Babies evacuated as car bomb went off at PSNI station

CONOR COYLE, Irish News, April 27th, 2026

THERE has been widespread condemnation after two babies were among a number of people who were being evacuated from their homes when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to a police station in Belfast on Saturday night.

A delivery driver’s car was hijacked in the nearby Twinbrook area of west Belfast shortly before 11pm and had a gas cylinder placed inside the boot before being driven to Dunmurry PSNI station.

The station’s attack alarm was raised after the vehicle was abandoned outside, triggering the evacuation of nearby homes.

However, during the process of the evacuation, the car exploded.

The PSNI has launched an attempted murder investigation following the car bomb, which a senior officer says he believes the New IRA may have been responsible for after a similar incident at a police station in Lurgan earlier this month. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Residents of nearby properties reported hearing a loud explosion after 11pm on Saturday, while the PSNI mounted an operation in the Summerhill Drive area of Twinbrook yesterday, which they say was linked to the bomb attack.

Senior PSNI figures have described the car bomb attack as “senseless” and “idiotic”, while the First and Deputy First ministers have issued a joint statement condemning the incident.

According to the force, a number of officers who were on duty in the police station at the time left the building in order to evacuate residents from a nearby street.

Many of those were escorted back into the station for shelter before the bomb detonated.

No warning

A delivery driver’s car was hijacked in the Twinbrook area and had a gas cylinder placed inside its boot before being driven to Dunmurry PSNI station where it exploded

The PSNI confirmed there had been no warning issued prior to the attack.

Speaking about the attack, Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said: “The vehicle was abandoned outside the front of the station and police personnel immediately activated the station’s attack alarm.

“Police officers immediately and courageously ran into danger, placing themselves in harm’s way, and evacuated nearby homes to protect the community.

“A number of residents, including two babies, were being taken to safety by officers when the device exploded, engulfing the vehicle in flames and sending debris in all directions.

“What this type of device may have lacked in terms of its sophistication and scale, it more than made up for in its reckless unpredictability.

“Thanks to the swift actions of police, no one has been injured, which is nothing short of miraculous.”

The senior officer said he was confident that his officers had done the right thing by moving residents to the station whole the bomb exploded.

“Police officers have to make split second decisions, not only on their own safety but that of members of the public.

“I’m confident officers made the right decision in trying to get those people evacuated from their homes and into the relative security that was offered by the station.

“It’s the recklessness, the madness of those that put this device into this setting, deployed it against police and into a residential area that has created this risk.”

DCC Singleton described the attack as “senseless and reckless” and said the force “won’t allow those who are intent on dragging us backward to succeed”.

“Our thoughts today are with all those affected by this cowardly attack, the delivery driver for whom this will have been an extremely traumatic experience, residents who are still unable to return to their homes, our courageous officers and of course their families, who will be grateful their loved ones are safe, but will undoubtedly have been left shaken by the ordeal.

“I want to reassure our community that the Police Service of Northern Ireland will not be deterred or distracted by last night’s senseless and reckless attack.

“We’ve made great progress as a society and we won’t allow those who are intent on dragging us backward to succeed.

“Instead we’ll continue to work with our communities to protect them from harm.

“We have commenced an attempted murder investigation which will be led by our Terrorism Investigation Unit and I would appeal to anyone who may have seen the hijacked vehicle in the Twinbrook area before 11pm to contact us.

Asked what impact the continued attacks would have on the recruitment of officers to the PSNI, he said the actions of officers at the scene could serve to inspire others to join.

“Police officers know what they sign up for here, and I would just re-emphasize and reassure the public that the PSNI won’t even break stride in terms of the work that it’s doing in order to protect our communities.

“We’ve recently had a campaign and there’s no shortage of people here willing to stand up and step forward in support of their communities and who want to work to protect them.

“So my hope would be that , if anything, this will inspire more people to potentially take that step.”

The Lisburn Road leading to Kingsway in Dunmurry remained closed on Sunday evening while forensic officers combed the scene outside the police station for evidence.

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said: “These mindless idiots wantonly risked the lives of local residents including very young children.

“This was an attack against the very society that so many people have strived to achieve.

Representatives from across the political spectrum rushed to condemn those behind the incident on Sunday, including a joint statement from Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly.

“Those behind this reckless attack have put lives in danger and shown a total disregard for the local community,” Ms O’Neill said.

“Our thoughts are with the delivery driver who was put through an extremely terrifying ordeal as well as those residents who had to be evacuated.

“It is extremely fortunate that nobody was killed or seriously injured by the selfish actions of those who have nothing to offer our society.”

Bombers on learning curve

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said: “Those responsible for this despicable attack put lives at risk. I have no doubt all right-thinking people will reject this sort of behaviour and see it as a cowardly attempt to try and drag us all backwards.

“We would like to commend the police officers for their swift response to this incident, their courage in the face of danger ensured local residents were protected.”

Secretary of State Hilary Benn described the attack as a “cowardly attempt to cause injury and destruction”.

“By targeting a police station in the heart of a residential area, those responsible have shown a total disregard for the lives of local people and for the men and women who work to keep our communities safe,” Mr Benn said.

Justice minister Naomi Long described the attack as “unconscionable” and carried out by “a small minority who offer nothing but devastation and destruction”.

SDLP leader Claire Hanna said it was “a shocking and dangerous attack in a residential area, and it is only by luck that no one was killed or seriously injured.”

UUP MLA Doug Beattie said the attack “showed a level of learning” among dissident republicans as it appeared a timer device had been successfully deployed after another device failed to detonate in Lurgan last month.

Speaking at the scene of the bomb attack, West Belfast MP Paul Maskey said young families being evacuated from the site when the bomb went off were “terrified” and issued a direct message to those responsible.

“People in this community are saying quite clearly to those involved, to get off the backs of our community. What you’re doing here is not wanted, you could have hurt someone last night, you could have killed someone,” Mr Maskey said.

“It’s a small street beside the police station where young families were being evacuated when the explosion occurred. To me we are very, very lucky here that no one was seriously hurt or killed.”

Dissidents strike twice in weeks... this intelligence failure needs to be scrutinised

ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, April 27th, 23026

ANALYSIS

Surrounded by bars and fast food takeaways, the area around Dunmurry police station is a busy stretch of road on any weekend.

It was the first sunny weekend of the year, with people out socialising — but on Saturday night, a bomb exploded just yards from the PSNI station gates.

The bombers followed an almost identical modus operandi to those who tried to attack Lurgan police station last month.

A delivery driver was hijacked, threatened, and told to drive the bomb to the station. On arrival, he raised the alarm and an emergency operation kicked in to evacuate nearby homes before the bomb exploded.

The clear night meant the blast was heard from quite a distance away.

The aftermath was documented by my colleague, Kevin Scott, who was one of the first on the scene.

The attack was no doubt the work of the New IRA — the only organisation still attacking security force targets. The claim of responsibility will soon follow.

The attack has been condemned across the political divide, as would be expected.

It coincided with Sinn Féin's ard fheis taking place in Belfast city centre, having been held in Athlone for the last few years.

Animosity

Those who bombed Dunmurry have as much animosity for the party as they do for those inside the heavily fortified station.

Diverting any publicity away from the annual gathering to the aftermath of the attack is a bonus for the armed dissidents.

The explosion also raises serious questions for intelligence agencies.

Currently, the joint intelligence budget for both MI5 and MI6 is just under £5bn. It was previously estimated that the MI5 spend for Northern Ireland was around 20% of its overall budget.

