Apprentice Boys statement a welcome sign of respect
Pro Fide, Pro Patria, Irish News, August 13th, 2025
THE annual parade organised by the Apprentice Boys to mark the anniversary of the ending of the Siege of Derry in 1689 is a uniquely challenging occasion as it involves bringing thousands of loyalists to an overwhelmingly nationalist city.
It has inevitably been surrounded by major sensitivities throughout its history, and the serious disturbances which surrounded the march in 1969 are widely regarded as one of the key elements contributing to the start of the Troubles.
Tensions subsequently remained in place for many years until patient negotiations instigated by community leaders and representatives of both Sinn Féin and the SDLP, with the late John Hume playing a prominent role, led to a new approach a quarter of a century ago.
“Positive gestures of this kind have a wider significance in our divided society, and it will also be noted that the DUP lord mayor of Belfast, Tracy Kelly, was able to show constructive leadership with her attendance at the All-Ireland Fleadh
The agreed outcome allowed the annual demonstration to regularly proceed largely without incident along a route covering Craigavon Bridge, the city centre and the Waterside, and what came to be known as the Derry model also helped to address many of the issues linked to loyalist events elsewhere.
It has always been essential that both sides behave with dignity and restraint during the gathering of Apprentice Boys, so there could only be concern when it emerged that dozens of visiting loyalists had engaged in blatantly provocative behaviour at the weekend. They disembarked from a double-decker bus in the residential Culmore Road area on Saturday and openly urinated, in full view of passing members of the public.
Firm and Swift
A firm response from the Apprentice Boys was required, and in fairness was delivered swiftly by general secretary David Hoey, who condemned the incident as “disgusting” and “unacceptable”, while making clear that every effort would be made to identify those responsible.
Mr Hoey apologised to people living on the Culmore Road, saying: “It simply shouldn’t have happened, and it has undermined all the good work that we have done over the past six months, and it is unacceptable.”
Positive gestures of this kind have a wider significance in our divided society, and it will also be noted that in a different context the DUP lord mayor of Belfast, Tracy Kelly, was able to show constructive leadership during her attendance at the All Ireland Fleadh in Wexford.
She described the festival as “absolutely fantastic”, and, while interviewed by the Irish language broadcaster TG4, stressed how much Belfast was looking forward to hosting the fleadh for the first time next year.
We have come through a difficult summer in many regards, but the contributions of both Mr Hoey and Ms Kelly indicated that displaying basic levels of respect can take us a long way.
Anger as name of PSNI officer who survived murder bid put on bonfire
Allison Morris, Belfast Telegraph, August 13th, 2025
REPUBLICAN PYRE IN DERRY SLAMMED AS 'ABHORRENT'
A placard placed on a republican bonfire in Londonderry bearing the name of a former detective who narrowly survived a murder bid has been branded “reprehensible”.
The crudely-painted board appeared on the pyre in the Bogside area over the weekend.
It includes the name of former Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell beside crosshairs. The now-retired officer was seriously injured after being shot by the New IRA at a sports pitch in Omagh, Co Tyrone, in February 2023.
Also on the board is the name of LVF leader Billy Wright, who was shot dead by the INLA in the Maze prison in 1997.
A separate board carrying the name of Sinn Fein Foyle MLA Padraig Delargy was also placed on the bonfire, stating he was “not welcome”.
It is one of two republican pyres due to be lit in the city on August 15.
Another has been erected in the Creggan area. It is linked to Saoradh, the political wing of the New IRA.
The Police Federation for Northern Ireland said: “This is a reprehensible action by people who are filled with hate and have nothing to offer the wider community. It is abhorrent and disgusting behaviour.”
The bonfires mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment without trial of republican suspects, introduced by the government in 1971.
Mr Delargy and a second Sinn Fein MLA, Ciara Ferguson, have called on statutory agencies to either remove the bonfires or mitigate the health and safety risks associated with them.
The bonfire at Meenan Square in the Bogside has held up progress on an £11m development which will include social housing, community services, retail, commercial and office space.
Apex Housing, which manages the site, said the delay in development happened after it could not find a contractor willing to remove the bonfire materials.
Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) said it had isolated an underground cable because of the risk of damage from the fire following a site visit.
