Adams' incredible run of good luck keeps going
The former Sinn Féin leader has been targeted by police, the British army and courts — and survived
MALACHI O'DOHERTY, Sunday Independent, March 22nd, 2026
Has any politician ever been as lucky as Gerry Adams? He has defied the maxim coined by Enoch Powell that all political careers end in failure.
In his youth, he must have reasonably expected to be dead before he was 30. He was targeted by the police and British army and by loyalists who all believed him to be a leading member of the Provisional IRA's Belfast Brigade.
He evaded the first wave of internment arrests in August 1971 and stayed free to dodge between safe houses in dangerous times when friends were being scooped or shot.
When he was eventually caught, he was taken to the Maidstone prison ship on Belfast Lough. There he helped organise a hunger strike for two weeks in protest against the quality of the food. By his account, it was a success, with meagre prison rations replaced by such tempting fare as honeyed ham and meringues.
He had a playful time in Long Kesh, where he was fond of streaking. This was a craze at the time; running naked through public places.
The next lucky break was being released to be sent to Derry to help negotiate a ceasefire that would enable the IRA leadership to meet the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw. The negotiations with diplomats Philip Woodfield and Frank Steele went well for him, with the British conceding special category status for prisoners before they even got down to business.
A report by Woodfield dated June 21, 1972) said of Adams and IRA Army Council member Dáithí Ó Conaill, who accompanied him: "Their behaviour and attitude appeared to bear no relation to the indiscriminate campaign of bombing in which they had both been prominent leaders.”
It would appear the diplomats had been poorly informed about Adams' exclusively peaceful political role.
Adams was interned again soon after. Among the hard men of the IRA in the cages, he was reportedly appointed OC ("officer commanding”) over some big names, including Bik McFarlane, Bobby Sands, Seanna Walsh and others. This would have been a singular honour for a man who was not a member of the IRA. (Adams has said only that he had a "position of authority”.)
While there in 1974, republican prisoners burnt the Nissen huts in which they were held. There are conflicting accounts of what followed. Loyalist Plum Smith wrote later that he pitied the IRA prisoners for the beatings they took from soldiers. By Adams' account, he and Dickie Glenholmes sat down and enjoyed a cigar as the embers smouldered around them. He has an uncanny ability to see the positive in dark situations.
After his release, he negotiated a ceasefire between the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA with his own brother-in-law, Micky McCorry, representing the Officials. He escaped being shot during that feud when an Official IRA team heading for another Provo target passed him on the street but didn't see him.
After the horrific La Mon hotel bomb, which killed 12, Adams was arrested and charged with IRA membership. Legal wizard PJ McGrory put it to the judge that the evidence was so weak the case should not proceed.
First Person Provo
That evidence included witness statements that he had drilled IRA men in Long Kesh and that he had used the first-person plural in a Sinn Féin ard fheis speech commending those who gave sanction to IRA volunteers. The judge threw the case out.
Adams took leadership of efforts to draw Margaret Thatcher into negotiations to settle the 1981 hunger strikes in which 10 men would die. With as many as 70 ready to volunteer, we could count it to Adams' good fortune that Fr Denis Faul was able to intervene and save them.
By the early 1980s, Adams was electioneering in Belfast and arrested on a charge of disorderly behaviour. He was brought before magistrate Tom Travers. On a lunch break from the court, Adams' car was fired on by loyalists. He was lucky not to have been killed, though he was wounded.
Shortly afterwards, Travers was himself shot by an IRA team while coming from mass. His daughter Mary was killed in the same attack. When Travers returned to work after recovering from his wounds, the case against Adams was no longer on the books.
Other pieces of good fortune followed. An effort by loyalists to kill Adams in Belfast by placing a limpet mine on the roof of the black taxi in which he travelled was disrupted by the British army.
And governments were ready to deal with him, if discreetly.
The IRA had now to be turned away from its commitment to sabotage and murder, which were good for preventing political progress but useless in advancing it. Adams was able to get that campaign stopped, very slowly.
But the IRA was in trouble at that time. Its own head of security Freddie Scappaticci was a British agent, so thoroughly had the intelligence services penetrated the movement.
Adams turned imminent humiliation into a brilliant political prospect, selling peace to the nationalist community not as exhaustion and failure but as a brilliant creative development within the republican tradition, one that was somehow consistent with past avowals that no end to the campaign would come short of a British withdrawal.
From there he launched and built his party in the Republic to a level at which it seemed possible that it might be in government on both sides of the border at the same time.
Then, having looked forward to a retirement in which he might enjoy opera and fine food and walking up Errigal, he found himself back in court. He sued the BBC for defamation over a claim he had approved the murder of agent and former friend Denis Donaldson. Adams won.
And last week, an effort to expose him through the courts as a former IRA commander failed when those taking the case withdrew before a likelihood of the case being dismissed as an abuse of process and their being landed with Adams' costs.
Those costs are considerable, but he seems chuffed with the outcome. Sickening as it might be for some, he has often had good reason to be chuffed.