Given the advancements in technology and the previous levels of infiltration of the New IRA, there has clearly been a serious gap in intelligence when it comes to the current security situation and threat level.

Since Operation Arbacia — the MI5 sting that led to the arrest of the alleged leadership of the organisation in 2020 — there appeared to be a complacency, an assumption that the threat was eliminated.

However, history has shown that violence comes in cycles.

More scrutiny

That was a lesson learned the hard way when the New IRA attempted to murder detective John Caldwell in Omagh in February 2023.

There was little activity by that organisation until it claimed a proxy bomb at Lurgan police station last month. Given that attack was just weeks ago, you would expect the PSNI and intelligence services to be on high alert.

However, the much more powerful device left at the door of Dunmurry station was another example of the intelligence services being caught off guard.

Take away any peripheral support, and there are only handfuls of armed and active dissidents, living in small pockets in Northern Ireland.

In recent years, their membership has changed. Many of the older members have stepped away, some have even penned online articles speaking to the futility of ongoing armed actions.

The New IRA continue to recruit and pose a threat, but given how small they are as a group, it seems unbelievable that they continue to catch the authorities by surprise.

Their actions are increasingly risky, and should they continue, it is only a matter of time before a life is lost, at which stage it is too late for political condemnation. Harsh words can't undo that harm.

Those who are carrying out these attacks should come out and explain what their long-term strategy is, because it's hard to see what Saturday night's attack — beyond the generation of headlines — really achieved.

But the millions spent in intelligence to protect the people of Northern Ireland also requires further political scrutiny, given it has failed twice in under two months.

Residents say they 'don't want to return to dark days of Troubles'

JESSICA RICE, Belfast Telegraph, April 27th, 2026

Despite the unusually sunny weather in Belfast over the weekend, many residents of Twinbrook in the west of the city chose to remain indoors yesterday.

On Saturday night, a delivery driver was hijacked close to Summerhill Drive and forced to drive a gas cylinder device to Dunmurry police station.

The car exploded outside the station shortly after being left there. No one was injured, but a number of residents were evacuated.

It echoes a security alert in Lurgan last month, in which a car bomb failed to explode. Police believe the New IRA are connected to both incidents.

One Twinbrook resident was woken by the explosion and was unable to get back to sleep, staying awake to hear the police arriving in the area at around 4am.

They were initially confused by the heavy police presence in the normally “quiet and easy-going” area, and were worried something may have happened to their neighbours.

The Belfast Telegraph understands those responsible hid the device in a pile of discarded fencing and waited in an alleyway, far from CCTV, before hijacking the driver and placing the device in his boot.

One resident whose home backs onto the alleyway told us he woke to the noise of police officers “rummaging” through his bin in search of evidence. Officers remained in the area until lunchtime yesterday.

Despite not wanting to be named, residents were eager to condemn those responsible.

“We don't want to return to the dark days” was a sentiment shared by many residents this newspaper spoke to in both Twinbrook and Dunmurry.

Several pensioners live close to the homes that were evacuated. Having lived through the Troubles, they were firm in the belief that “no one” supports a return to violence.

Comparisons have been drawn to a January 1988 incident when the IRA planted a 250lb bomb in a hijacked taxi outside Dunmurry RUC station.

Three civilians and three police officers were injured in the blast which destroyed the station's protective wall, wrecked cars, and shattered windows in a nearby shopping centre at the time.

One eyewitness who was outside on Saturday night and heard the explosion said it was a “flashback” to bombs he had heard in the past.

Police informed him several minutes before the explosion that there was an “ongoing security alert”.

“When it went off, we didn't know it was a car, we didn't know what was happening,” he said.

“We heard one big boom and then some more smaller explosions, which now I'd say was probably the wheels of the car or something. But we didn't know what it was, so we didn't know if there was more to come.”

Yesterday morning, Dunmurry residents seemed more frustrated by the road closure than concerned by the New IRA's alleged actions.

“It's just frustrating I couldn't get to Tesco, it means I have to go to Lisburn now to do a shop,” one resident said.

Police have urged anyone with information surrounding the incident to come forward. 

Bombers have no support for reckless attempts to kill

Pro Fide et Patria, Irish News, April 27th, 2026

IT is clear that those who forced a delivery driver to transport a device to a police station in Belfast on Saturday night were entirely reckless as to whether police or nearby residents, young or old, were killed or injured.

The car was hijacked in the Twinbrook area and had a gas cylinder placed inside the boot before being ordered to drive to Dunmurry PSNI station.

Thankfully, the station’s attack alarm was raised after the vehicle was abandoned outside.

Police officers are to be praised for their efforts to immediately evacuate nearby homes, despite placing themselves in danger.

However, Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said several residents, including two babies, were in the process of being taken to safety when the device exploded, “engulfing the vehicle in flames and sending debris in all directions”.

“ Whatever our differences in society, the community is united in a desire not to return to the dark days of the past and that message must go out loud and clear at every opportunity to those still intent on evil deeds

He said it was “miraculous” that no-one was injured, given the reckless unpredictability of the bomb, and it is indeed very fortunate that we are not talking about fatalities today.

There are close similarities between the latest attack and one at a police station in Lurgan earlier this month.

Then, a delivery driver was also told by armed and masked men that he would be killed if he did not drive a device placed in the car boot to the station.

Described as a “crude but viable improvised explosive device”, it did not explode but posed a clear risk to the driver, police and local community, and its destruction caused significant disruption to residents in the town.

The dissident republican group known as the New IRA later claimed responsibility, and is suspected to be behind the Dunmurry car bomb at the weekend.

There has been widespread condemnation of the latest no-warning attack, including a welcome joint statement from the First and Deputy First Ministers.

It was undoubtedly a traumatic experience for the delivery driver and those forced to leave their homes, as well as the police officers who were presumably the main target.

What anyone hopes to achieve by such mindless violence is difficult to fathom, although no doubt some kind of twisted logic will attempt to be applied.

However, almost three decades after the Good Friday Agreement, it is obvious that those responsible have no support whatsoever for the actions and need to be removed from the streets before they succeed in their mission to cause death or serious injury.

Whatever our differences in society, the community is united in a desire not to return to the dark days of the past and that message must go out loud and clear at every opportunity to those still intent on evil deeds.

Tories to vote against Northern Ireland Troubles Bill 

HELEN CORBETT, Belfast Telegraph, April 27th, 2026

The legislation would repeal and replace the controversial Legacy Act introduced by the previous Conservative government, ending the immunity scheme brought in under the law that was ruled unlawful in the courts.

Labour's Bill, agreed as part of a joint framework with the Irish government, will put in place a reformed Legacy Commission with enhanced powers.

MPs have already backed a remedial order which removed the measures in the previous Act providing conditional immunity from prosecutions for Troubles-era crimes in exchange for co-operation with a truth recovery body, as well as scrapping a bar on future legacy compensation cases.

The Tories will seek to block efforts today to bring the proposed legislation into the next parliamentary session, which is due to begin after the King's Speech on May 13. Labour's huge majority in the Commons means it is unlikely they will stop the Bill being taken forward.

Sir Keir Starmer has sought to ease concerns raised by armed forces and veterans communities that Labour's Bill will leave those who served in Northern Ireland open to vexatious litigation.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said last week that “additional protections and reassurances” for veterans would be added when the Bill returns to Parliament, while also insisting there is no such thing as “vexatious” prosecutions.

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Alex Burghart said: “The Government must kill this Bill and end its hounding of our brave veterans.

“This Bill will reopen vexatious litigation against those who courageously served during the Troubles and laid the foundation for peace.