The vacant Meenan Square site is to be developed as part of The Executive Office's Urban Villages Initiative, which was launched by Martin McGuinness and Arlene Foster in 2016.
The scheme was designed to “improve good relations outcomes and develop thriving places where there has been a history of deprivation and community tension”.
One man was also seriously hurt last month after falling from the bonfire.
While the fire is not officially connected with any one group, the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), which has affiliations with the INLA, is said to have “influence” on the young people responsible for building the pyre.
A statement claiming to be from the bonfire builders was posted on Facebook following criticism by Sinn Fein.
It stated: “The Bogside bonfire is not a threat — it's a message. It tells a truth that politicians don't want to hear: that this community is fed up with being policed, lectured and looked down on by those who claim to represent us.
Defiance
"The fire is not about division, it's about defiance. It's about the right of working-class people, especially young people, to take space, to be seen, and to be heard”.
It added: “Let's be honest: this is not about a bonfire. This is about control. It's about silencing a generation that Sinn Fein no longer understands and clearly no longer values.
“This is the same party that supported youth funding cuts in Derry, watched while addiction and mental health issues tore through our streets and backed PSNI 'community operations' that felt more like raids than outreach. Sinn Fein has turned its back on the grassroots. They once fought against state repression, now they help carry it out.”
A senior member of the IRSP is said to have drafted the statement that was then attributed to the mainly teenage bonfire builders.
The bonfire also makes reference to the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
One flag contains an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Dana Erlich, the former Israeli ambassador to Ireland.
It states: “If you support the genocide in Gaza, you are not welcome at this bonfire.”
Previous bonfires in Meenan Square have attracted some criticism in recent years.
The police investigated shots being fired near the site in 2022 and also investigated reports of political material — including flags and poppy wreaths — being placed on the bonfire as potential hate crimes.
Posters placed on the bonfire in 2021 referenced former PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne and one referred to the murder of Catholic police officer Ronan Kerr.
Ms Ferguson, the Foyle MLA, has condemned the bonfires, saying they are illegal and unregulated.
“Sinn Féin has called on statutory agencies to step up to either mitigate against these bonfires or remove them entirely,” she said.
“Action is needed to end the illegality, sectarianism and hate crimes these dangerous bonfires fuel.”
Outrage as drowned teen’s name daubed on bonfire
Conor Sheils, Irish News, August 13th, 2025
REPUBLICAN bonfire builders have removed a placard with the name of a Protestant teenager who drowned following a backlash.
The offensive signage atop the Creggan bonfire in Derry included the name of local teenager Kyle Bonnes who died from drowning in 2010.
The 15-year-old died on April 7 2010 after he jumped into the river at Drumahoe, on the outskirts of Derry.
Republican bonfire builders in Derry reportedly blamed local kids following a backlash despite the fact it has been 15 years since the youngster died.
Photos showing the child’s name appeared on the official Creggan bonfire social media page on Monday and still remained online last night.
The placard including the tragic youngster’s name alongside loyalist killer Billy Wright, PSNI officer John Caldwell, and another man, reportedly a local PSNI community officer in the area.
The offensive photos drew condemnation even from those who otherwise supported the bonfire.
One comment underneath read: “Lads… that’s abit much had my own run ins way Kyle but there no need for that.”
Another added: “Kyle bonnes seriously??… Wee lad drowned getting away from the cops. Coulda just as easily been one of ours. Give yer head a wobble. Someone have the decency to paint over it!!”
On a separate social media post, one commentator added: “Dont mind the others…but not a wains name.”
Republicans sent a photograph to The Irish News last night showing what appeared to be the bonfire without the offensive signage.
Republicans said they had engaged with the builders of the bonfire and that the sign containing Kyle Bonnes name had been removed.
The source added: “The builders of the bonfire said they had no idea it was there and they are blaming local kids.”
‘Winding the other side up’
However, a placard bearing the name of Sinn Féin MLA Pádraig Delargy remained atop the bonfire last night.
Waterside UUP councillor Darren Guy described the offensive signage as “pure sectarian hatred”.
“To put Kyle Bonnes’s name on it, it just re-traumatises his mother and his family. As soon as they see it, it’s in their mind all the time. It’s wrong, it’s nasty stuff. I’ve nothing against people having bonfires, but this, it cannot be condemned enough,” he said.