Malachi O'Doherty is the author of books including 'Gerry Adams: An Unauthorised Life'
Haunted Hughes ostracised for refusing to play SF's game
SUZANNE BREEN, SUNDAY LIFE, March 22nd, 2026
Beneath a picture of the Sacred Heart in a tiny, threadbare flat in Divis hung a photo of two tanned, smiling young men in Long Kesh, arms around each other: Gerry Adams and Brendan 'The Dark' Hughes.
From his home, Hughes would look down on the city that his bombs had once reduced to rubble. A former 'officer commanding' of the Belfast brigade, he killed and saw fellow republicans die too.
The best friends emerged very differently from the conflict. One was burdened by the war, the other elevated in its wake.
Hughes carried the physical and mental scars from life at the coal-face of the IRA campaign, 13 years in jail and 53 days on hunger strike.
He died in 2008, aged 59, from total organ failure. Prison had left him with arthritis. He was prone to chest infections and was beginning to go blind on the last occasions when I visited him.
He was haunted by the faces of the dead, believing it had all been for nothing. The Good Friday Agreement “Got F**k All”.
Hughes refused to sanitise the past to make the present more comfortable. He spoke plainly about what the IRA had done and why.
The man who was once his best friend had constructed a version of history that he despised, and so he challenged Adams — the storyteller-in-chief.
The former Sinn Fein president was asked about that 1971 prison photo as he sat in the Royal Courts of Justice in London this week, during the civil case IRA victims had taken against him.
He said he had kept a copy of the picture, but he disputed 'The Dark's' claims of his role in orchestrating the IRA campaign. “He ended up as a sorry figure who was alcohol dependent, and I still retain a fondness for him, even though he was a disappointment,” Adams said.
That word 'disappointment' implies failure, a falling short, a man who let others down. Who exactly did Hughes disappoint? His commitment to republicanism was never doubted by those who served in the ranks beside him or by the police or British Army.
After he was released from jail, he constantly expressed concern for those struggling. Kieran Nugent — the first IRA man on the blanket protest in Long Kesh — was just one example.
“Kieran died in 2000,” Hughes told me. “They called him a 'river rat', because he spent his last days drinking by the river in Poleglass.
“Why didn't somebody in the movement not see he'd problems and help him? He was the bravest of the brave. The screws ordered him to wear the prison uniform, and he replied 'You'll have to nail it to my back.'”
Shocked
Hughes' first clash with the leadership came when he complained of the £20 a day wages paid to ex-prisoners by a west Belfast building contractor. An Official IRA member, shocked to see 'The Dark' carrying bricks and sweating in a ditch for a pittance, was told by the boss: “He's cheaper than a digger.”
When Hughes tried to organise a strike, he was offered £25 a day on the condition he didn't tell the others. “I told (the boss) to stick it up his arse, and I never went back. I wrote an article about it for Republican News, but it was censored,” he recalled.
Hughes did turn to drink to try to dull the pain of what he now saw as so many lost lives during the war: unlike some, he had a heart and conscience. But he was never confused. He railed against what he saw as lies when he was stone-cold sober.
In court, Adams said 'The Dark' had “sided with other armed groups that were away from the IRA”. Hughes opposed the Sinn Fein president's political strategy, but he came to believe that an armed campaign was pointless.
He was not nostalgic for violence. “There is no glory in war. There is no glory in killing people,” he told me. He recalled how once he'd had a chance to kill a young British soldier in Leeson Street. The terrified squaddie cried for his mother.
“I stood over him with a .45 aimed at his head. I could have pulled the trigger and sent him to eternity. But morally and emotionally, I wasn't able to end his life. He was a mere child, so frightened,” he said.
Hughes' outlook wasn't narrow. He was chuffed when, years after jail, a Protestant prison officer tracked him to Divis. They went for a pint.
In our interviews, he was remarkably reflective about his life. “My wife became involved with another man while I was in prison. The lads inside told me to give her a hard time,” he explained.
“I called her to the jail and told her there was no problem — she was young and deserved a bit of happiness. She always said the war was my number one priority, and she was right. I was selfish. I neglected my family. When I got out of jail, I went to her house and shook her partner's hand.”
Hughes was undoubtedly angry at Adams. He joked that he wanted holes bored in his coffin so he could look out as it was carried up the Falls Road to make sure his former friend wasn't walking behind it. He'd have been horrified that Adams ended up carrying it.
He felt that he'd been manipulated from the start. “Gerry wasn't trusted by (IRA) grassroots, and I was. He used me to up his own status. I had 100 per cent faith in him. I defended him so many times when I shouldn't have,” he said.
“I never saw his agenda. He was far too shrewd, which is why he is where he is today.”
Hughes believed Adams was as charismatic as Michael Collins, but “Collins didn't just give orders, he fired shots. Gerry never did, not even at training camps in the South”.
Hughes' daughter Josephine this week challenged Adams for his comments in London. She posted on Facebook: “Gerry, I hope my father's face haunts you the rest of your days, to stand in a British court and basically call my father a liar.