“The Conservatives have led the fight against this Bill. We have been unequivocally clear: we completely oppose this and will move immediately to reverse it if we return to Government.”

Labour said its proposed legislation was the only viable way to give victims and their families answers, and said that safeguards for veterans would be strengthened when the Bill returns and is scrutinised at committee stage.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Conservatives' failed Legacy Act made undeliverable promises on immunity and has been repeatedly rejected by the courts. It created false expectations, legal uncertainty and delays for victims, survivors and veterans alike.”

‘I know there’s a missing link – there is definitely something more’

CONNLA YOUNG CRIME AND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, Irish News, April 27th, 2028

THE heartbroken daughter of a woman who disappeared during a trip to the shops more than 30 years ago believes her mother may have been murdered.

Sheila Whyte vanished without explanation after leaving her home in Holywood, Co Down, on May 2 1993.

The 47-year-old was never seen alive again.

Her car was found at a caravan Park near Ballywalter, Co Down, a day later, with her handbag and other belongings still on the passenger seat.

Her bruised and lacerated remains were discovered on a beach at Groomsport eight days later, on May 10.

A 1993 inquest reached an open verdict.

While it was suspected the mother-of-two may have taken her own life, her daughter suspects she may have been killed.

The caravan site where Sheila’s car was discovered is close to where Lisa Dorrian went missing without a trace in 2005.

Ms Dorrian is believed to have been murdered, although her body has never been found.

Despite the official findings, Sheila’s daughter Andrea Whyte, who was aged just 17 when her mother died, has always believed the circumstances of her disappearance and death have never been fully explained or investigated.

In 2021, the Police Ombudsman said police records relating to the investigation into her mother’s death had been lost or destroyed.

Family suspicions were heightened two years later when the PSNI refused to provide the grieving daughter with documents linked to the unexplained case, saying they could ‘Neither Conform Nor Deny’ they hold any information.

NCND is often used by state agencies to withhold information when there may be ‘national security’ concerns.

While Shelia disappeared during the Troubles, no link to the conflict has ever been publicly declared.

Andrea also reveals that recent attempts to secure documents relating to her mother’s inquest from the Coroners Office have been unsuccessful.

ICRIR

In recent years, the PSNI has directed her to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), body set up by the British government to deal with Troubles-related killings. The ICRIR later rejected the case. The devoted daughter has described her mother as a woman with “a gentle, warm, welcoming nature”.

“My friends were always popping in to tell her all their problems, she was a great listener, her cooking, her baking talents, she was a true carer and a greater feeder,” she said.

Andrea tells how her mother taught her life skills, including how to cross stitch and play the piano – talents she continues to use.

“She was very humble but fierce when she saw social injustice. She hated any injustices of any kind, she was humanitarian and always supported the underdog.”

She recalls how her mother, a woman of routine, always prepared a family meal on Sunday.

“Dinner was always on the table, six o’clock, Sunday, it was just the usual,” she said.

“And I went out with my friends, did a dander down the beach….came back and she wasn’t there.

“No mum, no dinner, it was just a bit out of character, unusual.”

Andrea reveals that she began to become increasingly concerned.

“A wee bit of time went by, and I did start to panic,” she said.

“I thought, ‘she always leaves a note’, like if she was going out, I thought,’ was she in with a neighbour’? “The car wasn’t there. “As time went by, I just started to panic and rang the entire phone book.”

She tells how she felt ‘something wasn’t right’ and local hospitals were contacted as the evening wore on.

Her father, Campbell Whyte, who had been away for the weekend, arrived home at around 10.30pm and he contacted police at around 1am.

Mr Whyte is a former director at Rathgael Training School and Young Offenders Centre in Bangor, Co Down.

The following day, Sheila’s abandoned car was discovered parked between two caravans at Springvale Caravan Park, near Ballywalter.

However, with no sign of Sheila, a large search and rescue operation was put in place.

This was eventually called off when her remains were found on a beach at Groomsport, around 10 miles from Ballywalter, over a week after she vanished.

Andrea explains how her mother had no connection to the Ballywalter caravan site and recalls how police “fingerprint dust” was still on the Volkswagen Golf car, which was owned by her father, when it was recovered.

Tidal patterns

Significantly, media reporting from the time reveals that experts believed the short time it took the body to be recovered made it unlikely Shiela could have entered the water in the area where the car was found.

They said tides in the area would have taken the body in a southerly direction, as opposed to the north, where it was found.

It was reported at the time that people involved in the original search believed Sheila’s body had entered the water in the Bangor area.

During the search, there had been reports of sightings, including one at the home of Sheila’s mother on the day she went missing.

While some sightings were false, Andrea reveals that her grandmother, Elizabeth Chambers, who has since died, remained “adamant” that her daughter Sheila had visited her unoccupied home the day she vanished.

Andrea said her grandmother believed Sheila “had been taken”.

“She was the one who definitely never went with a suicide narrative until the day she died,” Andrea said.

She said that while her own family phone records were obtained by police, she believes her grandmother’s were not.

“I always kept an open mind, especially as the years had gone on, but I knew it wasn’t an accident,” she said.

“I just thought she was murdered, and I was just terrified.

“I was in the house then on my own, thinking, well, what next?”

Mr Whyte said some of the few documents she has been able to access over the years include her mother’s post-mortem results.

“She was covered in bruises and lacerations, and it haunts me,” she said.

“Because everyone tells me dead people don’t bruise.”

Andrea maintains the manner of Sheila’s disappearance was out of character.

“She didn’t accidentally go down there (Ballywalter), she didn’t know anyone there, she wasn’t a walker, and she wasn’t depressed,” she said.

“Even the coroner couldn’t rule suicide.

“There was no suggestion of that.”

Open verdict

Andrea revealed how in the weeks before her mother died, she had been followed by an unknown man and the night before she disappeared, she had checked the windows at her family home.

She believes there was foul play in her mother’s death.

“I do….the coroner couldn’t rule that out, you know, that’s why it was left an open verdict,” she said.

“The one thing I 100% always knew was, it was never an accident,” she added.

Andrea said the lack of information about her mother’s death has had a negative impact over the past three decades.

“You can’t grieve properly,” she said.

“You can’t move on.

“It’s just like being tortured over a long period of time.

“And being hit with no answers again.

“Or, being made to feel like you’re the problem for asking even.”

The loving daughter strongly believes that her mother “didn’t get a proper police investigation” when she died, which was during the Troubles.

She has now made a passionate appeal for anyone with information to come forward.

“I want to basically appeal for people to come forward with information about what they know,” she said. “Because there’s a missing link. “There is definitely something more. “And I think someone may hold a clue to that – but maybe didn’t come forward in the past for whatever reason, their own reasons.

“Things may have changed over the years and they are in a position to help.

“A member of the public who was in the caravan park at Ballywalter at the time, a retired police officer who may know something, or members of the search team – someone might remember something that can help now.”

Katie Simpson Trust

She has been supported in her search for answers by The Katie Trust, which was set up last year in the name of murder victim Katie Simpson.

The 21-year-old died in hospital six days after an incident at Lettershandoney, Co Derry, in August 2020.

At the time, the PSNI wrongly treated her death as a suicide before a murder probe was eventually launched.

The trust is led by retired PSNI detective sergeant James Brannigan. He said the ICRIR referred Andrea to the group.

“We share the concerns of Andrea, her mother disappeared many years ago and there’s seems to be no record available in relation to the disappearance,” he said.

“Questions remain about how she ended up where she did from where she was reported to have entered the water.

“It warrants a further investigation by the police.”

