Court orders loyalist killer to hand himself in for return to prison
ALAN ERWIN, Irish News, April 17th, 2026
A CONVICTED loyalist killer must hand himself in for a return to prison in a week’s time, the Court of Appeal ordered yesterday.
Senior judges directed Robert Clarke, 74, to attend a police station in Belfast after he failed in a legal battle to avoid being sent back to jail.
The outcome follows a ruling that he was wrongly granted early release on a sentence for the February 1973 murder of Catholic chip shop owner Alfredo Fusco.
Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan ordered: “The return to custody should be within seven days.
“It will be to attend Musgrave Police Station at 10am on April 23 for a return to Maghaberry Prison.”
However, Clarke has now launched fresh judicial review challenges in a bid to minimise any time spent behind bars while seeking re-release through a Sentence Review Commission (SRC) process.
In 2011 he received a minimum 25-year prison term after being found guilty of murdering Mr Fusco.
He served just two years behind bars before being freed on licence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Fusco, 53, was shot dead when two gunmen entered his cafe in the York Road area of north Belfast in February 1973.
One of the intruders chased the victim to a storage area and opened fire as he attempted to barricade himself behind a door.
Clarke, formerly of Dundrod Road, Nutts Corner, was convicted of the killing based on new fingerprint technology used to identify his prints at the scene.
By that stage he had already served a 15-year term in jail for a separate sectarian murder.
North Belfast woman Margaret O’Neill, 58, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in June 1975.
The 25-year tariff imposed on Clarke’s life sentence for murdering Mr Fusco does not expire until February 2036.
But the double killer was freed in 2013 after the SRC originally declared him eligible for early release within provisions of the Northern Ireland Sentences Act 1998.
The Secretary of State successfully challenged that decision, arguing Clarke did not qualify for the scheme covering a defined period of terrorist-related crimes.
The murder of Mr Fusco was committed six months before the relevant emergency legislation for scheduled offences came into force.
A High Court judge identified an error in law in the Commissioners’ first decision.
Unlawfully freed
He found that Clarke had been wrongly at liberty for years and stressed the compelling need to serve sentences and ensure retribution for “heinous” crimes.
Lawyers representing the convicted murderer claimed amendments in the new Troubles Legacy legislation mean he will inevitably be released again.
They appealed against both the decision to quash his release under the 1998 Act and the SRC’s subsequent refusal in 2024 of his fresh application to be freed.
Last month, the Court of Appeal rejected all grounds of challenge, finding that Clarke had been wrongly freed and was “unlawfully at large”.
Since then he has lodged further challenges against the Secretary of State for not granting release under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, and the SRC over an alleged refusal to ensure a fresh application is dealt with immediately.
But proceedings returned to the Court of Appeal yesterday to finalise the outcome in that case.
Clarke’s barrister, Ronan Lavery KC, requested a further four weeks to progress his latest legal bids to avoid extended imprisonment.
Counsel for the Secretary of State, Tony McGleenan KC, insisted, however, that he should be directed to return to custody this month.
Backing those submissions, the Lady Chief Justice confirmed the warrant for committal to prison in seven days.
She added; “The judicial reviews can take their own course, applications can be made by Mr Clarke accordingly.”
Legal challenge to inquest into PIRA man killed in SAS ambush rejected
Tony Doris had planned to kill former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier
MARK HENNESSY, Ireland and Britain Editor, Irish Times, April 17th, 2026
Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has rejected a legal bid by the sister of an IRA man killed by the SAS in 1991 to challenge the findings of an inquest.
Tony Doris had planned to kill former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier in Coagh, Co Tyrone, on June 3rd, 1991, but was killed along with Lawrence McNally and Michael Ryan when they were ambushed.
An inquest previously found the use of lethal force by the soldiers was justified, although some elements of the planning and control of the operation were criticised.
Following the inquest, Doris’s sister, Roisin Nugent, challenged the findings made by the coroner about the actions of one of soldiers involved, identified only as Soldier B.
In April 2024, the coroner, Judge Michael Humphreys, found the soldiers’ use of lethal force was “reasonable and proportionate” because they had “an honest belief that it was necessary” to save the lives of others.
On Thursday the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled “no arguable legal error” had emerged in the hearing that would offer “a reasonable prospect of success” if a challenge were allowed.
Humphreys had, the Court of Appeal found, applied the correct legal texts and reached “a rational well-reasoned decision” compliant with article two of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The case made by Doris’s sister would have been “dismissed on its merits” if permission had been granted to challenge the findings, the Court of Appeal found.
