a well worn Mourne colloquialism, “do they think we came down the Bann in a bubble?”
In June, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, published a report that named the asset management firm PIMCO as one of the purchasers of Israeli treasury bonds to the tune of over $1 billion. These bonds are crucial to facilitating the brutal Israeli war machine carrying out their savage assault on a captive and defenceless population. PIMCO is owned by Allianz, so therefore is one of the ‘sibling’ or ‘cousin’ connections referenced by the commission – certainly not the familial relationship one would want to be associated with.
“Are they trying to tell us that Allianz is just a little bit complicit in the genocide? Well, just as one cannot be a little bit pregnant, so one cannot be a little bit complicit
Are they trying to tell us that Allianz is just a little bit complicit in the genocide? Well, just as one cannot be a little bit pregnant, so one cannot be a little bit complicit.
For more than two years now, Francesca Albanese has been researching the companies with links to the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the occupied territories. She is a bona fide expert in the field and knows what she is talking about.
Allianz is the title sponsor of our wonderful games and yet it contributes to the economy of genocide. It is an unconscionable position for our association to be in. The depth of feeling in Irish public life about the appalling situation in Gaza is obvious. Gaels demand this sullied brand be booted out of Croke Park with the velocity of a David Clifford two-pointer – an analogy we all understand.
The claim that it would be difficult to find alternative sponsors is a spurious one, more a craven counsel of despair. The GAA is the largest community organisation in the country, with a rapidly expanding global reach, and has to be viewed as a prime target for businesses everywhere. There would be no shortage of reputable large companies competing fiercely to be linked to our brand.
The grassroots of the GAA must make their feelings known at Congress in respect of the petition to drop Allianz, drafted by those special people, Gaels Against Genocide, and signed by over 800 players past and present. The petition was handed in to Croke Park on our behalf by the lifelong humanitarian champion Dr David Hickey, accompanied by Meath legend Colm O’Rourke and many other greats of the game. That was back in August and the huge groundswell of resolve and passion that motivated the signatories then has not wilted. Indeed, if anything it has strengthened due to the fury felt by all of us at the dismissive attitude displayed by headquarters.
The GAA Executive has adopted a callous ‘business as usual’ approach and their calculated, cynical ploy of releasing their decision in the mouth of Christmas is straight from the stroke-politics playbook.
We must let them know that this one is going to extra time.
Colm O’Rourke makes the perfectly fair point that a national vote be called. Every club should meet, make their decisions, and then county boards vote accordingly at Congress. A substantial start has already been made with up to 10 counties supporting the motion to sever links with Allianz. Surely nothing to fear in any of this. It’s called democracy.
COLM MCALERNEY Co Down
Irish News, December 31st, 2025
NOTE: Colm McAlarney is a former member of the 1968 All-Ireland GAA Down team.
NI leaders set out their vision for 2026
By David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, December 31st, 2025
Northern Ireland’s political leaders have set out their visions for the year ahead – focusing on familiar themes such as the Irish Sea border and the Executive’s record since the return of devolution.
Reform of how the Assembly and Executive operate looks set to be an ongoing row in 2026, with the DUP rejecting fresh calls from the Alliance leader Naomi Long to bring about changes to end “the politics of veto and deadlock”.
The DUP leader criticised attempts to “undermine the very foundations of devolution” – saying cross-community consent “is not an inconvenience to be brushed aside when it becomes awkward”.
“It is a safeguard that protects stability and inclusion. Attempts to dilute it under the banner of reform are a dangerous step towards majority rule by the back door, and we will oppose them. Regardless of what system is in place, its success depends on willing participants”, Gavin Robinson said.
In his New Year message, Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt focused on health, calling for a “collective Executive effort to tackle deep-rooted social challenges”.
The TUV leader said the new year will begin where 2025 left off, “with the further tightening of the EU noose”. Jim Allister said that in the past 12 months, “the only success of the Stormont Executive was to demonstrate its uselessness”.
However, the Sinn Fein First Minister has championed the institutions, saying “real progress” had been made and blaming “underfunding” from London for difficulties facing ministers. Citing her party’s arbitrary 2030 deadline for a border poll, Michelle O’Neill called on the British and Irish governments to prepare for a vote.
The man who will decide, Secretary of State Hilary Benn, has repeatedly said that the conditions have not been met – and are “a long way off”.