“It’s totally uncalled for. You know, it’s singling people out and that’s wrong. It’s wrong. You’re singling a person out who had nothing to do with anything and you’re re-traumatising the whole family. “I think it’s awful.”
Speaking more broadly about the recent violence between Catholic and Protestant youths in the city, the Ulster Unionist councillor said he believes a lot of it stems from social media.
“It’s an ever-increasing cycle where they all know one another through social media and they try to outdo one another – stealing flags, damaging monuments – you name it,” he said.
“Anything’s fair game with them. They basically try and wind the other side up. And that’s happening both sides.
“It’s just a never-ending vicious circle.
“Education is needed on both sides. We need to show that people can enjoy their own culture without offending somebody else’s.”
The incident comes just days after Irish tricolours and Palestinian flags were burned at a bonfire in Derry’s Fountain Estate over the weekend.
The bonfire was held as part of the “Relief of Londonderry 1689 celebrations” on Friday.
IRA victim's family 'disgusted' at Feile tribute - days before 50th anniversary of bar bombing
Niamh Campbell, Belfast Telegraph, August 13th, 2025
The family of a young woman killed in the Bayardo pub bombing say it is “depressing” and “disgusting” the leader of the attack was lauded at a Feile an Phobail event.
The band Shebeen played a song written by Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane in memory of hunger striker Bobby Sands during the Falls Park gig on Sunday night.
McFarlane, who died earlier this year, was sentenced to life in 1976 for his role in the attack on the Bayardo in the Shankill.
The bombing and shooting on August 13, 1975 killed five people and injured more than 60 others.
Linda Boyle (17) died as a result of her injuries one week after the atrocity.
Speaking ahead of the bombing's 50th anniversary today, Ms Boyle's family said they “can barely find the words” to express their feelings about the tribute to McFarlane.
He was the IRA's 'officer commanding' in the Maze Prison during the 1981 hunger strike, and escaped in the mass 1983 breakout.
He remained on the run until his recapture in 1986. He was released in 1997.
During Shebeen's performance his image was projected on a large screen before a crowd of 12,000.
“It's absolutely disgusting, especially as the 50th anniversary was only a few days away and those engaged in that sick tribute knew that,” Ms Boyle's family said.
‘Why do some continue to stoke the fires?’
“Why do some within this society continue to stoke the fires? Why do they want to continue to hurt the innocent? Haven't they had their pound of flesh already?
“It's so depressing that these things happen, and it's not an isolated incident.
“Almost weekly we see instances of glorification of terrorism, and what's done about it? Brief outrage and then people go back to their own lives and priorities. But what of the innocent victims of terrorism? Where do we go?
“We rejoice in how Linda lived and the values she represented, and no one will ever take that away from us.”
The family described Ms Boyle as “a stylish young woman who was caring and friendly and who had a real zest for life”.
“She would now be of retirement age and would be at a point where she should be relaxing and exploring a further chapter of life; Linda's storybook was ended before she got beyond her first chapter,” they added.
“But for the years we had her, she brought blessings to our family and to the community at large. She might have just been a girl, part of the statistics to others, but to our family she was extraordinary. She was so special to us and her murder destroyed so much in our family. Her murder extinguished so much joy, never to be fully replaced.”
DUP MLA for North Belfast, Phillip Brett, has marked the 50th anniversary of the Bayardo Bar bombing on the Shankill Road, paying tribute to the five innocent people murdered and the many others injured in the IRA attack on 13 August 1975.
A memorial service will be held on the Shankill Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday evening for Ms Boyle and the other victims of the Bayardo bar bombing.
DUP MLA Phillip Brett said spoke of the memorial, stating: “Today our community will come together to remember those whose lives were so cruelly taken in the Bayardo Bar bombing. Fifty years have passed, yet the pain for families and survivors remains as real today as it did in the immediate aftermath.
“Whilst others choose to stand with the perpetrators, we will always stand with the victims. We will never allow the past to be rewritten or the truth to be distorted. The Bayardo attack was an act of cold-blooded terrorism, and it must always be remembered as such.
“As we gather in remembrance, we reaffirm our commitment to ensuring the voices of victims are heard, their stories told, and the reality of what happened protected from those who would seek to romanticise or justify it.”