Generals welcome outcome
Her challenge “really amounted to a disagreement with the coroner’s findings”, which is not the purpose of judicial reviews, it said.
The three IRA men intended to kill a local factory worker and former UDR soldier, Allister Harkness, which led to an SAS unit being deployed by the British Army.
Harkness was warned and his family were temporarily moved. One SAS soldier dressed up as him, even dyeing his hair, and he drove Harkness’s gold Austin Maestro on its usual morning route.
The soldier then sat on a wall by public toilets, ostensibly reading a newspaper. Shortly afterwards, the IRA men appeared driving a red Vauxhall Cavalier stolen shortly before from a family in a local village.
One of the IRA men appeared from the car, carrying an AK-47, but retreated back into it on suspecting a trap, before the three were fired upon by SAS soldiers who had hidden in a parked Bedford lorry.
During the inquest, the soldiers told the IRA men’s families there had been no time for a verbal warning.
Retired British army generals Peter Wall and Nick Parker have welcomed the Court of Appeal judgment, but said such cases were causing “unnecessary distress” to veterans.
Legacy legislation that would allow new Troubles cases to be taken, which is strongly opposed by British veterans, has not yet been given a date to return to the House of Commons for final debate.
The legislation, the retired generals said, must be changed to ensure “a clear legal threshold” that would block new cases against soldiers unless there was new independently certified evidence.
There must be “a definitive end point; this cycle will continue. If the government cannot deliver that, the Bill should be dropped”, the retired generals said.
Judges rule coroner was entitled to find SAS soldier justified in shooting unarmed IRA man
ALAN ERWIN, Irish News, April 17th, 2026
A CORONER was legally entitled to find an SAS soldier justified in shooting an unarmed IRA driver as part of a collective terrorist threat to life, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.
Senior judges rejected claims that a distinction should have been made between Tony Doris and two paramilitary associates also ambushed and killed in Coagh, Co Tyrone nearly 35 years ago.
Dismissing a challenge to the inquest verdict, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said the SAS member who opened fire, Soldier B, had responded proportionately in a lethal situation.
“Mr Doris was part of the threat to life in this fast moving situation,” she stated.
“It would be absurd to disaggregate the driver from the other men in this case, all active members of the Provisional IRA, part of a plan to murder which clearly involved an imminent threat to life which Soldier B sought to protect.”
Doris died alongside Peter Ryan and Lawrence McNally during the military operation mounted at Coagh in June 1991.
The three men, part of the IRA’s East Tyrone brigade active service unit, were intercepted in a stolen car on suspicion they intended to murder a member of the security forces.
Up to 150 rounds were discharged during the hail of gunfire in the village.
In 2024 a coroner ruled that the SAS was justified in its “reasonable and proportionate” use of lethal force.
He found the soldiers honestly believed it had been necessary in order to prevent loss of life.
‘Correct legal tests’
A judicial review challenge was mounted against the coroner’s verdict by relatives of Doris, alleging the circumstances breached the Article 2 right to life under European law.
Their lawyers claimed he had been wrongly “executed” as the unarmed driver who did not pose the same threat as those with weapons.
The member of the specialist military unit who opened fire, Soldier B, had acted disproportionately, it was contended.
A High Court judge originally dismissed the case after endorsing the inquest verdict that the actions of Doris posed an immediate threat to life.
But lawyers for relatives of the IRA man maintained that the assessment of Soldier B’s use of force had been wrong, with any assessment of the proportionality of his decision to open fire completely inadequate.
The Court of Appeal heard Doris had been targeted as he tried to drive away from the scene.
Any threat posed by him was clearly distinguishable from that of his armed passengers, judges were told.
But Dame Siobhan, sitting with Lord Justice Colton and Mr Justice Fowler, rejected submissions that the coroner fell into legal error.
She highlighted previous determinations about Soldier B honestly believing the entire active service unit constituted a unified and immediate threat to life, responding proportionately by firing eight rounds within one or two seconds.
According to the court, he had had an honest and genuine belief that a military colleague’s life was in danger.
“The coroner’s finding that Soldier B was entitled to view the occupants of the car in the way that he did as a group of terrorists who posed a collective threat is sustainable in law,” the Lady Chief Justice held.
“The coroner has applied the correct legal tests and reached a rational, well-reasoned decision.”
Legacy cases being used as weapon to attack veterans, say generals
By Iain Gray, Belfast News Letter, April 17th, 2026
Troubles legacy cases are being used as a weapon to enact punishment on veterans, dragging them through “years of unnecessary distress” with the public footing the bill.