“I hope everyone sees through you like my daddy did. I couldn't be prouder of my daddy.”
The irony is that the characteristics that made Hughes indispensable to the IRA during the conflict — his directness and his loyalty to what he believed in — are precisely what later made him a problem for the leadership. He wouldn't play along. He refused to allow his memory to be managed. He didn't change just because the story changed.
Father of Chinook crash victim died 'fighting for answers' say campaigners
By Neil Pooran, Press Association Scotland, News Editor, Belfast News Letter, March 22nd, 2026
The father of one of the victims of the 1994 Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre has died aged 96, with campaigners saying he died "fighting for answers".
John Dockerty's son Major Christopher Dockerty was one of the 29 killed when RAF Chinook ZD576 crashed in foggy weather while flying from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George near Inverness .
The incident was initially blamed on pilot error before this was overturned in 2011.
The Chinook Justice Campaign says John is believed to have been the last surviving parent of anyone who died in the crash.
Ministers met with campaigners, who are seeking more answers about the crash, in December.
They are due to meet with victims minister Alex Davies-Jones on Wednesday.
Nicola Rawcliffe, daughter of John Dockerty and a member of the campaign group, said: "My father spent the last 32 years wondering why his eldest son and my brother Chris died. He died still fighting for answers.
"He campaigned with dignity and determination, but it is heartbreaking that he has died without the government and MoD acknowledging the truth about the circumstances surrounding the crash.
"He told me he was disgusted that it has been allowed to fester for as long as it has without the government getting to the bottom of things.
"Shame on the MoD for letting yet another relative die without answers."
Ms Rawcliffe, from Diss in Norfolk, said: "We are devastated by the loss of my father and horrified that he never saw justice for Chris.
"It is bad enough that a parent has to bury their child, but a parent having to ask the State as to why they died adds insult to injury."
Mr Dockerty had released videos supporting the campaign.
His daughter said she had uncovered letters he had written in which he said he did not believe the pilots were to blame for the crash.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "The accident has already been the subject of six inquiries and investigations, including an independent judge-led review."
Adams' ex-IRA bodyguard rapped for underpaying workers
STAFF REPORTER, Sunday Life, March 22nd, 2026
An ex-IRA prisoner whose high-end steak restaurant was named and shamed for underpaying staff spent the past week working as a bodyguard for Gerry Adams.
John Trainor — the sole director of Stix and Stones (NI) Ltd — was pictured leaving the High Court in London with the former Sinn Fein leader, who successfully fought a civil case that tried to link him to three Troubles bombings in England, which he said he knew nothing about.
Wearing an earpiece, Trainor was pictured shepherding Adams in and out of the court last Thursday.
Sources believe the get-together was designed to show grassroots republicans that the former West Belfast MP retains the support of ex-IRA prisoners in the face of mounting criticism.
Josephine Hughes, the daughter of dead Belfast IRA leader Brendan Hughes, who was a confidant of Adams, hit out at his continued denials of ever being in the IRA.
Adams insists he was never a member of the terror gang and repeated this during the failed civil action against him in London.
Republicans in Belfast believe the picture of Adams leaving a London court with John Trainor was a message to his grassroots.
“Adams being pictured with John Trainor coming out of the High Court was him saying to grassroots republicans I've still got the support of ex-IRA prisoners,” a veteran republican told Sunday Life.
But republicans say the photo has backfired as the following day Trainor's pricey Belfast steak restaurant Stix and Stones was named and shamed by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for failing to pay £3,546 to 38 workers.
Referring to the underpayment, Business Secretary Peter Kyle said: “A good employer doesn't build their business on the back of unpaid wages, and I look forward to working with the new Fair Work Agency to ensure its powers are used to crack down on those who think the rules don't apply to them.”
Employment Rights Minister Kate Dearden said: “Nobody should finish a week's work and find they've been paid less than they've earned.”
John Trainor, who has been contacted for comment, served a jail sentence at the Maze Prison for IRA explosives offences before being released early under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Arrested
After he was freed, the 55-year-old worked as a bodyguard for leading Sinn Fein figures, including Gerry Adams, before going into business first with an events company and later the restaurant trade.
Trainor came to public prominence in 2005 when he was arrested in connection with the IRA's £26m Northern Bank heist. However, he was later released without charge.
Giving evidence at his civil case last week, Adams was asked about his relationship with Trainor.
The former politician said he knew “Big John” had previously been convicted of IRA activity.
“You have surrounded yourself with IRA men who have served time for very serious crimes, including murder,” said a lawyer for three IRA bomb survivors who were suing Adams. Adams replied: “Yes. There were others who weren't former prisoners.”
The civil case against Adams was withdrawn last Friday when a lawyer for the three claimants confirmed proceedings would be “discontinued”.
Speaking at a press conference afterwards, Adams said the case should “never have been brought”.