TikTok bans Belfast vigilante group's videos as PSNI labels its actions 'racism, pure and simple'
Liam Tunney and Allison Morris, Belfast Telegraph, August 13th, 2025
A TikTok account that posted footage of a vigilante-style group in east Belfast has been banned by the platform.
The Irish Bred Ulster Rared TikTok account had amassed more than 19,500 followers and over 116,000 'likes'.
Videos showing individuals aggressively confronting members of ethnic minority communities were being posted until Monday evening.
Anyone trying to access the account is now met with a message informing them it is banned.
An account with a similar name has been created, posting its first video around 3pm on Tuesday.
It comes after the PSNI condemned the activity, while Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said: “Let's be very clear... any vigilantism is wrong, it must be condemned, it has no place in Northern Ireland.”
Members of the group had suggested on social media that they had been working with police, claiming officers have publicly “thanked them” in the past.
In response the PSNI said: “Such activity is not protecting this community, it is attempting to control it. It is racism, pure and simple.”
Led by a man with a lengthy history of alleged animal cruelty, the group calling itself East Belfast First Division (EBFD) had posted multiple videos online of members approaching foreign nationals, claiming they are on “nightwatch”.
Neil Pinkerton has had dogs removed from his care and has twice been charged with causing unnecessary suffering to animals, although on both occasions he was acquitted.
In a separate incident last year he was handed a suspended sentence after a dog in his care attacked an 11-year-old child.
In 2022 Pinkerton featured in a BBC Spotlight investigation into hunting with dogs.
Following a year-long probe by the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, police raided his home and seized 12 animals being kept in cages in his garden and kitchen.
The dogs were returned to him after Belfast City Council declined to pursue criminal charges.
Members of the group have claimed online the PSNI is “working” closely with them, and on one occasion shook their hands and “thanked them” for a protest held outside a house in the Ravenhill area of Belfast.
In one clip posted online, Pinkerton is among a small crowd of men who confront a foreign national in the street and follow him home to his rented property, shouting abuse and threatening him not to leave the house again at night.
‘The colour of his skin’
In the clip an individual can be heard saying: “See men like him, I'm not calling him anything, but the colour of his skin.”
The person can also be heard making unfounded allegations, and tells the foreigner he is “best staying off the streets”.
Sinn Féin MLA Deirdre Hargey said: “Racism, racist violence and intimidation is unacceptable, wrong and it must stop immediately.
“These so called vigilante groups do not represent our society, they simply want to control communities through violence.
“Political leaders have a responsibility to show leadership, call out racism and stand with the victims of this intimidation and violence.
“I have written to the Justice Minister offering to work alongside her and the police to ensure that those responsible are held to account.
“I would also call on anyone with information to provide this to the police to assist in their investigations.”
Party colleague John O'Dowd added: “It's pure racism, and the police need to be supported in dealing with it, and the police need to deal with it.”
PSNI district commander Superintendent Gavin Kirkpatrick said: “We are aware of a number of videos circulating on social media of groups of men 'patrolling' east Belfast streets and confronting members of the public.
“I am very concerned about the actions of these groups. Their own videos show them stopping, searching and intimidating wholly innocent people, apparently based on nothing more than the colour of their skin.
“Such activity is not protecting this community, it is attempting to control it.
“I want to encourage anyone who has been confronted by these groups to come forward and report it to police. We will robustly deal with any offences reported to us.
“We will not tolerate any type of vigilante activity and I caution anyone involved in such 'patrolling' to stop.
“It is the responsibility of the police service to enforce the law in Northern Ireland. In the coming days we will be deploying additional officers to east Belfast to provide reassurance to the public and monitor the activity of these groups.”
Migrant families ‘fear taking children to sports training due to east Belfast vigilante patrols’
‘It is racism, pure and simple’ says PSNI chief with pledge to ‘robustly deal with any offences reported to us’
Conor Coyle, Irish News, August 13th, 2025
SOME migrant families are afraid to leave their homes to take children to sports training as a result of vigilante groups patrolling the streets of east Belfast, a local migrants’ charity has said.
Social media videos have surfaced in the last month showing groups of men, sometimes including women and children, patrolling the streets in the east of the city and confronting migrant men as to their behaviour and whether they live here legally.
Police are investigating one video shared on Tuesday, July 22 where a man appears to be punched on a number of occasions as he lies on the ground, and have drafted in increased patrols to deal with the groups.