That’s according to the former head of the British Army and a retired leading officer who served in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, both of whom spoke out after courts upheld a verdict that the SAS were justified in killing three IRA men who were “part of a plan to murder” a member of the security forces in 1991.
A legal challenge had been mounted to that verdict, arguing soldiers were wrong to use lethal force on a stolen car in Coagh as the unarmed IRA driver should have been treated differently to his two armed accomplices. That idea was today rejected by a senior judge, who said it would be “absurd to disaggregate the driver from the other men”.
For General Sir Peter Wall, former Chief of the General Staff of the British Army, and General Sir Nick Parker, the outcome of the challenge to an already-held legacy inquest is proof court cases related to the Troubles are being used to attack veterans, no matter what the final result.
Legal cudgel
Lengthy and stressful legal proceedings have themselves become a cudgel with which to beat aging former soldiers, they argue, saying in a joint statement: “The process itself is being used as the punishment.
“Public money is being misused to fund meritless challenges, wasting precious judicial time and dragging veterans and their families through years of unnecessary distress.”
New government legislation on tackling legacy issues is currently making its way through Westminster. It has proved highly controversial, with veterans fearing it will result in them facing further probes and potentially put on trial, while protections the government claimed would apply to former members of the forces have been questioned.
The two generals argue the new laws need to make sure no cases will be brought without “genuinely new evidence which did not exist at the time” and that has been independently certified.
“Unless the new Troubles Bill sets a clear legal threshold and a definitive end point, this cycle will continue,” they stated. “If the government cannot deliver that, the bill should be dropped.”
For Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, MP Alex Burghart, the Coagh legal challenge and ruling upholding the initial inquest verdict “exemplifies why we need to protect veterans and draw a line under Troubles-era cases”.
He added: “It is time to stop endless legal challenges and build proper truth and reconciliation. The Labour government's dreadful Troubles Bill must be dropped immediately.”
Meanwhile a body that looks after veterans of elite units, the UK Special Forces Associations, stated the Coagh case “exposes how attempts to deal with the legacy of the Troubles are being exploited at public expense to punish and persecute veterans, and to peddle a false narrative”.
The body added the Troubles Bill must ensure veterans aren’t “embroiled for years in vexatious litigious proceedings that blight their lives and those of their families”.
Preparations for south Belfast 'asbestos bonfire' to continue despite warnings and concerns
ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, April 17th, 2026
CRIMINAL PROBE INTO SITE ONGOING, BUT NO SIGN YET OF ENFORCEMENT ACTION
Preparations for a controversial bonfire in the Village area of south Belfast at a site contaminated with asbestos are continuing despite warnings.
Organisers have posted a video of the Meridi Street site online.
Last summer, the site made headlines before the Eleventh Night, when the bonfire was built on the land despite the presence of a significant amount of potentially deadly asbestos.
Warnings were aired by Belfast City Council, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and politicians about the dangers of lighting the pyre.
The site is also close to a primary school and an electricity substation that serves the Royal Victoria and Belfast City Hospitals.
Just days before the Eleventh Night, the council agreed to have the bonfire removed by contractors, but these plans fell through after the PSNI said it would not assist contractors in the task.
In a last-ditch attempt to mitigate the danger, the NIEA removed around 20kg of asbestos and covered another pile of the hazardous material with tarpaulin, quarry dust and fire blankets.
Criminal investigation
The bonfire went ahead and a criminal investigation was later launched.
On August 4 last year, the owners of the site, Boron Developments, began remediation work to remove the asbestos.
This work was apparently completed on November 21, but the NIEA later revealed that, following an assessment by an independent consultant, “fragments” of asbestos were still present.
Now, bonfire builders have been collating pallets at the site as the summer approaches, despite the area, which is privately owned, supposedly having been secured. Organisers have posted a video of the site online, along with the caption: “Spot picked. Date set. Circumference sprayed.”
Belfast councillor Donal Lyons said that it “defies belief” that there is asbestos still scattered around the site and that “we're facing into another all too avoidable confrontation”.
“Nobody is saying that communities shouldn't be free to celebrate their traditions in a safe and respectful way, but that's not what we're dealing with here,” he said. “Asbestos is a vicious, dirty poison and this site is in a densely populated area and only a few hundred metres from Northern Ireland's largest hospital.
“There has been real progress in recent years around bonfires across Northern Ireland, and the majority of them pass without issue, but where there is a clear hazard, there needs to be prompt action.
“The Environment Minister, Andrew Muir, seems unwilling, or unable, to act on his own agency's reports and, as a result, people in Belfast are left exposed to this toxic hazard.