“I contested this case and defended myself against the smears and false accusations,” he said. “I asserted the legitimacy of the republican cause and the right of the people of Ireland to freedom and self-determination. I do so again.”
Inside the Kneecap manager's provocative playbook, from Bohs to Iran
Inside the Kneecap manager's provocative playbook, from Bohs to Iran
JOHN MEAGHER, Sunday Independent, March 22nd, 2026
As Daniel Lambert joins a sanctions-busting trip to Cuba, John Meagher, Sunday Independent, March 23rd, 2026, hears how the one-time diplomat changed his tune
As Micheál Martin was preparing for his White House encounter with Donald Trump last week, Kneecap announced they were bound for Cuba, an island "being strangled by the man who'll be handed the shamrock”.
The Belfast rap trio are part of the Nuestra América Convoy, an attempt to bust US sanctions and deliver medicine, food and supplies to the island.
They are joined by their manager, Daniel Lambert, a 39-year-old Dubliner making his presence felt in sport, music and politics.
His impact on those worlds was symbolically combined in a shirt worn by Greta Thunberg when she took part in last year's Gaza flotilla. The activist was photographed on board wearing a Bohemian FC shirt bearing the name of the band Fontaines DC.
It is one of many fashion-friendly strips produced by the Dublin football club, which Lambert is credited with turning into a hipster favourite.
Thunberg isn't the only one to have adopted a Bohs shirt as a style statement. When Oasis played Croke Park last year, the most common piece of sporting gear among the crowd wasn't the strip of Manchester City, Noel and Liam Gallagher's beloved football team. Nor was it the Mayo jersey, despite the pair's strong maternal roots to the county. Instead, it was a Bohs shirt in Man City's trademark sky blue and with the Oasis logo prominent on the chest. It seemed even more common than the bucket hats and Adidas tracksuits found at all other Oasis gigs.
A cynic might wonder how many of those revellers had ever passed through the turnstiles at Bohemians' ramshackle Dalymount ground. For the record, Thunberg has, for a Gaza fundraiser.
Even the most ardent football shirt collector might have a hard time keeping up with the Phibsboro club's output. This year, their home offering is a retro effort inspired by the 1975 jersey, one of the first in the world to feature a sponsor's name. The away number has another band on the front: Kneecap. It is reportedly flying off the shelves.
Bang Bang
These are especially busy times for Lambert. Bohs are top of the league and Kneecap are about to release their second album, Fenian. He is also the founder of a hip north Dublin cafe and deli called Bang Bang, named after a legendary Dublin street character.
He is an outspoken figure on X, where he has condemned Israel's war on Gaza and the US-Israeli war on Iran in the strongest terms. Sample posts: "[Israel] commit Oct 7ths every single week across multiple countries. A demonic force that's armed by the West. Staggering levels of violence by wanted war criminals who get cheered on by the EU”; "Solidarity to everyone everywhere who fights Israel in whatever form they can”; "Hopefully many more [Iranian missiles] can be aimed at the IDF. Their destruction is the only hope for peace in the region”.
Lambert has also shared pictures from his own trips to Iran, with one calling it "a nation far more respectful, friendly and hospitable than the US can ever be”.
He is gearing up for a frantic year in which Kneecap are unlikely to be far from controversy. With songs like Occupied 6, An Ra and Palestine, their new album will surely arouse strong emotions in Britain, where the trio have enraged figures from across the political spectrum.
After being accused of showing support for the Islamic terrorist organisation Hezbollah on stage last year, the band managed the rare feat of uniting prime minister Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch in condemnation. Both called on the BBC not to show their Glastonbury performance. The Beeb acquiesced, but social media footage of their no-holds-barred show was widely disseminated online.
At every turn, Lambert was defending his charges, much like the principled football manager who will never throw his players under the bus. Even as band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh — aka Mo Chara — was facing court action over allegedly breaching Britain's terrorism act for displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London gig, Lambert argued that freedom of expression should not be punishable. The UK government this month lost its appeal against a judge's decision to throw out the case.
More recently, Lambert has urged the FAI not to fulfil its Nations League match against Israel. It's a stance shared by several movers and shakers in domestic football, but Lambert is seen as the lightning rod.
Former government minister Alan Shatter has been unrelenting in his criticism of Lambert, arguing such anti-Israel rhetoric is leading to a rise in antisemitism in Ireland.
It is a charge Lambert rejects. He has been steadfast in his support for Gaza, arguing that Israel is a terrorist state perpetrating acts of genocide. It was his idea to host the Palestine women's football team in a special match against Bohs women at Dalymount in 2024.
A number of people closely connected to Bohemians say Lambert has had a transformational impact on the club over the past decade. Having served as chief operations officer for several years, he is now focused entirely on its money-making potential in the role he has occupied since December: chief commercial officer.
"Bohs was in very bad shape financially before he came along,” said one volunteer at Dalymount. "But he is someone with boundless energy and with loads of ideas. It's not just the shirts — although that is a great revenue earner and builds the profile of the club around the world — it's how he has reconnected the club with the community in the north inner city.