Several videos show as many as a dozen people walking around areas of the east of the city, with people from one group making reference to there being “too many undocumented men” living in the area and a lack of social housing due to the number of migrants that have moved in.
Jahswill Emmanuel, chairperson of Multi Ethnic Sports and Culture Northern Ireland, based on the Ormeau Road, says migrant families are “really disturbed by what is happening”.
Mr Emmanuel, who is originally from Nigeria, has previously spoken of being the victim of a racial attack himself in 2012 which left him with a broken jaw and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“We are families that have been here for decades and are living peacefully.
“It’s not a good thing for people to be harassing people when they are on the street.
“People shouldn’t be asking people on the street for their documentation, that’s for the Home Office to do.
“Some people are really scared to leave their homes, especially the newer migrants that have just arrived here.
“I know of one family who are really scared of taking their child to football training.
‘Really scared’
“These sessions take place at night between 8pm and 9pm, and this mother is really scared about going out at that time.”
MSCNI has a goal of encouraging participation by migrant families in local sporting clubs, and promoting cultural diversity and racial harmony. Mr Emmanuel says it’s time for local representatives to deliver clear messages on the subject of racism.
“We promote people from those communities getting involved in sporting activities, so to hear that people are scared to go is just not good enough.
“It’s a time for communities to come together and talk to each other, to find solutions.
“I think our leaders should be putting out the right message and educating people about the positive things that our communities bring.”
Jahswill Emmanuel, chair of Multi Ethnic Sports and Culture NI, says migrant families are ‘really disturbed by what is happening’
The PSNI has said it will deploy extra officers on the streets in order to combat the patrols of vigilante groups on the streets, which they have described as “racism pure and simple”.
District Commander Superintendent Gavin Kirkpatrick said: “We are aware of a number of videos circulating on social media of groups of men ‘patrolling’ east Belfast streets and confronting members of the public. I am very concerned about the actions of these groups.
“Their own videos show them stopping, searching and intimidating wholly innocent people, apparently based on nothing more than the colour of their skin.
“Such activity is not protecting this community, it is attempting to control it. It is racism pure and simple.
“I want to encourage anyone who has been confronted by these groups to come forward and report it to police. We will robustly deal with any offences reported to us.
“We will not tolerate any type of vigilante activity and I caution anyone involved in such ‘patrolling’ to stop. It is the responsibility of the Police Service to enforce the law in Northern Ireland.
“In the coming days we will be deploying additional officers to east Belfast to provide reassurance to the public and monitor the activity of these groups.”
President Higgins condemns ‘despicable attacks’ on Indian people
Stephen Conneely and Conor Gallagher, Irish Times, August 13th, 2025
President Michael D Higgins has condemned recent attacks on Indian people living in Ireland as a “stark contradiction” to the values the Irish public hold dear.
Mr Higgins said any person who has been “drawn into such behaviour through manipulation or provocation is to be unequivocally condemned”, as he noted that many of the alleged perpetrators of the assaults were under the age of 18.
“Whether such provocation stems from ignorance or from malice, it is essential to acknowledge the harm that it is causing,” he said.
His statement came yesterday as An Garda Síochána began deploying additional patrols in parts of Dublin in response to the recent rise in reports of attacks on Indian nationals.
In addition to the patrols in Dublin, senior officers have been assigned to investigate the incidents reported to the force, some of which are being investigated as potential hate crimes.
Garda juvenile liaison officers have also started engaging with youth and other groups in an attempt to discourage future incidents and offer support.
Garda headquarters announced the measures in a statement yesterday. It said it “is co-ordinating activity across the country to support the Indian community” which “includes proactive engagement with the community, representative groups, and the Indian embassy”.
Garda management is also engaging with social media companies regarding the posting of videos targeting members of the Indian community and other minorities.
Mr Higgins said such attacks “diminish all of us and obscure the immeasurable benefits the people of India have brought to the life of this country”.
Of the Indian community, he said “their presence, their work, their culture, have [all] been a source of enrichment and generosity to our shared life”.
He said the people of Ireland “are all mindful of the immense contribution this community has made, and continues to make, to so many aspects of Irish life, in medicine, nursing, the caring professions, in cultural life, in business and enterprise”.