“Putting up a few warning signs and washing your hands of the situation simply isn't good enough. The minister needs to urgently explain just what it is he is doing to protect people in Belfast.”
A DAERA spokesperson said: “Minister Muir would again urge local elected representatives to provide the leadership needed to ensure everyone obeys the law and heeds the warnings issued to keep people off the site.
“Remediation and ongoing site security remain the responsibility of the landowner. NIEA has engaged the landowner throughout the remediation process including on the issues of access to the site and signage.” Boron Developments was also contacted.
Lyra McKee trial - judge to consider each defendant separately
ASHLEIGH MCDONALD, Irish News, April 17th, 2026
ALMOST two years after it started, judgement was reserved yesterday in a non-jury trial concerning the death of journalist Lyra McKee.
The 29-year old lost her life after being struck in the head by a bullet fired at police Land Rovers parked in the Fanad Drive area of Creggan during serious unrest on April 18, 2019.
After she heard closing submissions on behalf of the defence which marked the final stages of the trial, Mrs Justice Smyth said she was “very grateful” to all counsel involved in what she described as “an enormously difficult case”.
The senior judge said: “This has been a very complex case and as anyone who has listened to the final submissions will know, there are a number of perspectives that have to considered in respect of each of the important strands of evidence in this case.
“It’s also important to note that each of the defendants is entitled to be treated separately.
“Each offence with which they are charged has to be considered separately and for that reason I can’t give a date at this stage for the final judgement.
“It will take me some time to give proper consideration to all of the points that have been made in this case – but this case will have my priority.”
Nine men from Derry have spent almost two years on trial at Belfast Crown Court on a total of 52 charges arising from both the riot on April 18, 2019 and street disorder in Derry two days beforehand.
Three defendants have been charged with murdering Ms McKee, possessing a firearm and ammunition and other linked offences including rioting and both possessing and throwing petrol bombs.
Joint enterprise
They are not alleged to have fired the gun used to kill Ms McKee but with intentionally encouraging or assisting the gunman on a joint enterprise basis.
The trio are Paul McIntyre (58) from Kells Walk, 25-year old Jordan Devine from Bishop Street and Peter Cavanagh (37) from Mary Street.
Their co-accused were charged with offences including rioting and throwing petrol bombs.
They are Christopher Gillen (45) from Balbane Pass, Joseph Campbell (25) from Gosheden Cottages, 34-year old Patrick Gallagher from John Field Place, Jude McCrory (28) from Gartan Square, Joseph Barr (37) from Sandringham Drive, 57-year old Kieran McCool from Ballymagowan Gardens.
A tenth defendant, 58-year old William Elliot from Ballymagowan Garden in Derry, passed away in England in last February.
All nine accused have denied the charges levelled against them.
Before she reserved judgement, Mrs Justice Smyth was addressed again by Mark Mulholland KC, who is representing Paul McIntyre and who spend a second day making final oral submissions.
Whilst he branded Ms McKee’s death as “a tragedy”, Mr Mulholland spoke of “fragile strands” in a case he described as “circumstantial”.
This, he said, included “generic clothing comparison evidence” and a lack of identification evidence.
Mr Mulholland said that following Ms McKee’s death police “quite properly” employed all their reserves and “left no stone unturned in the course of their investigation” – but that this amounted to rounding up “all the usual suspects”.
The defence barrister said “the problem with that” was that some officers went “outside their duties”, he claimed “lines were crossed” and said that during the trial expert witnesses were “compromised”.
Citing “inconsistencies”, Mr Mulholland said: “We urge and respectfully invite the court to acquit the accused Mr McIntyre.”
This followed similar defence submissions made this week by defence barristers on behalf of all the accused.
At the conclusion of the defence’s submissions, Mrs Justice Smyth expressed her gratitude to all counsel involved and reserved judgement.
Watchdog says MI5 sharing all terrorist intelligence with PSNI
CONNLA YOUNG CRIME and SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, Irish News, April 17th, 2026
THE PSNI has knowledge of all MI5 operations and investigations along with access to its intelligence, an independent reviewer has confirmed.
Details of a review into the relationship between the PSNI and the controversial spy agency were revealed by Secretary of State Hilary Benn this week.
In a written statement the Labour MP provided limited details of a recent report compiled by Dr Jonny Byrne, the Independent Reviewer of National Security Arrangements in the north.
Dr Byrne’s role is to monitor compliance with Annex E of the 2006 St Andrew’s Agreement and review the relationship “between MI5 and PSNI in handling national security matters”.