Setting the tone in FAI and GAA
One season ticket holder was also full of praise, saying: "In a world in which modern football is increasingly out of touch with the average supporter, Dan has made Bohs so much more than a club.
"There's real engagement with marginalised people — asylum-seekers, the LGBTQ+ community, prisoners in Mountjoy. He sees the club as something that has a responsibility to everyone in the community.”
A figure at a rival Dublin club has gotten to know Lambert over the years and has grudging respect for him.
"Rivalry aside, he has been great for the league,” he said. "He's willing to try new things, to push at the boundaries a bit. We need more of that.”
Other clubs are starting to adopt some Lambert strategies. This month, St Patrick's Athletic launched a pair of away shirts with the logo of The Wolfe Tones on the front. The veteran republican band hail from Bluebell, a St Pat's stronghold, and were on hand to launch the kit. Popular sizes sold out quickly.
"It's straight out of the Daniel Lambert playbook,” said Johnny Ward, who co-presents LOI Central — a popular podcast on the League of Ireland. "Traditionally, League of Ireland shirt sales would have been very low, but you see them a lot now — well a lot of Bohs shirts, anyway.”
A well-placed source reckons Bohemians shirts now outsell all other League of Ireland clubs combined.
When Lambert gave an interview to a Dublin journalist last year, he said Bohs merch had been sold to 54 countries. It's estimated they are shifting somewhere in the region of 20,000 to 30,000 shirts per annum.
It's not just good news for Bohs, but for manufacturer O'Neills — those sort of numbers rival their primary business of GAA jerseys.
Not all fans of the Dalymount club are enthused by its left-leaning direction, though. One of those who spoke to the Sunday Independent said he is irritated by many of the new arrivals.
"They wouldn't have a clue who Rocky O'Brien is,” he said, in reference to one of the club's 1980s stalwarts.
"It's a bit like becoming a fan of an English club and knowing nothing about their history before the Premier League. It's all well and good to support this cause and that, but it would be nice to win a few trophies.”
Lambert, however, is keen to welcome fans new and old and is said to be especially proud when overseas visitors make the pilgrimage to Dalymount. Stepping away from general operations at the club to focus on commercial activities will likely free him up to focus more of his efforts on Kneecap. A series of European dates have been announced and the band are among the headliners at this summer's All Together Now festival.
A Belfast-based music figure who admits to being "on the other side of the fence, politically” to Kneecap, said Lambert's impact has been significant.
"Before he came along, they were an outfit making a lot of noise in this town and nowhere else. They're on an entirely different level now, although much of that is driven by carefully orchestrated controversy — as well as lots of old-fashioned hard work,” he said.
Hot Press
Stuart Clark, deputy editor of Hot Press, believes Lambert has been pivotal in Kneecap's success.
"It's an old-fashioned type of management in that Dan was a fan of the band early on and he's been with them every step of the way. No matter what you think of their politics, or his, he has shown to be fiercely loyal to them,” Clark said.
"We had him in at Hot Press to do a round-table [interview] and he admitted that he's had to become something of a legal expert over the past year as a result of various court threats and so on.”
Clark said his impression is that there is a democratic approach within Kneecap, where everyone's view, including Lambert's, is taken on board. It is not, he suspects, a management set-up where Lambert calls the shots.
Lambert's knowledge of the music industry has been aided by his long-term relationship with Lankum singer Radie Peat. Lankum have been one of the country's leading folk bands in recent years, twice winning the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year.
A Dublin music industry source, who knows Lambert well, said he and Lankum manager Cian Lawless both share a yen for "hard work, thinking outside the box and not getting complacent”.
Born in Finglas and growing up in nearby Glasnevin, Lambert is a northsider who is proud of his working-class roots.
He attended Dublin City University (DCU), where he earned a first-class BA in business studies and an MA in international conflict and security. The latter paved the way for a stint at the Department of Foreign Affairs. He worked in the Conflict Resolution Unit.
"The idea of the unit was to use the fact that Ireland has a very unique position in terms of being a Western nation but also a victim of colonialism,” he told the Inside Marketing podcast.
The unit had only a handful of people working in it at the time, but Lambert thrived and he ended up in the United Nations in New York "as an adviser to Ireland”.
He soon tired of the formal rules of the game. "Diplomacy is a slow endeavour and didn't have the level of excitement [he was after].”
A lifelong Bohs fan, he joined the board in 2011, taking on an increasingly active role during a period when the club was on its knees financially.
He soon proved himself to be a football figure cut from different cloth — where once the club had been sponsored by a gambling firm, shirts were soon bearing the legend "Refugees Welcome”. It made him a hate figure for far-right agitators.
If 2026 will be chiefly focused on Kneecap, Lambert's energies next year will be on the new Dalymount. The old ground is set to be bulldozed after the season ends at November, with an 8,000 stadium set to take its place.
It is thought Bohs will play home games in the soon to-reopen RDS on the other side of The Liffey.