Mr Brannigan said The Katie Trust now intends to engage the services of a tidal flow expert and is currently working with a second forensic pathologist to review the post-mortem report.

“Andrea has questions over the diagnosis of drowning and we at The Katie Trust know that drowning is the diagnosis of exclusion.

“We first must look at how did she get into the water and why could she not get out of the water.”

If anyone has information about Sheila Whyte’s disappearance and death they are asked to contact The Katie Trust at

info@ thekatietrust.com

‘A scourge upon this society’

KIRSTY KING, Irish News, April 27th, 2026

THE brother of murder victim Natalie Mc-Nally was among the speakers at a rally against gender violence in Belfast on Saturday.

The number of femicides in Northern Ireland since 2020 reached 30, following the murder of 28-year-old Amy Doherty in Derry last month.

Organised by the feminist group ROSA NI, large crowds marched behind the ‘Not One More’ rally from the courts at Chichester Street to Belfast City Hall.

Speaking at the rally, Brendan McNally said: “Natalie was one of 30 women in Northern Ireland who have lost their lives since 2020. The 30 women we are here to honour today.

“This is a rate of femicide that is a scourge upon this society.

“Each case shows its own terrible circumstances, but we must look to the greater themes that they as a whole reveal.

“This is very much a male issue and time and time again we see the same behaviours and mentalities.”

Mr McNally continued: “Going forward, we must invigorate education, raise voices and continue to support the women-led movements for justice and change and continue to ask the good people of Northern Ireland to do the same.”

Natalie McNally (32) was 15 weeks pregnant when she was killed at her Lurgan home in December 2022. Her former boyfriend, Stephen McCullagh (36) was found guilty of her murder last month. McCullagh had tried to create a false alibi by livestreaming a pre-recorded video-gaming session.

Sonya McMullan from Women’s Aid also spoke at the rally, calling on the assembly to have a specific offence for femicide.

“We demand a full-life term of imprisonment,” she said.

“We need zero tolerance and we owe it to each and every woman in the whole island of Ireland, for all of those women who have died, for their families, for their loved ones, their sisters, their daughters, their mothers, their grandmothers.

“I don’t want to have to stand here anymore and see families and be at vigils.

“We have to take a zero tolerance and each and every one of you need to use your voice.”

Other speakers at the event included Mel Bradley from Alliance For Choice Derry, Hazel Behan from the organisation Éist and Fiona Ferguson from People Before Profit.

No mention of rebellion at Sinn Féin bash

Miriam Lord, Irish Times, April 27th, 2026

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald spent ard feis stressing unity

The party leader wasn’t worried. “There is a great pep in our step,” proclaimed Mary Lou McDonald on day two of her party’s ardfheis in Belfast.

And why wouldn’t there be?

Sinn Féin loves a good rebellion. When it comes to rattling on about rebellion, they can talk forever. It’s their happy place. So the party leader wasn’t a bit worried about this talk of rumblings of rebellion over her leadership.

Mary Lou says this is down to the media trying to find a story when “there isn’t a story there”. It’s merely lingering in the atmosphere like an unpleasant smell.

Even if anything were to happen, not that it is, it would be a matter for the wonderful grassroots. “The membership are in the driving seat and that’s the way we like it and that’s the way it’s going to remain,” she declared.

(But only every second year now rather than annually. That’s the way the ruling Ard Comhairle would like it.)

As for these reported mutinous mutterings and Mary Lou’s failure to get her preferred candidate on to the ticket in a byelection in her own constituency, does it mean that, perhaps, her authority as leader is slipping?

“No, far from it. I actually believe this is a sign that we function democratically.”

Not that there is a sign of anything, obviously.

“One of the great things about Sinn Féin is that every year at each ardfheis, the leadership is elected by the membership, that’s how we operate and myself and Michelle [O’Neill] will be re-elected at this ardfheis.”

She said this on Saturday morning.

The night before, the party’s ruling body, or Ard Comhairle, proposed that its “supreme governing body”, otherwise known as the ardfheis, should cease being an annual event.

In the case of emergencies, the ruling body would remain empowered to call an “extraordinary” meeting of the supreme governing body.

So, the yearly ardfheis is not such a great thing with the top brass.

Existential

A speaker representing the youth wing of the party described it as “insulting and unacceptable”. For Ógra Shinn Féin, it was not a “logistical or financial motion” but “an existential one”. But maybe the richest political party in the country is feeling the pinch. Venues like the ICC Belfast, on the banks of the River Lagan, don’t come cheap.

The glossy programme, along with screens around the venue, invited delegates to scan a QR code and donate the princely sum of £2 to the cause.

One delegate from Tipperary could hardly believe the Ard Comhairle’s proposal.

“We’re going to increase democracy by giving the members less time to come together?” The rightly indignant grassroots shot down the motion. But thanks to their votes, Mary Lou’s prediction came to pass. Both she and her vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, were duly re-elected.

Which was neither here nor there. Heaves don’t happen under microphones and television lights in front of a thousand people.

When facing journalists on Saturday, the questions were mainly about her leadership. Colleagues clustered around her, determinedly radiating a brittle sweetness and light as Mary Lou stressed that she still enjoys broad support within the party.

She is known for being direct and forceful with her words and yet, when it was put to her that her authority may be slipping, the reply wasn’t as smooth or categoric as would be expected.

Are things changing?

“No, it’s, it’s well, I – I believe and I know that we are a very, very united party, we are a strong party and we will motor on and get our work done.”

If questions about her leadership were in the ether for a while, it was a piece written by Jennifer Bray of the Sunday Times late in the week that brought the issue to the fore.

Not that anybody was giving these rumours a second thought. Whether they are true or baseless, a party conference packed with party faithful very publicly toeing the party line is not the place to find the answer.

In the afternoon, Mary Lou materialised on the first floor beside the cafeteria and exhibition areas. She may have intended to go on a walkabout, but she didn’t get very far because she was held up at every step by well-wishers clamouring for selfies and group photos.

This didn’t look like a woman under pressure.

She was joined by Michelle O’Neill and Cllr Janice Boylan, the candidate eventually chosen to fight the Dublin Central byelection despite the party leader having endorsed a different prospect for the seat.

Gillian Sherratt, who lost out in the selection process, joined them in a show of unity.

The party is always proud of the large number of international delegates who attend the annual gathering from all parts of the globe.

Sudan and Peace Process

Cutting quite a dash in his Stetson hat was the imposing figure of Gony Sharif, a university lecturer from Texas. He told us that while he has lived for over 30 years in the Lone Star State, he is originally from Sudan.

“As you know, there is a war going on there and I’m really trying to get as much help as we can to start the peace process and rebuild Sudan and bring it back to the family of nations.”

He has talked to leading Sinn Féin members about the party’s role in the peace process and negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement.

“I am hoping we can borrow a page or two from their chapter.”

The ICC Belfast, next to the Waterfront Hall, provided an impressive venue for the ardfheis’s return to the city after eight years. But the sheer size of the main hall took slightly from the atmosphere during the main event.

For her keynote address, McDonald owned the stage in a rich crimson jacket, a striking choice of colour against the bright green backdrop. Her speech pushed all the right buttons with a mix of Northern Ireland politics for her six-county audience and withering references to the British government. But it was clear that the thrust of her address was very firmly pointed towards Dublin as she called for an emergency budget to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

She also managed to claim the credit for the exit of the two Healy-Rae brothers from the Coalition following the party’s latest no confidence motion, thus “forcing the first cracks” in the Government.