MI5, which is sometimes referred to as the Security Service, was given primacy in intelligence gathering over the PSNI following the St Andrew’s agreement, is not scrutinised by the Policing Board.
Mr Benn said that “due to the classification of the report” he is unable to provide a copy of the document to libraries at Westminster.
He was speaking just weeks after the New IRA left a proxy bomb at Lurgan PSNI station, which failed to detonate.
While the current paramilitary threat level sits at ‘substantial’, meaning an attack is likely, PSNI chief constable Jon, Boutcher recently said he expects the grading to drop to ‘moderate’ in the coming years.
While it is believed that around 700 staff members are based at a high security MI5 complex at Holywood in Co Down, it has previously been reported that dozens of PSNI officers are also located at the site.
The New IRA left a proxy bomb at Lurgan PSNI station last month
MI5 was linked to collusion during the Troubles and running agents involved in murder and other serious crime.
Vincent Kearney case
It recently admitted to illegally spying on RTÉ journalist Vincent Kearney, along with the PSNI and Met Police.
In his report Dr Byrne said it is “evident that the PSNI have sight and access to all Security Service intelligence relating to terrorism in Northern Ireland.
“It is clear that PSNI and MI5 value the relationship and recognise the importance of working collectively to achieve the same goals.”
The reviewer also confirmed it was “evident from the discussions that both operational and strategic approaches to security were underpinned by the need for joint-working arrangements and coordinated processes.
“There were no independent terrorism investigations taking place in Northern Ireland,” he said.
Dr Byrne added that in relation to the PSNI being informed “of all security Service counter terrorist investigations and operations” there is “compliance”.
He added that all MI5 intelligence is “disseminated within PSNI according to the current PSNI dissemination policy, and using current police procedures.
“All of the material passes through the intelligence branch hub using PSNI grading and intelligence briefing documents,” he said.
The reviewer also confirmed the majority of informers and agents, described as Covert Human Intelligence Sources, are “managed” by the PSNI.
He added that “the topic of national security is rarely discussed at a Northern Ireland political level and institutions such as the Northern Ireland Policing Board rarely (if at all) engage constructively with the subject”.
Daniel Holder of the Committee on the Administration of Justice said “there remains an accountability gap with MI5.
“This is the only reviewers report that is not published,” he said.
“MI5 are not accountable to the Policing Board or Police Ombudsman and the Commissioner for Covert Law Enforcement for NI recommended by the Patten Review was never established.”
Mr Holder said other reviewer reports “have queried the definition and focus on ‘national security’ incidents , where it just refers to attacks on the state.
“The last year has seen far right racist violence linked to elements of loyalist paramilitarism, yet despite involving armed groups this not seen as a ‘national security’ issue,” he added.
Stormont Executive’s united front helps restore a little of its dwindling credibility
JOHN MANLEY POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, Irish News, April 17th, 2026
ANALYSIS
THERE had been a growing expectation from the public that the Stormont Executive needed to act in the face of rising energy costs over recent weeks.
Regardless of the actions of a few yahoos indulging in what looks decidedly like recreational protest, the implications of the US-Israeli rogue action against Iran is clearly starting to bite, with a full tank of diesel now costing more than £100 and no indication that the price of home heating oil is going to fall.
While farmers and businesses with intensive energy usage are probably the worst affected, the impact of the current crisis is also being felt by society’s most financially vulnerable.
Yet, coupled with the public’s hopes of some kind of intervention from the devolved administration is a realisation that ministers are limited in what it can do. The key levers lie in London, while Stormont’s coffers are empty, or less than empty.
But to absolve themselves of any responsibility and not take action would’ve likely been cataclysmic.
It would have been akin to that moment in the Wizard of Oz when the curtain is pulled back, revealing not an all-powerful being but something much more mundane.
For some time there has been a growing sense that Stormont is impotent, unable to make any meaningful difference to people’s lives. Inaction in the face of rising fuel costs would’ve only served to further underline that powerlessness.
In their first joint press conference for six months – that in itself a glaring symptom of terminal dysfunction – ministers did their best to emulate the cavalry coming over the hill.
SF and DUP on same page?
First, Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, flanked by Finance Minister John O’Dowd and Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, presented a surprisingly united front, which it must be conceded is no mean feat given the clear lack of ideological consensus.
Mr Lyons presented his plan for getting £100 to the most needy home heating oil users, with the executive more than match funding the £17m provided by the British government for mitigations against rising fuel costs.