Lambert and Peat are parents of a four-year-old girl, who is autistic and non-verbal. Both have spoken publicly about what they term the "nightmare” of negotiating the country's autism services.
"Dan has already shown himself to be single-minded about football and music and for standing up for what he believes in,” an acquaintance through sport said. "He's exactly the same about his child. If he feels there is injustice, he'll speak up loudly. That's the person who he has always been and long may it stay that way.”
Ireland must start planning for new world order as US empire crumbles
EOIN O'MALLEY, Sunday Independent, March 22nd, 2026
If the British have a "special relationship” with the US, Ireland's is surely a unique one. Few countries boast the deep cultural, genetic and economic connections that Ireland and America share.
It is for this that the Taoiseach gets to travel to Washington each year for St Patrick's Day, assured of an audience with the most powerful man in the world. Most years, these meetings involve a bit of old blarney. President Joe Biden's Irishness was so deep that the Taoiseach and visiting dignitaries barely had to make an effort.
That cultural link isn't so important for Donald Trump. This year, he quickly read a list of facts about Ireland and Irish America prepared for him by his staff, stopping to observe "that I didn't know” at some, such as the fact the White House was designed by an Irishman.
Given Trump's volatility and the dire straits in Hormuz, Micheál Martin had a tough job to do for Ireland this week. He played it well.
There was the usual ditch-hurling and griping from the opposition, but the more sane of them will privately acknowledge he did as well as anyone could have hoped. The Taoiseach allowed Trump to vent for a while, but he wasn't supine and stood up for our allies.
He might have been thanked at Thursday's European Council meeting, but hopefully the Fianna Fáil leader won't get notions and start to think of himself as a world leader. He's the leader of Ireland, a small country navigating a tricky moment.
If Ireland's problem after independence was largely being tied to a declining world power, the UK, we are at risk of doing something similar again.
Ireland benefited from becoming America's entry point into the European Union. We now find ourselves constrained within a sclerotic EU and dependent on an increasingly undependable US.
Trump has found himself in an odd position: starting a war with no obvious exit strategy. He has asked for help from European allies, the same allies he has spent the last year threatening and imposing tariffs on. It is hardly a surprise that they refused to engage with a partner who makes no effort at collaboration.
So we may be at a turning point in history, one where a great power starts its decline. It seems hard for anyone to think of this happening to America, especially in a month when its immense firepower is on show. But all great powers decline. It's just that it might not be obvious until after it has happened.
Unique vulnerability
We may hope the world economy will survive, and in the long term it will, but Ireland's position in it is uniquely vulnerable.
A report published last week by Sam Enright for the think-tank Progress Ireland shows the extreme risk Ireland faces.
His main point was that nobody really knows how our corporation tax system actually works, but in doing so he underlined the problem of our over-reliance on both corporation tax receipts (which provide more than a fifth of the State's revenue), and within those receipts, our reliance on a handful of US companies (Apple and Microsoft pay 40pc of all corporation tax). Only 11pc comes from Irish companies.
Those parties on the left that would have had Martin either boycott or insult the US president would miss the money tree on which our expensive welfare state is built if the US relationship were to break down.
Any successful Irish companies would still need to trade with the world outside Europe. Limiting their exposure to US volatility seems sensible, but to where should we look?
China is the obvious answer: it is the next big thing. But we should be limiting our exposure to China too. Tying ourselves to it would put us at risk of control by a country with which we have no natural shared interests or values.
Ireland is uniquely vulnerable in the emerging world order, but even an unreliable US is a better ally than a predictable China.
With the US burning through allies as quickly as a gambling addict burns through cash, we should start planning for a post-US hegemony.
This should have started years ago. We had the time and space to figure out how to help domestic businesses grow, but we failed to do it, instead burdening them with yet more pointless regulation.
There would be no advantage in leaving the EU, even if it is not helping itself with its own goal of creating a single market by regulating itself to within an inch of its life. The model that works best for us is providing a gateway to European markets.
The Brexit tragedy was that in the UK, Ireland lost a natural ally against EU over-reach. But we have to try to reform the EU.
IRA bomb victim 'completely devastated' as Adams case discontinued
By Callum Parke, Press Association Law Reporter, Belfast News Letter, March 20th, 2026
One of the three IRA bombing victims who sued Gerry Adams for damages at the High Court has said he is "completely devastated" after the claim was discontinued.
Barry Laycock, a victim of the 1996 Arndale shopping centre bombing in Manchester, sued Mr Adams for £1 in damages along with John Clark, a victim of the 1973 Old Bailey bombing in London , and Jonathan Ganesh, a 1996 London Docklands bombing victim.
The three men claimed Mr Adams was a leading member of the Provisional IRA on those dates, including of its army council.
Mr Adams told the court in London during a two-week trial that he had "no involvement whatsoever" in the bombings and was never a member of the Provisional IRA, with his lawyers claiming the case should be thrown out as an abuse of the court system.
On Friday, the last day of the trial, lawyers for the victims said the claim against the former Sinn Fein president had been "discontinued" with "no order as to costs".