The faithful, now safe in the knowledge they can do it all again next year, leapt to their feet and cheered when she finished. On the platform, they whooped and applauded too, until they were ambushed by the national anthem, which slowly crept up on them.

Mary Lou and colleagues and their two byelection candidates suddenly had to wipe the smiles from their faces, put their arms by their sides and face the flag for what was a very, very slow rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann.

It was followed by a song from Les Miserables.

Do You Hear the People Sing?

A stirring protest anthem, calling on the people to rise up and rebel.

But not in Sinn Féin.

McDonald holds stage at SF ard fheis... but big tests still looming

SUZANNE BREEN, Belfast Telegraph, April 27th, 2026

PRESIDENT DIDN'T SOUND LIKE HER POSITION WAS UNDER THREAT IN SPEECH

Mary Lou McDonald didn't look like someone whose leadership was in its final days as she stepped onto the stage of the Sinn Fein ard fheis in Belfast.

She seemed anchored, assured and at ease as she addressed over 1,000 delegates.

The real test of a speech isn't just the applause at the end; it's whether people drift in the middle. McDonald held her audience for 23 minutes, and that's no mean feat.

Sinn Fein operates in a league of its own here when it comes to staging conferences. It has the organisation and resources to make them look seamless.

Then, there's the scale of the event. The party's all-island membership gives it a huge numerical advantage over any of its Northern Ireland rivals. But this is about more than size.

It feels like something bigger than a routine political gathering. There is a sense of collective purpose that is almost tangible.

Earlier, McDonald dismissed media speculation that her leadership was under threat, and insisted that she will be at the helm for the next Dail election.

Yet she will clearly be under increased internal and external scrutiny if the party performs poorly in the Dublin Central and Galway West by-elections next month. The Social Democrats are currently the favourite in the former constituency, and Independent Ireland in the latter.

It's eight years since the ard fheis has been held in Belfast. McDonald opened her speech with events 56 years ago.

Mothers “leading children by the hand, pushing prams, carrying tricolours and placards, singing songs of protest and defiance” had “faced down” the British Army and broken the Falls curfew.

“This is a brave city,” she said. “It's seen its share of heartbreak and loss. But it's the courage of its people, the humour, the resilience that marks this place. We are proud to be in Ireland's second city: Béal Feirste, Belfast.”

McDonald's address focused heavily on Irish unity. She rounded on Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. “Micheál agus Simon. We take no lecture from you, who believe Ireland stops at Dundalk,” she said.

“No lecture from you, who abandoned the six counties for over a century. And in case you don't know. Westminster doesn't give a damn about the north of Ireland.

“That's why decisions that affect the lives of people who live here must be made here — in Ireland.”

The Dublin government was the biggest barrier to planning for constitutional change.

‘What’s right for Ireland’

“The days of saying 'yes to unity, but not now' must end. They must do what's right for Ireland,” McDonald said.

Sinn Fein would bring forward legislation before the summer “compelling the Irish Government to publish a green paper on the process of Irish unity”.

McDonald repeated her assertion of a border poll by 2030.

“Keir Starmer and the British Government cannot hold back progress, cannot stop the march of this nation. They must honour their obligations to hold a unity referendum,” she said.

The Good Friday Agreement, which Sinn Fein signed up to, gives the Secretary of State alone the power to call a border poll.

He needs do so only if it appears likely to him that there would be a majority for Irish unity. Former NIO minister Fleur Anderson let the cat out of the bag last year when she said opinion polls would determine if and when a referendum was called.

While support for the Union has dropped in LucidTalk polling, it remains ahead of that for a united Ireland. A border poll in four years' time is impossible to see, no matter how many times Sinn Fein says it.

Let's remember that it took two years from when the British Government agreed to an independence referendum in Scotland until one was held.

Video messages from SNP leader John Swinney and Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth were played to the ard fheis.

“This May we could see for the first time first ministers of all the devolved nations seeking independence from Westminster. That would be an absolutely seismic moment,” Swinney said.

McDonald agreed. “We've always had a sense that there is a potential to build something really significant and strong, like Celtic cousins,” she said.

Republican grassroots are disillusioned by the lack of delivery in the Executive. McDonald promised Casement Park would be built — “the diggers are on-site” — and stopping the A5 was “not acceptable”.

Next year's Assembly election was “an opportunity to return Michelle O'Neill as First Minister; let's make that happen,” she said.

In her address, O'Neill acknowledged that “progress in the Executive has been slower than I would like”. She said she understood “people's frustration, because I feel that frustration too”.

Parties ‘who do not work together’

Despite the best efforts of the party's ministers, there were others in Stormont “who do not want to work together”. Sinn Fein will publish its proposals to reform the institutions in coming weeks.

O'Neill and her colleagues took an absolute hammering at the DUP conference seven months ago. She was never going to respond in kind, but she didn't ignore Gavin Robinson's party.

“The DUP want to turn the clock back. They want to drag society backwards. They continue to deny people their rights. They attack everything to do with Irish national identity,” she said.

“They yearn for the days of unionist misrule. But here is the thing; those days are gone. We are not going backwards; we are only going forward.

“People are already moving ahead. They see the big idea of our time. They see Irish unity as the answer to a brighter, better future.”

Expect a similar tone until the Assembly election.

Cavan-Monaghan TD Matt Carthy told delegates that O'Neill would be guest speaker at a gala dinner on Friday to raise funds for the Sinn Fein election campaign in Upper Bann.

John O'Dowd is Sinn Fein's sole MLA in the constituency, but Carthy was certain it would return two representatives there next May.

Sinn Fein is the only party here which debates motions at its annual conference, and there were 167 of them listed on the agenda.

Delegates supported a ban on fox hunting after a lively debate. MEP Lynn Boylan argued: “Fox hunting on horseback is so archaic that even the Brits themselves have banned it.

“It is time to listen to our young people. It is time to remain relevant and abandon our colonial past once and for all.”

Members voted against a motion tabled by the ard chomhairle proposing that an ard fheis be held every two years rather than annually. Party chairman Declan Kearney said it would “strengthen not weaken party democracy”.

Numerous speakers, including one from Ogra Sinn Fein, spoke against the resolution. A delegate representing the South Tipperary comharile ceantair said: “I come from a county that has a history of contrary republicans.

“Going to increase democracy by allowing the members less time to come together to debate policy, to put things to the floor, to hold the ard chomairle to account, to elect ard chomairle members?

“Do we really think if people are elected for two years that they're going to be more accountable as the chair said. I don't think so, folks. I really don't.” The motion was overwhelmingly defeated.

The biennial schedule unsuccessfully proposed would surely be a retreat. The Sinn Fein ard fheis shows the strength of its grassroots organisation vis-à-vis its rivals. Abandoning an event which can ooze such energy would appear to be an odd move.

Island of Ireland in 'absolutely critical position' amid Russian tensions

REBECCA BLACK, Belfast Telegraph and Belfast News Letter, April 27th, 2026

The island of Ireland is in an “absolutely critical position” amid tensions with Russia, the joint military commander in Northern Ireland has said.

Brigadier Piers Ashfield was speaking as the RAF brought a P-8 Poseidon from Lossiemouth in Scotland to the Joint Helicopter Command Flying Station Aldergrove in Co Antrim last week.

While the aircraft was primarily in Northern Ireland for a joint search and rescue exercise with the Coastguard and RNLI, there was also a military significance to the move.

The Poseidon, described as one of the RAF's primary intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (Istar) assets, was operating from Aldergrove for the first time.