When that money will be lodged in people’s bank accounts and where the additional £19m to pay for it is coming from are questions that currently remain unanswered but it has bought some time and enabled the executive to restore at least a little of its dwindling credibility.
The next step is direct lobbying of the British government. Secretary of State Hilary Benn declined an invitation to attend yesterday’s executive meeting, perhaps justifiably fearing that he would be used as scapegoat for Stormont’s failings.
Now, ministers plan to jointly bend the ear of Prime Minister Keir
“ It’s moot how effective their(Stormont Executive) pleas to Downing Street will be but demonstrating unity of purpose goes a long way to convincing the public that you actually mean business
Starmer, again stressing that despite people in the north enjoying what is characterised as ‘super-parity’, whereby we pay less than households in Britain for public services, the region is underfunded by Whitehall.
Blaming the Brits is a strategy we’ve come to associate most with Sinn Féin but the DUP is seemingly now on the same page, with little to differentiate Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly’s takes on what’s the root cause of our ailing public services.
It’s moot how effective their pleas to Downing Street will be but demonstrating unity of purpose goes a long way to convincing the public that you actually mean business.
Never mind education, let’s have a row about M&S shopping bags
CHRIS DONNELLY, Irish News, April 17th, 2026
THERE can be few stories more ridiculous than the M&S shop-ping bag saga given oxygen through the media this week.
The story was based on comments by two anonymous shoppers, from a nationalist background, who voiced their opposition to using shopping bags incorporating Union flag designs.
By Tuesday, a headline screamed that the high street firm was declining to comment on why it flies the tricolour in Dublin but hides the Union flag in Northern Ireland.
What made the story absurd was the fact it was deemed newsworthy at all.
In a divided society, flags and emblems provoke strong feelings.
Prominent unionist politicians and commentators were quick to articulate their outrage at the suggestion that a store would find it prudent to determine that offering a shopping bag with a design associated with one grouping in the north may be alienating, off-putting or resented by some others.
That a company in the business of making money would abide by the principle of taking the path least likely to negatively impact the pursuit of that objective should not have come as a surprise.
The most galling political intervention came from former UUP leader Doug Beattie, who denounced those objecting to the bags as being guilty of “intolerance of the highest level”.
In 2018, the UUP MLA publicly attacked a GAA club for having goalpost nets in the green, white and yellow colours of the club.
Doug was angry because the colour scheme “created a permanent depiction of the Irish tricolour on the main Tandragee Road between central Craigavon and Lurgan and on one of the main routes used by those travelling from Portadown to Lurgan”. Heaven forbid. Tellingly, Mr Beattie explained that “this display by the club does nothing to make me want to engage with or attend any sporting event at the club”, exposing himself to be guilty of the very mindset which dictates high street shop policy on navigating identity matters.
What we choose to talk about in the public space is often a product of decisions taken by politicians and commentators. But it is also a consequence of decisions made by journalists, broadcasters and others with the ability to shape public discussions. In other words, we are all guilty of prioritising the wrong things to discuss.
Last month, the DUP Education Minister Paul Givan recorded an interview with the Stormont Sources podcast revealing a number of significant policy positions warranting critical exposure and public discussion.
Marks & Spencer said its Sprucefield store was mistakenly sent a batch of carrier bags featuring a Union flag design.
Broaden agenda with fewer facts
From the interview, it is clear he wants to broaden the syllabus for the privately-organised transfer test to reflect other curricular areas beyond maths and literacy.
Mr Givan has been at pains to emphasise his use of evidence to inform his decisions. His department published a ‘myth buster’ document to counter claims made by political opponents and others within education about his TransformEd programme.
Yet, extraordinarily, the interview revealed the minister fundamentally does not appreciate nor understand the breadth of factors contributing towards educational underachievement.
In the discussion, he articulated the belief that a more specific curriculum, with more specific content (reduced in volume) taught with materials provided by the department, “will make sure the attainment gap does close because you will have much greater levels of consistency across every school”.
In other words, he believes we will effectively address underachievement by teaching kids fewer facts, making sure teachers all use the same resources endorsed by the department.
Instructional teaching is not the silver bullet to closing the attainment gap for poorer pupils, though effective teaching obviously plays a significant part.
It simply cannot balance out the disadvantage caused by a system constructed on the shaky foundations of academic selection, which leads to 90% of newcomer children and 90% of looked-after children, alongside the overwhelming majority of poor children, being taught in non-grammar school classrooms with 100% of the children with the lowest attainment levels in numeracy and literacy.