Shared experience
There were 78,000 Indian nationals living in the State in 2023, according to population estimates from the Central Statistics Office. Indian nurses accounted for a fifth of all registered nurses in Ireland last year, despite the community amounting to less than 2 per cent of the total population.
The President said when he met India’s minister of external affairs earlier this year and they “discussed how much our histories share the experience of paths towards independence”.
“Ireland has long been shaped by migration, both outward and inward,” he said. “Those who left our shores carried our culture and values into faraway lands, often depending on the generosity of strangers.”
Adams claimed fraud law excluded voters - SF gave electoral Office were dead people
Sam McBride, Belfast Telegraph, August 13th, 2025
SINN FEIN 'OUTRAGE' MANUFACTURED IN EFFORT TO SAVE FACE WITH BASE, CLAIMED GOVERNMENT ADVICE
Gerry Adams furiously complained to Tony Blair about voters being taken off the electoral register — but when Sinn Fein handed over names to the Government, some of them proved to be dead, declassified files show.
There have been longstanding allegations of vote stealing by both sides in Northern Ireland elections, going back decades. Some of those claims were so serious that they led to the law being changed.
Writing in The Independent in 2002, the journalist and author David McKittrick said that vote-stealing had been going on from the inception of Northern Ireland, on both sides of the communal divide “but the entry of Sinn Fein to the political arena in the early Eighties shattered all the old patterns”.
He said: “The republicans, according to other parties, simply stole every vote they could get their hands on. In a 1982 poll, more than 700 people arrived at polling stations to find their vote had already been cast. The following year there were almost 1,000 such cases, and 149 arrests of alleged personators.”
As recently as 2017, the SDLP used Parliamentary privilege to allege that Sinn Fein had stolen votes to unseat Mark Durkan as MP for Foyle — something Sinn Fein denied.
Among thousands of pages in Government files declassified at The National Archives in Kew are several documents which refer to concerns about the integrity of elections in Northern Ireland in the early 2000s.
In a meeting with the Secretary of State on 11 September 2001, SDLP leader John Hume said: “At the last election, there had been a huge problem of voting fraud in West Tyrone, Fermanagh and South Tyrone and Mid Ulster.
“In terms of votes cast, the SDLP had achieved roughly the same number of votes as in earlier elections, but the Sinn Fein vote had increased. This had been largely due to malpractice and needed to be tackled.”
In fact, electoral records show this is wrong and the SDLP vote declined markedly in each of those seats.
However, NIO minister Des Browne admitted that there was a significant problem with voter fraud. He told the SDLP that “there was a problem with the quality of staff at polling stations which needed to [be] addressed if the issue of personation was to be tackled.
“However, the more significant problems were multiple registration and abuse of postal votes. He would be happy to meet the SDLP to discuss these issues.”
‘Moral Quagmire’
SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon told the NIO ministers that “the parties to the Agreement had created a 'moral quagmire' for the greater good. The two governments and the other parties were having to swim in the quagmire whilst Sinn Fein 'poked their finger in our eyes'.”
Just over a year later, a new electoral register was published in November 2002 — the first to emerge following the introduction of the Electoral Fraud Act.
As a consequence, there were 132,000 fewer people on the new register.
The Government believed that one of the reasons for this was that “the anti-fraud measures we have put in place have been effective in discouraging a number of fraudulent voters from registering”, an official wrote.
However, Sinn Fein was very unhappy.
Gerry Adams wrote twice to Tony Blair within a couple of weeks to raise the issue. He claimed that despite an additional 57,000 young people who'd become eligible to vote, “in some areas up to 80% of such young people have not been registered”.
He also claimed that the new measures were “restrictive” and “have impacted mainly on working class” areas. Adams said he had raised the issue at a number of meetings with the Chief Electoral Officer.
Adams wanted voter registration forms to be “available to political parties” and “specific support... for voters with literacy difficulties”.
However, the NIO gave the Prime Minister a very different view of what it said had been going on.
In a 12 February 2003 letter to Downing Street, the Secretary of State's private secretary, Duncan Gilchrist, said: “It is our view, supported by information on the ground, that Sinn Fein are isolated on this issue.
“All of the other parties have no complaints about the register and, in fact, a number of party officials and election agents have commented that it is the most accurate register yet published.