Gavin Robinson said his party’s priority is supporting working families and strengthening the economy. “That is where government effort should be directed, not towards performative politics or endless divisive border poll agitation”, the DUP leader said.
Conflicting messages
“Too often, the loudest voices are not concerned with hospitals, schools or policing, but with talking up a border poll and dismantling Northern Ireland itself. Sinn Fein’s focus increasingly lies elsewhere. Our focus is here, on the people who rely on functioning public services and a stable economy”, the East Belfast MP said.
The TUV leader focused on impending changes to the Irish Sea border in the new year. “On 1st January veterinary and pet medicines from GB will be banned and a new regime of tighter customs controls will be imposed at the Irish Sea border - called ICS2 (Import Control System 2), requiring more paperwork and costs, and at a stroke removing much of the proclaimed benefits of ‘the green lane’.
“All of which is a reminder of the dastardly lies told to get the sell-out Donaldson/DUP Deal over the line. Remember ‘no checks, no paperwork’, ‘Irish Sea Border gone’! Sadly, every day since has underscored the audacity of these blatant lies”, the North Antrim MP said.
UUP boss Mike Nesbitt said 2026 must be “a time for delivery” by the Executive. “I am doing my bit in health and social care, but it is not enough. The longer I serve, the clearer it is to me that there is very little of real substance that can be achieved by a single minister alone.
“There are three very sticky, hard to move challenges that the Executive could begin to tackle in the remaining months of this mandate: health inequalities, educational underachievement, and economic inactivity. All are most prevalent in areas of deprivation, and I want to see a collective focus on improving the lives of the people who live with little hope of better”, Mr Nesbitt said.
SDLP boss Claire Hanna also called for preparation for a vote on pulling Northern Ireland out of the UK – but focused on failures of the Executive to deliver on key issues. She said 2025 has been “a tough year” for many in Northern Ireland.
“Public services have continued to decline and the damage being done to our environment has accelerated. At a time when people needed leadership, they were often met with infighting, culture war and a refusal to get to grips with real issues”, she said.
Alliance leader Naomi Long said 2025 “must be the last year dysfunctional government is allowed to continue”.
“Last month’s report from the Covid Inquiry laid bare the sheer scale of the dysfunction. Even in a global pandemic, the two largest parties couldn’t set aside their sectarian divisions and work in the best interests of everyone”, the East Belfast MLA said.
Irish government funding for NI media a 'dangerous precedent' - UUP warning
By David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, December 31st, 2025
A €14m scheme aimed at furthering “all-island and cross-border media projects” – entirely controlled by the Irish government appointed media regulator – has prompted concerns about “interference” in Northern Ireland’s media industry.
Coimisiún na Meán (Ireland’s Media Commission) had claimed that the project is about harnessing the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement, but an Ulster Unionist MLA has questioned whether it is in line with the spirit of the 1998 deal.
Diana Armstrong says the cash from Dublin sets a dangerous precedent and comes “with a clear political agenda” – describing it as “an all-Ireland marketing machine”.
In November, the Irish government announced it would spend €14m new “all-island and cross-border media projects and initiatives” under its Shared Island fund. It will be managed by the Republic of Ireland’s media commission – a body appointed by the Irish government and bound by Irish law.
Asked by Mrs Armstrong if the scheme “interferes with independence of Northern Ireland’s media” – Stormont’s first and deputy first ministers said their understanding was that it “aims to support new talent and capacity building in relation to cross border journalism and content, to enhance public understanding on issues of the day”.
Diana Armstrong told the News Letter: “Funding for media is welcome, but when it comes from another jurisdiction with a clear political agenda, it raises serious concerns. The €14 million Shared Island Media initiative is framed as supporting cross-border journalism, yet does this truly align with the spirit of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the principles of a free press?
Worried about all-island lens
“Any scheme that incentivises outlets to adopt an all-island editorial stance to secure funding risks undermining those principles. It sets a dangerous precedent, shaping public discourse toward an all-Ireland narrative rather than reflecting Northern Ireland’s distinct identity.
“It is fair to say that some journalists may feel pressured to frame stories through a united Ireland lens to access resources. That cannot be ignored. Media independence is vital to our peace process, and funding tied to political objectives compromises that balance.