Giving their teachers the same resource materials as their counterparts in grammar schools is not going to be the key difference-maker.
That view is informed by compelling evidence, affirmed by expert opinion from educationalists whom he is personally acquainted with, including Lucy Crehan. The educationalist was appointed by Paul Givan to conduct the Strategic Review of the NI Curriculum. She told MLAs last month at the Stormont Education Committee that “if I was starting from scratch with an education system, I would introduce a comprehensive education system rather than a selective one”.
In a society in which the numbers of young adults not in education, employment or training continues to loom large, for the education minister to clearly fail to appreciate the significance of that is worrying in itself.
What is much worse, however, is that the minister appears intent on deepening the structural inequalities that define our education system.
That is the logical consequence of his current policy directing schools based in working-class communities to disproportionately carry the responsibility for addressing the SEN crisis by opening SpIM classes spared school communities with affluent pupil enrolments, a development almost certain to ensure the main legacy from Paul Givan’s tenure will be a widening of the attainment gap.
That is an issue truly meriting column inches in our newspapers and coverage on our airwaves.
Writing on the wall for some time over cash crisis at Ulster University
MARK BAIN, Belfast Telegraph, April 17th, 2026
It would be incredibly easy to say 450 members of staff at Ulster University are now going to pay the price for the cost of its relocation to Belfast city centre.
Some have already done so, pointing the finger at overspending on the 'shiny new' York Street complex built at a cost of over £350m.
A quick check of the NI Audit Office report dismisses that entirely.
The initial estimated cost of £254m, it says, “omitted estimated finance costs of £130 million, associated with external borrowing, and as such did not accurately present the full cost of the project”.
“Total expenditure on the project, at September 2023, was £342.6 million,” it adds. “The forecast for the project is £364 million.”
The campus was delivered within the original budget.
Since UU's arrival over 30 new businesses have opened in Cathedral Quarter. The economic impact hasn't gone unnoticed by Angela McGowan, Director, CBI Northern Ireland.
“It is deeply disappointing that a local university is being forced to make severe cuts in response to restrictive funding models,” she said.
The price of dodging tough decisions
“What we are seeing is the culmination of the NI Executive's ongoing reluctance to take difficult decisions, whether on student fees or in other areas.
“This continued avoidance of tough choices will ultimately come at a high cost to the Northern Ireland economy and future generations... and sustained funding restrictions in this area will have serious consequences for both productivity and living standards in the long-term.”
Having moved to Belfast, then why does UU not just sell the old site at Jordanstown to ease financial pressure?
That, given the size of the estate and the location, is easier said than done.
The university initially aimed to sell 100 acres of the site for a 600-home housing development. Plans were blocked by the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) in 2016 due to concerns regarding the loss of open space and the quality of the proposed development — and anyway the sale of Jordanstown has already been factored into the calculations that led to Wednesday's announcement.
Unions have said staff have been left 'shocked' by the voluntary redundancy scheme.
But the writing has been on the wall for some time, whether those with a vested interest have chosen to read it or not.
In December last year staff were informed that there would be a freeze on promotions for academic staff due to “unprecedented financial challenges”.
Vice chancellor Paul Bartholomew informed them: “While we have so far been able to avoid redundancies, it is essential that we continue to consider all possible financial efficiencies.
“Due to the decision not to uplift tuition fees in line with even just recent inflation, nor to uplift the teaching element of the block grant in line with inflation, these pressures remain unmitigated.”
Look further back at the university's financial statement in July 2025 and there were clear signs of the direction of travel. “The sector has experienced a significant downturn in international student recruitment due to changes in visa regulations and increased cost of employers National Insurance contributions introduced during the year,” the financial report stated.
“In addition, there has been no increase in 'per student' funding from the NI Executive for undergraduate home students.
‘Loss making model’
“While the NI Executive is providing funding to support Derry-Londonderry expansion, the recurrent funding per student is at an unsustainable level and the University must guard against growing a loss making model.”
Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald has consistently ruled out any tuition fee increase.
Every year there are far more young people hoping to get on to courses at home than the number of places allow. Numbers are capped by Stormont, so many head elsewhere and pay higher fees anyway — and don't come home.
Our universities can only balance the books for so long — and this week was long enough with Ulster University making a 'difficult choice' while others have chosen not to.
Universities — and the staff in particular — are paying the price for having ambition.
Perhaps the biggest issue in their planning ahead was the belief that at Stormont, there would be a similar investment for the future.
Part of that ambition was expanding into Qatar in 2020. The Qatar campus didn't cost the university a penny. It was backed by partners.