Brig Ashfield, commander of 38 Brigade and the senior military officer in Northern Ireland, called the exercise the “physical manifestation” of the updated memorandum of understanding signed by the UK and the Republic of Ireland in March to enhance bilateral defence co-operation.

“The aim of this has really been to test and adjust some of our operating procedures to provide an enhanced level of safety and security for people across the island of Ireland in the maritime domain, particularly focused on this exercise on search and rescue,” he told the Press Association.

“Ireland has always been a prisoner of that geography, and where it operates in the Greenland-Iceland gap, as you've seen the various ministerial leaders of the MoD (Ministry of Defence) describing the threat from Russian naval operations in that space that threatens both the critical national infrastructure that not only the UK depends on, but a significant part of Europe and our allies and partners depend on as well.

“It's the most westerly (base), and I think that provides an advantage not only for the UK operating from here, but also our allies and partners across both Nato and through some of our bilateral arrangements as well,” he added.

‘Despair’ as firefighters tackle multiple blazes in Mournes

KIRSTY KING, Irish News, April 27th, 2026

FIREFIGHTERS attended multiple fires in the Mournes over the weekend. The fire service tackled blazes at Bloody Bridge and Fofanny, close to Newcastle on Saturday.

Firefighters were initially alerted of a wildfire at Ballagh Road in the Bloody Bridge area just before 7pm on Saturday night

At the height of the incident, there were approximately 80 firefighters in attendance from Newcastle, Kilkeel, Banbridge, Newry, Rathfriland, Newtownards, Warrenpoint and Lisburn Fire Stations.

The incident was scaled back yesterday. The NI Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said it will continue to monitor the situation.

Firefighters also attended a wildfire at Slievenaman Road, close to the Fofanny reservoir.

The public were asked to avoid the affected areas to help support firefighting operations.

The chief executive of Mourne Heritage Trust, Nigel McKinney, who was near the affected spots yesterday morning, said the blazes were still active.

“There are three different sites of fires north and south of Newcastle,” he said.

“The high Mournes are covered in smoke. There is smoke in the air across the whole area and toxic ash covering the area.

“Habitat has been destroyed and campsites evacuated.

Started deliberately

“I can only imagine the fear and anxiety of the people living south of Newcastle, with the risk fires pose to homes.”

While he couldn’t speculate on the cause of the recent fires, Mr McKinney said the “vast majority of fires throughout Ireland are started deliberately”.

“People know the destruction fires cause,” he said.

“They don’t only pose a threat to habitat but a risk to people.”

Mr KcKinney said the Mournes area has taken a “hammering” as a result of fires in recent times.

“You despair. It’s worse than a tragedy, it’s totally avoidable. We need to do more.”

“Those setting fires need to be Nigel McKinney, Mourne Heritage Trust

“ You despair. It’s worse than a tragedy, it’s totally avoidable. We need to do more. Those setting fires need to be dealt with as heavily as the law allows dealt with as heavily as the law allows.”

The NIFRS have requested the public to act responsibly if in the countryside and to call 999 immediately if they see a fire.

The PSNI released a statement yesterday urging the public to stay away from the Mournes while the fires are dealt with.

The statement read: “The Fire and Rescue Service are currently dealing with gorse fires in the area and have asked that anyone planning to hike in the area to stay away for the duration of the day while they deal with the issue.”

RIC memorial stalled by protests in Republic now stands in Newtownards

Mark Hennessy, Ireland and Britain Editor, Irish Times, April 27th, 2026

Ernest McCall is no doubt that the commemoration for Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in Dublin during the Decade of Centenaries in 2020, which collapsed in controversy about recognition of the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries, should have gone ahead.

“Typical politicians. They’ll say they’ll do something and then when there’s a wee bit of pressure, they collapse,” said McCall, who spent decades serving in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).

In the wake of the Dublin controversy, the branch of the RUC George Cross Association in Newtownards, Co Down, mulled plans to acknowledge the service of the largely Catholic RIC, which existed between 1867 and 1922.

On Sunday, McCall and his colleagues ended the gap of more than a century without a memorial for the RIC, unveiling of a polished marble monument next to the war memorial in Newtownards.

The war memorial honours local men killed in two world wars and other conflicts, too, including four young local Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers killed in April 1990 in a 1,000lb IRA car bomb at Ballydugan, outside Downpatrick, Co Down.

However, newer shadows could be felt, too.

Milling around in the minutes before the unveiling, many of the former RUC men, and a few gardaí, discussed Saturday’s attempt by dissident Republicans to attack a PSNI station in Dunmurry, outside Belfast.

Explosives made from fertilisers

“Six cylinders of explosives made from fertilisers,” one former RUC officer told The Irish Times, “and some poor young [man] was told to drive that there. It could just as easily have blown up underneath him.”

Conscious of the past, Co Down’s deputy lord lieutenant, Amanda Blackmore, said everyone present – including many former RUC members – “stand here fully aware that history in Northern Ireland is never abstract”.

“It is lived, it is felt and it continues to shape our present. That is why acts of remembrance must be approached with care, humility and respect for all traditions,” she said.

“This memorial is not an attempt to reopen old wounds nor to elevate one narrative above another,” she said, noting that it was a recognition of human stories, of lives lived and lives lost, and that every community’s experience deserved dignity.

The Sunday gathering was attended by retired gardaí, including former Cork sergeant and police historian Jim Herlihy, one of those who was deeply involved in the 2020 commemoration efforts.

Still in favour of a memorial in the Republic to the RIC, Herlihy, who faced serious abuse at the time, helped the Newtownards team’s plan. “Well, we obviously weren’t going anywhere in the south,” he said.

For local Democratic Unionist Party MP, Jim Shannon, the memorial was long overdue, especially, in his view, after the “enormous outburst of complete hatred” shown towards the 2020 plans.

It was Shannon’s second time in a week to be at Newtownards war memorial, following a gathering on the Saturday before to mark the UDR men’s killings 36 years ago. “I knew three of them well,” Shannon said. “I knew John Birch [one of the men] since the day he was born.”

He also remembered a conversation with Birch’s wife, Angela, a year before her husband was killed, when she worried about the risks Birch faced in uniform.

“She said she was worried sick about him, you know. I said, ‘Angela, there’s nothing to worry about’. How wrong was I. Oh, I still feel a wee bit… you know,” said Shannon, with tears in his eyes.

Ballyduggan

A week ago, Birch’s widow shared memories with Shannon of the last time she saw her husband when he had painted a bedroom at the family home.

Like everyone else in the local community, she heard the Ballydugan explosion. Even without an official confirmation, she knew that her husband – ever punctual – was never again coming home.

“Then she says that she went upstairs to the bedroom where he’d been painting the day before. There was his ashtray with his cigarette butts, the empty tin of Coke, the tin of paint and the paintbrush. Twenty-four hours before, he was there, and 24 hours later. That’s a wee story about John Birch that I always remember,” the Strangford MP told said.

Referencing the controversy in Dublin six years ago, Herlihy said there was “nothing” on the Newtownards memorial specifically noting the RIC’s Auxiliary Division, the unit of former British army officers sent to Ireland at the height of the War of Independence.

Controversy was sparked when people realised that a Glasnevin Cemetery monument commemorating all the names of the dead during the period would, inevitably, include the names of Auxiliaries and of the Black and Tans.

“Then there was the distinction between remembrance and commemorations, and it all went downhill after that – especially after it took off on the airwaves,” Herlihy said.

Is Sinn Féin any closer to achieving its goals than half a decade ago?