“It is also puzzling to see the deputy First Minister’s joint response with the First Minister to my question. It was almost a shrug of the shoulders approach from someone who traditionally opposed such language, yet now echoes terms associated with united Ireland advocates. This shift deserves scrutiny. Having delivered an Irish Sea border, is the DUP now content to deliver an all-Ireland marketing machine?”
The News Letter understands that the fund will be open to UK public broadcasters, such as the BBC and ITV – and will encourage all-Ireland TV co-productions with RTE.
A significant proportion of BBC Northern Ireland’s factual output is already co-produced with RTE, but the corporation says it has not had any conversations with the Irish regulator about funding. BBC NI says its content is often made by independent suppliers, who will sometimes fund productions through a range of backers – but the BBC does not apply directly to third parties for funding.
The News Letter also asked Coimisiún na Meán if it will work with its UK counterparts in Northern Ireland, such as Ofcom – and whether it will be on a partnership basis. The Irish regulator had said it will work with “Northern Irish partners” to “support them in advancing and delivering valuable media literacy Initiatives” - and aim for “an agreed media literacy project”.
We also asked if any UK regulators or public broadcasters would be involved in this process, and what the ethos underpinning the initiatives will be. A spokesperson said: “Coimisiún na Meán are in continued discussions with the Department of the Taoiseach and Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, and with relevant stakeholders in Northern Ireland, on the operation of the Shared Island Media Fund, and we expect to announce further details next year”.
However, it is understood the Irish authorities will retain full control of the scheme.
In a press release launching the fund, Coimisiún na Meán’s Media Development Commissioner Rónán Ó Domhnaill said: “Through support for cross-border journalism, all-island media literacy and collaborative new broadcast content, the Shared Island Media Fund will play a crucial role in supporting a shared future for all communities on the island.”
State Papers latest (and hopefully last)
Donaldson said SF talks were unthinkable... years after he started them
SAM MCBRIDE, Northern Editor, Belfast Telegraph, December 31st, 2025
MP TOLD SECRETARY OF STATE IN 2005 THAT EVEN INDIRECT CONTACT WITH REPUBLICANS COULD NOT BE CONTEMPLATED
Despite having long been secretly talking directly to Martin McGuinness, as late as 2005 Jeffrey Donaldson told the Government that even indirect talks with Sinn Fein were unthinkable, declassified files have revealed.
The revelation comes in records which set out details of multiple private meetings with senior DUP figures after Ian Paisley's party demolished David Trimble's UUP in the 2005 General Election.
Publicly, the DUP's position was that it wouldn't talk to Sinn Fein. But secret talks involving Donaldson, which would later draw in other senior party figures, had been going on for years.
Last year, the Rev Harold Good revealed in his biography that he had hosted face-to-face meetings between Donaldson and Martin McGuinness in his home after the then Lagan Valley MP had joined the DUP in 2004.
Other declassified files discovered by the Belfast Telegraph earlier this year revealed that Donaldson was close to secretly meeting a senior republican at the US Ambassador's Dublin residence before the IRA decommissioned as far back as 2001, something the backchannel arranging the meeting said would have had “a devastating impact” on Donaldson's political future if it had become public.
Newly-declassified files opened at The National Archives in Kew now add to the picture of what Donaldson was allegedly saying to different people.
A June 8, 2005, note by NIO political director Jonathan Phillips recorded details of a lunch conversation which Peter Robinson and Jeffrey Donaldson had with himself and the Secretary of State after the General Election.
Mr Phillips said: “Robinson said that party colleagues were aware of the meeting, which they understood to be about parades issues.”
However, the note of the meeting suggests that parades barely featured in the discussions, which were instead about the possibility of the DUP doing a deal with Sinn Fein to enter power-sharing.
After Robinson told them that there could not be devolution without a long period of testing the IRA's bona fides, the Secretary of State “reminded them there was also a need to build confidence in the other direction since republicans needed to be convinced that the DUP would engage in power-sharing.
“Was it possible to envisage any indirect dialogue with Sinn Fein which would assist in that regard? Donaldson said that that could not even be contemplated until after an IRA statement.”
The previous year, in January 2004, Donaldson took part in a debate at the Oxford Union, arguing in favour of the motion 'This House would not talk to Sinn Fein'.
Yet in 2001, another newly-opened file said he had admitted to “indirect contacts” with republicans through intermediaries.
The DUP always denied it ever sat down with republicans for direct talks prior to the day before Ian Paisley met Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in March 2007 as they agreed to enter power-sharing.