“Sinn Fein has been hurt the most with the drop off in numbers and they know it, the other parties know it, hence the manufactured outrage to try and keep face with their electorate.
“Sinn Fein has sent the Chief Electoral Officer lists of names of people who they claim have not been registered. The Electoral Office has tried to contact all of these people. In many cases they no longer live at the address given, and in other cases the people are dead.
“Adams met with the Chief Electoral Officer on 10 February and surprisingly he did not discuss the issues raised in his letter. We think this is due to realism setting in.”
We should be building bridges – not constitutional soapboxes
Mike Nesbitt, Irish News, August, 8th, 2025
WHEN was the last time a mainstream republican described Northern Ireland as a “failed, ungovernable statelet”? That particular trope was never true but it is harder to promote when you are at the head of the government.
For the first time in Northern Ireland’s history, everyone has accepted they have a reason to make this place work, and that is where I see hope.
Restoring hope is such an important political objective. It’s what the Ulster Unionist Party delivered in 1998 with an agreement that is still the envy of so many countries in conflict.
While I fully respect the right of anyone to raise the issue of constitutional change, I believe the vast majority share my conviction that Northern Ireland and its citizens are much better served by remaining as part of the United Kingdom. The lesson of Brexit is that constitutional change can be destabilising, confusing and ultimately disappointing.
The Belfast Agreement, an internationally recognised accord, endorsed by overwhelming majorities north and south, is an agreement that recognises and protects the constitutional status of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom unless and until the people, democratically, decide otherwise. That yielded the sort of hope and stability people had dreamed of for decades.
Restoring hope through prosperity is my party’s agenda, best done through our continued membership of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. True, our public services might not be in the best shape ever, but healthcare is still free to access. You may wonder why proudly socialist parties want to join with a government that charges its citizens for an appointment with their GP, or where there are tolled roads and where plans are in place to charge households for water supply and wastewater services for excess use.
Then again, maybe that’s no surprise when you recall Gerry Adams made his American debut in 1994 in that hotbed of socialism, the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in downtown Manhattan. Dual standards are not uncommon, with policies resisted here but enforced in the Republic.
When there is an analysis of whether it is better to be an integral part of the United Kingdom or in an all-Ireland state, my opinion is absolutely clear and I would argue that any rational assessment would come out in favour of being part of the union of the United Kingdom.
Constructive debates
There are many constructive debates that could be made, and while the Republic of Ireland economy has flourished on occasions, as part of the UK we are part of the sixth largest economy in the world. We are also strategic partners in the defence of democracy, a critical factor in this increasingly fragile world where some argue war is more a question of when, not if.
I fully accept that others will take a different viewpoint and attitude, that is their right to do so, provided they carry that out through their discussions, debates and pressure groups, not through the violence that has been so destructive for the community and individual families.
Another trope that lacks credibility is the notion of pure Brits and pure Gaels. The history of these islands is so complex and interwoven that we are mostly hybrid models. It is estimated that as many as six million people living in the UK have an Irish-born grandparent (around 10% of the UK population).
A previous UK census states that 869,093 people born in Ireland are living in Great Britain. Many went on to become household names -Terry Wogan, Graham Norton, Roy Keane. The list isn’t endless but it’s very long and demonstrates many Irish recognise the greater opportunities and benefits of being part of the United Kingdom as opposed to remaining in the Republic. Professor Jack Foster is an expert in this field, his writings are readily accessible.
What drives the constitutional change agenda is a complicated mix. I do not doubt some are entirely well-meaning, if erroneous about the economic and political benefits. Others follow their hearts, but for some it smacks of anti-Britishness. People of my age and background grew up in the face of a repeated cry of “Brits Out!” – hardly the epitome of reconciliation and relationship building. It seems perverse that the cry is now “Brits In!” especially when constitutional change could see pro-British parties hold the balance of power in the Irish parliament.
It is no coincidence the first commitment in the 1998 Agreement is to building relationships. Recognising that diversity is at the core of our humanity was at the heart of John Hume’s single transferable speech.
I’m sure the Sinn Féin single transferable speech about longing for a united Ireland will continue, but every reasoned argument is in favour of Northern Ireland remaining part of the stronger and popular, even among Irish citizens, UK.
We should all focus on building bridges between communities — not constitutional soapboxes.