In a statement following the announcement, Mr Laycock said: "I'm completely devastated. The fair trial we sought, getting Mr Adams into the dock for the first time, was achieved. But somehow we have lost our protection.
"How is that fair on me or all the victims who deserve justice?
"We can all hold our heads up high. Our team have worked tirelessly and achieved something that successive governments have failed to do."
Speaking to the media in Belfast on Friday afternoon, Mr Adams said he had "nothing but sympathy" for the claimants.
He said: "I was moved by the testimony of the two people, the two men, who came forward and told of their own personal difficulties and circumstances within the explosions and following the explosions.
"Family members of mine have been killed, I've been shot myself, so I know what it's like."
Mr Adams's barrister, Edward Craven KC, had previously told the court in London that the case against his client should be dismissed for being brought too late.
Abuse of process
Mr Craven also suggested the three victims were trying to have a "public inquiry-style" hearing into finding historical truths, which could be an abuse of the court system.
Abuse of Process
After a delay to the start of proceedings on Friday, Anne Studd KC, for the victims, told the court the case would be discontinued after "proceedings developed overnight" and that this was "related" to the argument around whether the claim was an "abuse of process".
Law firm McCue Jury and Partners, which represented the three men, said in a statement that its clients had shown "considerable courage" and that the outcome "does not represent a victory for Mr Adams but the reverse".
It continued that Mr Adams had offered to settle the claim without the payment of damages, which the victims "had no realistic option but to accept" following what it described as an "extraordinary and, in our clients' view, unnecessary late intervention by the court".
The firm continued that allegations of an abuse of process had not arisen until Thursday, and that the issue had been "expressly disavowed" by a judge in a preliminary hearing in the claim.
It said: "Nevertheless, throughout the trial, the defendant's legal team wrongly and repeatedly implied that the claimants were treating the court as a vehicle for a form of public inquiry."
It continued: "For whatever reasoning the court unexpectedly directed at the final stages of the trial that it wished to consider whether the proceedings might amount to an abuse of process.
It added: "The trial judge's decision to raise this issue resulted, for the first time, in a real risk that the claimants, vulnerable victims of terrorism, could face devastating personal liability for legal costs as (a) finding of abuse of process would remove the claimants' costs protection and require them to pay Mr Adams his full legal costs, a risk that Mr Adams inevitably exploited.
"Due to this extraordinary series of events, and faced with even a small risk of life-changing financial consequences, the claimants had no realistic choice but to accept the defendant's offer."
The firm also said that the victims considered the "unexpected and prejudicial" situation to be "deeply unfair", but continued that they "regard these proceedings as vindication of their position".
Mr Adams, who gave evidence over two days, said in a statement earlier on Friday that he welcomed the "emphatic end" of a claim which "should never have been brought".
He continued that he attended the trial "out of respect" for the victims and to defend himself "against the smears and false accusations being levelled against me".
He said: "I asserted the legitimacy of the Republican cause and the right of the people of Ireland to freedom and self-determination. I do so again."
TUV Conference, Timothy Gaston says change is coming at Stormont
By David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, March 21st, 2026,
The TUV’s sole MLA at Stormont says the party is going into the next Stormont election with a clear message to the electorate – “vote for a party that you can trust”.
Timothy Gaston says that “change is coming” and told the party’s annual conference that “there is an alternative” to Stormont failure and “change is coming”.
The North Antrim MLA hit out at political rivals in Cookstown on Saturday, claiming that Northern Ireland “is not in good place” because of failings by the governing parties.
On MLA pay, he accused the Executive of being “out of kilter” with the people – citing the recent 27% pay rise for Stormont politicians.
He said that now the main five parties which sit on the Assembly Commission had got that issue out of the way, “I trust they will now focus their attention on doing something about stopping the trans invaders from using the Stormont toilet of their choosing”.
Mr Gaston was referring to the current policy which allows men who identify as women to use the women’s toilets, and vice versa. He said this was an example of “the woke madness” at Stormont.
Addressing DUP MLAs – who he said were “rightly vocal” on such issues – the TUV man asked what the deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly is doing to “bring an end to the wokery that has consumed the Executive Office”.
Reflecting on the party’s record in the Assembly, he said: “If you watch any of the Stormont debates, you'll see plenty of empty seats. The most common comment I see in social media is people asking, ‘where are the MLAs’?
“They seldom turn up, and when they do, it's only at voting time to get their name in the minutes. I would like to think that the TUV record in Stormont speaks for itself.
“I would like to think that in the last 20 months, TUV has proved our detractors wrong.
“We were told that when Jim went to Westminster, the TUV voice on the blue benches would fall silent. How wrong were they?”
On the Irish Sea border the North Antrim TUV MLA said that his rivals in the DUP and UUP had “surrendered their leverage” on the issue “for a return to chauffeur driven limousines”.