Ulster University is not alone in cutting overheads. Queen's University has been going through a similar voluntary redundancy scheme having announced the intention to cut 270 jobs last October.
In December 2024 the taskforce for the expansion of the Derry-Londonderry campus published its report, including an Action Plan for the delivery of 10,000 students by 2032.
There are constant references to the need for “a sustainable funding model”. None has materialised.
The Economy Minister's response this week was: “The common issue is that institutions are not being properly funded by the British Government in terms of being able to deliver.
“The issue that we have seen in terms of the announcement by Ulster University, that's the real world consequences of the Executive not being properly funded.”
Not a suggestion that it's the real world consequence of the Executive, again, not making a difficult decision — and leaving it up to others to bite that bullet and take the damage that comes from the impact.
Deaths linked to long emergency department waits now over 1,000
GARRETT HARGAN, Belfast Telegraph, April 17th, 2026
LIVES LOST LINKED TO 'CATASTROPHE' IN OUR HEALTH SERVICE HAVE DOUBLED IN FIVE YEARS
Deaths linked to long Emergency Department (ED) waits more than doubled in five years, a report has found.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has said Northern Ireland policymakers must address the “catastrophe” unfolding in EDs.
The college issued the stark warning after the publication of its State of Emergency Medicine in Northern Ireland report.
In 2025, some 1,032 excess deaths were associated with waits of 12 or more hours in EDs here while awaiting admission, the report reveals.
That year-long figure is the equivalent of almost 20 lives lost each week of the year.
While the overall death figure is slightly lower than in 2024 (1,122) and 2023 (1,063), the report showed that the estimated mortality figure has more than doubled over five years.
In 2020, the estimated mortality figure was less than half of what it was in 2025 — at 461.
A decade ago, in 2016, there were just 60 excess deaths attributed to long waits.
Dr Michael Perry, Northern Ireland Vice President for RCEM, said: “Behind these numbers are stories of families ripped apart by avoidable deaths which have happened because successive governments have failed to grab the ED crisis by the horns.
“We must not let the slight reduction on the previous year give us false assurance that the problem is being fixed. Such a glacial pace of progress is not good enough.
“Our health service has the highest rates of long waits in EDs, and deaths per capita resulting from them, of any UK nation. That statement should shock our policymakers to the core.
“Politicians and system leaders need to treat this like the catastrophe in need of redress that it is.”
The report also outlines how overcrowding and long waits in EDs is not the result of an increase in demand.
The number of people attending departments has barely changed, while the number of long waits, and deaths, has soared.
It also lays out RCEM's key recommendations for the Northern Ireland Executive, including committing to eradicate corridor care and mortality associated with long ED waits by the end of the decade.
‘A fixable problem.’
Dr Perry continued: “The good news is that this is a fixable problem.
“While, sadly, we cannot help the loved ones who have already experienced a bereavement at the hands of a broken system, we know what measures can prevent future heartbreak.
“Our report contains the answers.
“Accountability, a whole-system approach to patient flow and targets to end corridor care and deaths associated with long waits will make the difference.
“We look forward to hearing from policymakers eager to put these measures in place.”
The report recommends that the NI Executive end corridor care and mortality associated with long waits in EDs by the end of the decade.
It also calls on the adoption of a whole-system approach to ending ED overcrowding, with responsibility for performance spread across the entire patient pathway.
Furthermore, it urges accountability for ending overcrowding and calls on the Executive to implement measures to make sure excess deaths associated with long waits in ED are treated with the same seriousness as deaths in other medical specialities.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “The minister and department acknowledge the continued pressures on our emergency departments.
“This is a complex problem with no quick fix, but the only medium to long-term solution is to reduce demand and manage demand differently.
“That means reducing the number of people coming through ED doors, as well as getting people out of hospital as soon as they are fit for discharge to free up beds.
“Our reset plan is attempting, over the next three years, to refocus our work towards earlier support and intervention, prevention, providing neighbourhood-based care and encouraging people to take more responsibility for their own health on a routine basis.
“We are also looking at how we can care for our frail elderly patients better by providing more care closer to home and preventing avoidable admissions to the hospital.
“However, we recognise that this will take time to have an impact and it is not helped by the very challenging financial position.
“In the interim, we will continue to manage the quality of care we are able to provide to the best effect, ensuring the needs of our patients and staff remain our priority.
“The minister has discussed patient flow and hospital discharge issues with HSC chief executives, and all agreed the need to increase community capacity was the most important single change that is required.
“This is consistent with the reset plan towards a neighbourhood model of delivery.”