Sinn Féin has been working hard at showing the world that it has recovered its mojo

Pat Leahy, Irish Times, April 27th, 2026

Sinn Féin members are gathering in Belfast this weekend for their first ardfheis since the general election in 2024. They meet at an interesting juncture for the party.

That 2024 election was both a disappointment and a relief to the party – a disappointment in that the party failed to win power after such a long period leading in the polls, but also a relief that they recovered after the extraordinary collapse in support that saw Sinn Féin win just 12 per cent in the local elections earlier that year.

At times during that period it looked like the Sinn Féin project, in the South anyway, was kaput; so even though the party lost a not insignificant chunk of its vote in the general election (5.5 points), it recovered sharply from the lows of the local elections six months previously. So the 2024 result was not great but it could have been a lot worse. The question for the party is what follows all that topsy-turvy drama.

Since the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independent administration was formed 15 months ago, Sinn Féin has worked hard at showing the world that it has recovered its mojo. Mary Lou McDonald remains one of the Dáil’s most forceful performers, hopping off the Taoiseach like a Tipperary fullback of the old school. To the extent that they were ever on, Pearse Doherty has taken off the shackles. The party has dialled up its combustible mix of economic populism and nationalism.

And it has bounced back in the polls. The most recent Irish Times poll in February put Sinn Féin at 24 per cent; its average in all published polls this year has been 22.7 per cent – comfortably ahead of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

But look a little closer and it’s fair to wonder if the party is really any closer to achieving its goals than it was half a decade ago.

Sinn Féin has spent the last year doubling down on economic issues and a united Ireland. Every speech, interview and statement charges the Government with forgetting about ordinary people and seeking only to look after the wealthy, the vulture funds, the banks, etc, while also advocating for the “inevitability” of a united Ireland.

At a commemoration for an IRA volunteer killed by the British Army during the Troubles in Co Armagh last weekend, Doherty told his audience that the “political and economic status quo is no longer working ... an alternative is urgently needed”.

Two things strike me about this. First of all, there was a time before the last election when McDonald used to say that as taoiseach she would not attend IRA commemorations. Secondly, the party was at pains to tell voters before the last election it would not totally change Ireland’s economic model, with Doherty and others going so far as to cosy up to Dublin stockbrokers and the like.

This was not because they suddenly discovered a liking for the swanky seats at the Aviva and lunches in Patrick Guilbauds, but because they (and lots of other people) could see that for all the problems in the country, Ireland’s economic model was pretty good at producing resources for the Government to spend on redistribution, social programmes, public services, infrastructure, etc.

A clear plan requires a clear road ahead

And at the very least you would want a clear plan for something demonstrably better before you chucked all that out.

All that was in keeping with Sinn Féin’s judgment that it had to be seen as a credible government by swing voters in the centre and centre-left if it was to win power.

Now, it seems to have decided this didn’t work at all and a mixture of left populism and united Irelanderism is the way to go. Maybe Sinn Féin is right. But just because the previous strategy didn’t work doesn’t necessarily mean it was the wrong one. It could just mean it was badly executed.

I wonder if a mad rush to spend every penny of the surplus – projections show the State’s surplus is set to grow to more than €9 billion this year – is really a viable platform for government.

Right now, there is certainly a market for anger in politics. There appears to be, in rural Ireland especially, something approaching fury at the Government among many voters. Some of their reasons are valid, some aren’t. But as spooked Fianna Fáil TDs will tell you, it’s certainly real.

But if there’s one thing we know about the conduct of the Irish electorate it is that their disposition can fluctuate enormously from midterm to general elections. Unless there is a drastic change in economic circumstances akin to 2008-11, anger is unlikely to be the defining mood during a 2029 election. Voters tend to take a more sanguine view when consciously choosing a government. In 2024, they weren’t head over heels in love with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – but sufficient numbers of them judged the old frenemies to be preferable to the alternative.

The other pillar of Sinn Féin’s emerging platform is even more questionable as a vote winner. Polling is clear that there is a strong majority in favour of a united Ireland in the South (and a smaller majority against it in the North). But it is also clear that unity is only a priority for a small number of voters – generally around 1-2 per cent – in the Republic.

The more research is done and the more “conversations” we have on the subject, the more it becomes clear how complicated and fraught it would be to work out what a future united Ireland looks like. That is not in itself a reason not to do it. But it is a reason to stop pretending that unity is imminent, inevitable, irresistible or easily achieved.

At an Easter commemoration recently, McDonald said that the biggest obstacle to bringing about Irish unity was the Government. If she really believes that, Sinn Féin is more given to magical thinking than I thought.

2022 Assembly election — time running out to learn the right lessons

DAVID GRAHAM, Belfast Telegraph, April 27th, 2026

The last Assembly election in 2022 will be remembered, first and foremost, for its symbolism. Sinn Féin emerged as the largest party. The office of First Minister, which unionism had held since 1998, slipped from its grasp.

For many within the “broader unionist family” or “PUL community”, that moment landed with a jolt that was as much psychological as political. From the heady days of 2011 and 2016 to a bruising election which many DUP members privately admitted was much better than had been anticipated.

Yet when you strip away the headlines and sensationalism, a more nuanced picture emerges. Unionism did not collapse — far from it. Yes, the DUP lost its grip on the much-prized First Minister role, but the DUP is not unionism. It won't be DUP voters who win a border poll — if it happens in my lifetime.

In raw terms, unionism retained a larger bloc of MLAs than nationalism, and a broadly comparable share of the vote.

The problem was not one of existential decline, but of fragmentation, inefficiency and, crucially, strategy. The inability of unionism to maintain any form of collective approach has failed too many times to count — whether it be flags, parading and, most recently, the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Nevertheless, the bigger picture still matters because it points not to inevitable loss, but to recoverable ground.

Too many unionists hark back to the days of old, failing to accept change, especially a focus on how unionism can and must adapt.

Unionism is much more than the roads I parade on in the summer, an anthem I belt out when the opportunity arises, or a flag I proudly fly.

We must all accept that and understand how we grow in the current environment. Acceptance of the narrative that a united Ireland is inevitable does not stack up, and should not only be ignored, but argued against.

The uncomfortable truth is that unionism lost seats in places it did not need to. In constituencies like Upper Bann and South Antrim, the numbers were there. The voters were there. However, the distribution of those votes and the lack of effective transfers meant seats slipped away.

Falling short

Under the single transferable vote (STV) system, electoral politics is as much about discipline as it is about popularity. On that measure, unionism fell short — and not for the first time.

This is not the responsibility of any one party. The DUP, the UUP and the TUV each made their respective appeals, and each found an audience.

The DUP remains the largest voice within unionism, and that won't change any time soon. The UUP continues to speak to a more moderate, often middle-class electorate, but I believe the passing of time is impacting on the decline of their vote alongside a continued identity crisis.

The TUV, meanwhile, tapped into a clear vein of discontent, particularly on the Protocol, converting frustration into a substantial vote share, but that didn't transform into more seats.

The TUV are in a much stronger position than they were in 2022 and will have ambitions to add MLAs to accompany Timothy Gaston. I would be very surprised if Mr Gaston isn't joined by other TUV representatives in the next Assembly election.

Taken individually, each party can point to justification for its approach. Taken together, however, the outcome was less than the sum of its parts.

Plural unionism is not in itself a weakness. Indeed, it reflects the diversity of opinion within a broad political tradition. Nevertheless, pluralism without coordination risks becoming counterproductive.

In 2022, unionist voters were often left competing against one another rather than maximising collective representation. Most worryingly, that became a needless fight, with non-unionist parties the beneficiary.