Notorious hooligan firm back for more violence
SUNDAY LIFE REPORTER, March 22nd, 2026
COLERAINE CASUAL ARMY BEHIND NUMBER OF INCIDENTS RECENTLY, WITH POLICE PREVENTING AN ATTACK ON CLIFTONVILLE FANS LAST WEEK SKIRMISH OUTSIDE SHOWGROUNDS FUELS FEARS OVER RESURGENCE OF GANG
A notorious Irish League hooligan firm has regrouped and are back causing matchday misery.
The Coleraine Casual Army (CCA), which holds extreme right-wing views, first appeared on the local football scene in the early 2000s.
Since then it has been involved in trouble in and around grounds throughout the country.
Their numbers were depleted when various members of the gang were apprehended and appeared before the courts.
But Sunday Life can reveal they are very much back in business again this season and have been involved in several confrontations.
Police had to protect Cliftonville fans making their way to and from Coleraine's Showgrounds stadium for last weekend's league game which the home side won 1-0.
Some of the CCA attempted to attack members of the away support as they exited the ground.
Thwarted by a heavy police presence, an eye-witness told of how he watched masked thugs run up a nearby street and through an alleyway towards a bar.
Armed with bottles, they again tried to attack some Cliftonville supporters who had to be escorted to the train station by the PSNI.
Sunday Life has also seen footage of masked members of the CCA trying to break police lines near the train station.
“It was clear the Coleraine hooligans were intent on causing mayhem,” said the eye-wtiness. “They were desperate to get at the Cliftonville fans and shouting abuse at them.
“Cliftonville obviously have replublicans among its fanbase and there was sectarian chants aimed at them.”
Disorder
The CCA has links to a number of hooligan firms in England, including Hartlepool United's Near Water Crew and West Ham United's Hammers Youth Squad (HYS).
A photo of the CCA and HYS appeared before the BetMcLean Cup final between Coleraine and Cliftonville in 2022.
West Ham hooligans have been known to travel to Northern Ireland for some high-profile games as guests of Coleraine thugs, including a Linfield clash the same year which saw serious disorder.
Cocaine is the drug of choice to fuel the fighting and similar right-wing political views bond the two sets of hooligans.
The CCA had been causing havoc at football games throughout Northern Ireland but were dealt a major blow in 2019 when several members were hauled before the courts.
The highest profile case saw 10 men appear in court for various offences following a televised Irish Cup tie at Larne.
An offensive banner with a message about refugees was displayed and sectarian chanting was heard throughout the broadcast, with the ringleaders identified.
There have been other major incidents.
In 2016, Chris Mahood became the first person in Northern Ireland to be given a four-year Football Banning Order after he was convicted of being disorderly when Coleraine entertained derby rivals Ballymena United at the Showgrounds.
Imposing the punishment, District Judge Liam McNally said he had made a finding of fact that Mahood was a “fully fledged member” of the CAA.
The son of a DUP councillor was also issued with a Football Banning Order the same year.
Aaron Fielding, whose father Mark serves on Causeway Coast and Glens council, was banned for four years and ordered not to go within a mile of any ground Coleraine were playing in, after a group of around 50 Coleraine fans confronted Linfield supporters.
In 2023, James Harvey Shaw was given a three-year banning order following an assault and violent disorder near Larne's Inver Park ground.
He was back before the courts again a short time later to be convicted of possessing two lit flares at a Ballymena match.
Death
The following year, Finlay Hedges from Portrush was banned for three years after being identified with flares at a derby game with Ballymena.
Aaron Beech, who was one of nine men jailed for his part in the 2009 sectarian attack on Kevin McDaid which led to his death, is another notorious CCA member.
In 2023, he was convicted of disorderly behaviour and resisting police after a game at Ballymena during which he was seen “in the middle of the road directing the gathered group of young supporters”.
Beech is also involved with an anti-Islam group called Our Northern Ireland Voice which plans to hold a rally in Coleraine on Easter Saturday.
Coleraine football hooligan links to the far right is not a new phenomenon — in fact they stretch back more than four decades.
As does their hatred for Cliftonville — the Reds' fanbase is drawn mainly from nationalist areas around their north Belfast home — whose fans CCA thugs tried to attack last weekend.
Some of these young thugs are being encouraged by older hooligans who were heavily involved in the racist National Front during the 1980s.
In one of the neo-Nazi group's 1985 publications, Bulldog — which was the magazine of the Young National Front — the Coleraine firm feature in its 'Racist League' table.
Positions on the table were dependent on how many copies of the Bulldog magazine were sold outside stadiums.
The fact that Coleraine hooligans feature alongside clubs like Chelsea and Millwall, which had notorious racist followings and tens of thousands more attending matches compared to the Irish League, shows the level of support the National Front had amongst fans on the north coast.
In 1983 Bulldog magazine also boasted about Coleraine followers attacking Cliftonville fans in the social club of the ground.
Many sustained serious injuries in the violence that day. Tensions had been running high in the wake of an INLA bombing in nearby Ballykelly in December 1982 which killed six civilians and 11 soldiers.