To this day, the party has never apologised for misleading the public about what it was really up to.
However, the newly-released files also show Sinn Fein telling the government that they hadn't been able to engage in talks with the DUP.
In a May 19, 2005, meeting with Tony Blair in Downing Street, Gerry Adams “said they had tried to open a back channel to the DUP but without success so far”, a record of their meeting said.
The note of that same meeting was marked 'Secret — Personal' and had written at the top: “No further copies of this letter should be taken and it should be seen only by those with a strict need to know of its contents [sic]”.
Adams wanted Paisley in
The note said: “Adams said we should not lose sight of the big picture. The aim here was to make the IRA give up to get the DUP into government before Ian Paisley died.”
It also said Adams told them “they had decided not to go for a GAC [General Army Convention] at this stage. It would not be advisable. Instead, there would be a leadership-led consultation leading to a statement. The GAC would only take place when the institutions were up and running.”
A confidential May 1, 2005, memo from Jonathan Phillips to the Secretary of State recorded details of a phone conversation with the DUP deputy leader the previous evening, exploring “the possibility of his having a private discussion with you about the prospects for a political deal”.
The memo said Robinson “was quite happy to do that. He would, however, like to involve Jeffrey Donaldson rather than Nigel Dodds since Jeffrey was the more committed to seeking an early resolution of current difficulties; Nigel was still prevaricating over the timescale for a deal”.
Another file from two years earlier contains a cable from the outgoing British Ambassador to Dublin, Sir Ivor Roberts, detailing his final conversation with Bertie Ahern before leaving Dublin in April 2003.
The ambassador said that “he genuinely liked David Trimble”.
Someone in Downing Street has hand-written a question mark beside that comment.
It added: “But he also had time for Jeffrey Donaldson [then in the UUP], though not for the company he kept, and Reg Empey and Michael McGimpsey.
“Donaldson talked a great deal of sense most of the time, but it was clear that his only aim was to become party leader.
“Ahern mused that it wasn't a job which would attract too many people as leading the Ulster Unionist Party must be everyone's nightmare.”
SDLP bid to get Monaco-based Irish businessman into House of Lords
SAM MCBRIDE, Belfast Telegraph, December 31st, 2025
AIM WAS TO NAME 'TWO MODERATE NATIONALISTS IN THE WORKING PEERS LIST'
A senior SDLP figure was involved in a clandestine attempt to get a top Irish business figure into the House of Lords, declassified files reveal.
A secretive series of discussions involved a senior UUP figure, the SDLP figure and Downing Street — but ultimately failed, despite the Monaco-based senior businessman agreeing to become a working peer.
Among files declassified at The National Archives in Kew is a 'strictly confidential' July 27, 2005, letter to Jonathan Powell in Downing Street from David Trimble's chief of staff, David Campbell.
The UUP man referred to a conversation they'd had about “the desirability to include perhaps two moderate nationalists in the next working peers list”.
He said he had spoken to SDLP special adviser Damian McAteer, who “has confirmed that the SDLP cannot make nominations but he firmly agrees that there is a total imbalance in the upper house which will become further exaggerated with the creation of new UUP and DUP peers.
“McAteer is willing to discreetly try and identify one or two quality individuals who would be viewed as representing the broad Irish nationalist tradition.
“Whilst he cannot deliver SDLP endorsement, I think he could at least secure a positive press reaction from the party leadership on their appointment.
“It would help him enormously if you would telephone him on this matter. He would like to run a couple of names past you, but it would give him cover in the party if he can say that he was contacted by Number 10, if challenged.”
“He will need an assurance that if he approaches serious individuals, that their nomination stands a good chance of success, obviously knowing that the normal propriety checks apply.”
Mr Campbell said this “could be helpful in drawing nationalism further into the parliamentary process and securing normality in NI.”
Almost two months later, Mr McAteer wrote to Downing Street.
In a letter marked 'Private', with no header and only signed with one name — “Damian” — the former SDLP spad attached the CV “of the candidate we spoke of on the telephone last week”, John McDaid, who lived at O'Donovan Road in Derry.
Mr McDaid died in 2011 at the age of 63. The accountant was a board member of the International Fund for Ireland and had done work for Stormont departments as well as having been a board member of St Columb's College and the Derry Diocesan Trust Fund for Retired Priests.