The system rewards those who understand its mechanics. Increasingly, others either seem to understand it more than unionists, or unionists simply ignore the numbers for selfish party interests.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the rise of Alliance over the past decade. The party's growth was not simply a by-product of nationalist ambition or unionist decline, it was the result of a deliberate appeal to voters who feel unpersuaded by traditional constitutional arguments.

In constituencies like Lagan Valley and North Belfast, Alliance did not just benefit from transfers, it established itself as a first-preference destination for voters who might have once leaned unionist.

I firmly believe that both constituencies have many of these voters, who are now becoming “undecided” on the constitutional question. That is a real concern for unionism and must be addressed.

That presents a challenge that cannot be met by rhetoric alone. If unionism is to regain lost ground, it must engage with those voters on the issues that matter to them — public services, economic competence, and stability in government. Constitutional conviction remains important, but it is no longer sufficient on its own.

Equally, turnout cannot be ignored. In parts of North Belfast and elsewhere, there is evidence that traditional unionist areas did not mobilise to their full potential. Re-engaging those voters, many of whom feel disconnected from politics, may prove just as important as winning over new ones.

A credible path forward

But what does a credible path forward actually look like?

First, it requires a recognition that no single party can carry unionism alone. The DUP, UUP and TUV each have roles to play, and each reaches voters the others do not. The question is not whether they should compete, because they will, and that is their right.

Whether that competition can be tempered by a shared understanding of how to maximise outcomes under STV remains to be seen.

If the election turns into a case of fighting to regain the joint first ministerial office, then it is a hiding to nothing. Unionism needs more seats and not the shortsighted obsession with “our one” being allowed to sign a page before “their one”, or who gets to speak first at a joint press conference.

In many ways, the first ministers have the least power to change or impact society in comparison to a health or education minister. Unionism having more seats at the Executive table should be the number one priority.

Second, it demands greater attention to the mechanics of elections. Candidate selection, vote balancing and transfer strategy are not technical afterthoughts, they are decisive factors. In several constituencies, modest improvements in these areas would have delivered additional seats without any increase in overall vote share.

Third, and perhaps most challenging, it calls for a broadening of appeal. The centre ground in Northern Ireland is no longer a peripheral space, but an arena in which elections are decided. Unionism must find a way to speak to it, not by diluting its core position, but by demonstrating relevance beyond it.

None of this guarantees success. Politics rarely offers such certainty. Nonetheless, it does suggest that the narrative of irreversible decline is misplaced. The 2022 election was a significant setback, but not definitive.

Opportunities arise in Strangford, Upper Bann, East Londonderry, West Belfast, South Antrim, Lagan Valley and North Belfast. On a perfect day, East and South Belfast could spring a surprise as well.

The road back is there and can be marshalled. It does not run through grand gestures. It runs through discipline, cooperation where possible, and a willingness to adapt to an electorate that is changing in tone as much as in composition.

Unionism, in other words, does not need to rediscover its purpose.

It needs to refine its practice. That work must begin now, if it hasn't already.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes – mine is Richard Moore

TOM KELLY, Irish News, April 27th, 2026

LAST Thursday, Queen’s University invited me to make a keynote lecture to mark becoming Honorary Professor of Practice in Politics and Public Affairs.

It was truly humbling, and even more so to see the number of people who turned up to listen.

In my world, I am more used to writing speeches for others to deliver than giving those speeches myself.

It was an exceptional honour because I was the first in the Kelly family to go to university in the early 1980s, just over a hundred years after my great-great-grandfather, also Tom Kelly, was thrown off his tenant farm in Mullaghbane. He ended his days labouring at Newry Port, only to die from exhaustion in the workhouse.

The journey from workhouse to becoming an honorary professor at a Russell Group university would have been unimaginable for Thomas Kelly in 1885.

I was brought up in a single-parent family. My dad was a carpenter and the son and grandson of carpenters too.

Most Catholic/nationalist families have travelled similar journeys between three to four generations or less. It’s one of the reasons the Catholic community put such an emphasis on getting an education.

Most had nothing much to give or leave in financial terms, so they focused on supporting children learning and bettering themselves.

Americans believed it was a mark of success for one generation to improve the wellbeing of the next, but they usually meant in monetary terms.

Ireland has a rich oral tradition backed up and maintained by monks who recorded everything.

Even when Europe was in the Dark Ages, Ireland was exporting men and women of learning to places like Bobbio, Fiesole, St Gallen, Liège, Vienna, Salzburg and Iona. They had centres of learning all over Ireland too.

My grandfather’s eclectic book collection adorns my book shelves: the complete Dickens collection, the poetry of Speranza (Lady Wilde), Graham Green novels and tomes like ‘Labour in Ireland’ by James Connolly.

As a trade unionist, my grandfather knew knowledge is power. My own father was determined I would not follow him onto a building site – he needn’t have worried, as I am much better at handling a pen than a saw.

The introduction of the 11-plus in the late 1940s gave us the most talented single generation of nationalists in the north – the civil rights generation. Men and women who saw a ladder out of poverty through education.

It’s somewhat unfair that because of later revelations about the injustices – inexcusable injustices, cruelty, and sometimes abuse, physical and sexual – by some members of religious orders, we can dismiss the overall contribution of all religious in providing education and opportunity to mainly children from working-class backgrounds.

“ A man who can show courage and make you feel good when your courage fails you couldn’t be anything other than a hero

They intentionally (or unintentionally) gave a springboard to those who would start an unstoppable march towards irrevocable change and equal rights in Northern Ireland.

As part of last Thursday, I was asked to explain my own political activism, my views on the peace process, and developments further afield which threaten democracy. Suffice it to say for now that we need to listen to Mark Carney, who said: “We can and must elevate reason over reaction.”

QUB also asked if I would nominate a person I admired to be interviewed alongside me in a fireside chat. It wasn’t a difficult choice to make. The man I chose was Richard Moore, founder of the charity Children in Crossfire.

Fulfilled life

A British soldier fired a plastic bullet into a playground which hit a10-year-old Richard. It was a life-changing moment – he was blinded.

And yet, somehow out of this tragic and wholly wrong but avoidable event, Richard built a fulfilled life – going to university, creating a business, singing and playing in a folk group, having a family, running two pubs, and finally founding a charity which helps children in third-world countries.

In Richard’s uplifting biography called “Can I Give Him My Eyes”, he recalls his devoted father giving him the best advice ever: “Don’t let a single cloud ruin your sunniest days.”

It’s sage advice and Richard never has – no self-pity, no bitterness, just getting on with life, supported by love and self-determination. Richard even managed to meet and become friends with the soldier who shot him.

Whether he would admit it, there is a stoicism to Richard. He summed things up: “Sometimes people do bad things. The soldier did. This does not necessarily make them a bad person.”

This is nothing short of incredible generosity. Little wonder one of his greatest fans is the Dalai Lama, who said: “I preach forgiveness. Richard lives it.”

After I first met Richard, I trekked with him in Guatemala. It was tough going. One day we had to cross a gorge by walking over a rickety half-made bridge… I felt I couldn’t do it as I fear heights. I initially kept looking for alternative crossings. Then the boul Richard got up, tagged to someone else, and confidently walked across.

I said to myself: “Look at that and catch yourself on.” So dripping in sweat, I nervously crossed. I then threw myself on the ground and said: “You are truly inspirational – I could never have crossed had you not given a lead.”

To which Richard replied, laughing: “Tom, sure I never know if one foot is following the other or across what!”

A man who can show courage and make you feel good when your courage fails you couldn’t be anything other than a hero.