Mr McAteer wrote: “I hope that you will agree that this man will fit the needs as expressed. I have spoken to him and told him of the need to respect confidentiality and he understands that your process has to run a course...
“As I said last week, I believe this candidate will feel more secure and our endeavours will be more productive if he can be accompanied by someone of the stature of Michael Smurfit.
“To that end, I think you should leave no stone unturned in ensuring that both this candidate and Michael receive the awards, thereby ensuring a successful outcome of this exercise and providing a platform to build a new relationship with nationalism.”
A week later, Mr McAteer sent a second 'confidential and urgent' fax to Downing Street, telling Mr Powell that Sir Michael Smurfit — a supremely wealthy Anglo-Irish businessman — was “agreeable to being appointed as a moderate Irish nationalist working peer to accompany John McDaid from Derry”, telling him “it is very important to consider both together”.
Mr McAteer said that Mr Campbell had told him of Downing Street's “concerns over the method of appointment”, adding: “I have to be frank here. If there are three or more unionist working peers appointed (as rumoured) on top of eight/nine existing unionist peers, the existing imbalance will be grossly exaggerated. If a couple of nationalists follow some time later through the independent process it will be seen as tokenism and I don't think our two nominees will allow their names to proceed in that case.”
He urged Tony Blair to appoint them as Labour peers, while Mr Campbell “will ensure a positive unionist welcome as well”.
Sir Michael (89) had an address in Monaco and said he had both British and Irish nationality.
In an unsigned fax marked 'in confidence' and sent from the Waterside Development Trust, Downing Street was told that Sir Michael had “consented to being nominated for a working peerage...”
As is often the case with declassified files, the file ends without explanation for why the two proposed peers were never ennobled.
DUP proposed Jim Wells for a peerage, but Andrew Hunter was 'out of the question'
SAM MCBRIDE, Belfast Telegraph, December 31st, 2025
Jim Wells was put forward to be a DUP peer more than 20 years ago but was rejected, declassified Government files have revealed.
Among thousands of pages of Downing Street files from the early 2000s, now declassified at The National Archives in Kew, is a letter to the Prime Minister in August 2005, in which Ian Paisley proposed three names for DUP peers, only one of whom — Willie Hay — ultimately became a peer.
In a rare look inside the system whereby peerages have been given out over recent decades, the other two names were Andrew Hunter, the former Conservative MP for Basingstoke who had defected to the DUP, and Mr Wells, then the DUP MLA for South Down.
Paisley's wife, Eileen, does not appear to have been Baroness Paisley of St George's on the original list which he submitted, but she was made Baroness Paisley of St George's in 2006.
In a letter marked 'Secret — appointments' three days later, the NIO's then associate political director, Robert Hannigan — who would go on to head spy agency GCHQ — recorded a conversation between Tony Blair and Paisley on the issue.
He said: “Dr Paisley handed him a letter with suggestions. He wanted a third peerage and the PM indicated that, in the context of an enlarged autumn list (and the political difficulties for the DUP at the moment), he might be prepared to accept this.
“In addition to Eileen Paisley and Maurice Morrow, the DUP suggestion was Willie Hay (MLA and former mayor of Derry). I said that we regarded him as a very good thing: at the most moderate end of the DUP and instrumental in brokering the successful resolution of parade disputes in Derry.
“The PM said he had made it clear to Dr Paisley that Andrew Hunter was out of the question.”
Three months earlier, the DUP had emphasised the importance of peerages.
A confidential memo by the Secretary of State's principal private secretary, Alan Whysall, said: “In the course of yesterday's meeting with the DUP, which I have reported in a more widely-circulated note, Peter Robinson said with some emphasis that the party's relationship with the Government depended on how seriously it addressed the deficit in the House of Lords. Dodds said it was a serious issue: the UUP had eight Lords and they had none… Paisley backed these points, and said matters would be worse if Mr Trimble went to the Lords. I understand that Robinson reiterated to you after the meeting how important the issue was to them.”
Mr Wells, who would go on to become Health Minister before quitting the DUP and joining the TUV, told the Belfast Telegraph he had been “totally oblivious” to his name having been put forward for the honour, but had subsequently learned of it after being rejected.
He said: “Nobody told me about being nominated. I was sitting in my office one night and Edwin Poots rang to say he was sorry that I hadn't got it.”
Mr Wells said he was “very disappointed, to be honest”, but had never been told why he had been rejected.
