DUP man and High Court judge clash over victim payments scheme
ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, May 14th, 2026
MR JUSTICE MCALINDEN ACCUSES MLA OF 'NOT BEING RESPECTFUL' DURING STORMONT COMMITTEE MEETING
Heated words were exchanged between a High Court judge and a DUP MLA during a Stormont committee meeting yesterday over what defines a Troubles victim.
Mr Justice McAlinden, who is also president of the Victims' Payments Board (VPB), accused Phillip Brett of “not being respectful” after the DUP MLA said the judge seemed to be “getting very angry” over his questioning.
Members of the Executive Office scrutiny committee received an update briefing on the work of the VPB, which provides payments to those who suffered permanent physical or physiological injuries through Troubles-related incidents.
The committee was told that more than 13,000 applications to the scheme have been made to date, with around 4,800 cases being determined and 3,000 of these being deemed eligible.
To date, the scheme has paid out £139m to victims.
During the meeting, Mr Brett brought up comments Mr Justice McAlinden had made during a previous appearance before the committee last year, in which he said there were “clear deficiencies” in the scheme, which had been “imposed” by Westminster after the Executive was “unable to agree a scheme that facilitated all views on victimhood”.
Mr Brett pointed to the judge's comment that, if the Assembly and Executive could “bring their heads together”, they could “reconstruct the scheme to make sure that everyone who was injured was included”.
The current scheme does not allow for payments for those injured by their own hand, or many of those bereaved through Troubles incidents.
Yesterday, Mr Justice McAlinden said: “The one issue that I think is crying out for improvement here is the inclusion of the bereaved within some form of scheme. The present scheme does not include the bereaved.”
Mr Brett, who wasn't a member of the committee when the judge appeared previously, pushed back: “Your comments didn't say bereaved, with all due respect.
“Your comments said 'reconstruct the scheme to make sure that everyone who was injured was included'.”
Redefining victims
The judge said if the scheme was to be improved so that it has “universal support within Northern Ireland” it would “require a redefinition of victimhood”.
“It would, in essence, mean that the issue of what you were doing at the time that you were injured, etc, would all have to be looked at,” he said.
“Are people who are, let's say, injured when they are engaging in certain activities, are they still victims of the Troubles that are entitled to payment? That would be an issue for the Executive, an issue for the Assembly.”
Mr Brett said Mr Justice McAlinden's previous comments “didn't preface that”, but he had “said to change the scheme to make sure that everyone who was injured was included”.
The judge hit back: “I'm not advocating a change in the scheme. You weren't here. I was here, and I know what I was...”
Mr Brett interjected: “You seem to be getting very angry, but I'm just bringing back to your words.” At this point, committee chair urged the pair to “please be respectful”, to which the DUP MLA said he was. Mr Justice McAlinden responded: “No you're not, actually. You're not being respectful.”
The judge added: “I've had a difficult enough five years engaging in this scheme, trying to run this scheme, as well as running my job as a High Court judge, OK?
“I'm doing this entirely on a voluntary basis without one cent of payment, because I was asked to do it by the former Lord Chief Justice.
“I do my best to ensure that that scheme is operated in accordance with the legislative provisions that I have. That's my duty as a judge. But I do operate within the real world, and I know that this scheme and the definition of victimhood is something that is divisive in our society.”
Mr Brett, whose brother Gavin was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in 2001, pointed out that he himself is a victim also, which the judge acknowledged. The DUP MLA added: “My party's position will remain that, if you blew yourself up, you did not injure yourself and be entitled to receive compensation.”
Mr Justice McAlinden said his worry is that “we, in this society, tend to drag each other back and we are unable to embrace each other and move forward”.
Mr Brett replied: “I have no problem with embracing people. All I do have a problem with is trying to put on the same level somebody that was blown up in a bomb and someone who played a part in placing that bomb.
“All I was doing, with all due respect, sir, was quoting back the remarks that you made.”
Troubles legacy body has office at PSNI compound in Co Antrim
CONNLA YOUNG, Irish News, May 14th, 2026
A BRITISH government-created legacy body has an office at one of the north’s largest PSNI stations, it has emerged.
The Independent ` Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) was left reeling this week after a damning review revealed a “toxic” and “divided” working culture.
It was established under the Conservative Party’s Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 and is set to be rebranded the Legacy Commission as part of the Troubles Bill.
Many people impacted by the Troubles are opposed to the commission, believing it to be part of a British government attempt to protect state participants from accountability.
Former police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan says ‘something fundamentally wrong’ with legacy bodyOpens in new window
Thirty-six former RUC/PSNI officers now working for legacy body-Opens in new window
Its chief commissioner is former Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, while ex-senior police officer Peter Sheridan heads its investigations.
Redactions
The critical review, which was carried out by former Civil Service permanent secretary Peter May, includes several redactions. These include references to where ICRIR staff are based.
While it is known the commission has an office in Belfast, its staff also have a base in England.
However, details about two sites referred to in the review have been
The ICRIR has a base at a PSNI base at Seapark, near Carrickfergus, it has emerged blacked out. It has now emerged that the ICRIR has an office at the PSNI’s Seapark complex, near Carrickfergus, where a large number of police records are stored.
Despite the secrecy highlighted in the May review, the PSNI last night confirmed “that ICRIR have an office facility at its Seapark site”.
The ICRIR said it’s “main headquarters” is in Belfast and that it has “operational sites across Northern Ireland and in London”.
“We access PSNI Seapark to maintain our independence in accessing material, evidence and documents directly and held in the murder archive, relevant to our investigations,” a spokeswoman added.
Paul O’Connor from the Pat Finucane Centre asked “why this was redacted from the report since questions were bound to be asked about the ‘secret site’?
“At one level it would be expected that the ICRIR have full and unfettered access to the central Special Branch archive within Seapark, but why mislead the public? He said.
Mr O’Connor questioned the security of the Seapark facility, pointing the Steven’s Inquiry into collusion was based there when a fire broke out in 1990.
“In terms of security PSNI Seapark is of course a fortified PSNI base but in the past the security of this location has been hugely compromised,” he said.
“This is where John Steven’s office was located when it was completely destroyed in a fire which
Stevens stated was an ‘inside job’,” he said.
He also said that Secretary of State Hilary Benn has repeatedly urged the family of murdered GAA official Sean Brown “to meet the ICRIR and discuss how the body might offer an alternative to the public inquiry they are demanding”.
“The latest damning report on the ICRIR is a sharp reminder as to why the family do not wish to go down this road,” he added.
The problem with rights bodies isn’t bias. It’s group-think
NEWTON EMERSON, Irish News, May 14th, 2026
THE UUP has called for an independent review of Northern Ireland’s rights and equality commissions following the Supreme Court ruling last week on the Troubles Legacy Act.
The party claims both organisations have lost cross-community confidence by effectively taking nationalist positions.
The DUP and the TUV have made similar complaints, with TUV leader Jim Allister calling for “heads to roll”.
It would be unfortunate if this leads to criticism of individuals. The problem at the commissions is stultifying group-think across the entire rights and equality sectors.
Both organisations see themselves as presiding over rational legal mechanisms rather than inherently political and contested questions. Both can seem oblivious to the subjectivity of their own views.
Two years ago, the Human Rights Commission challenged the Rwanda deportation scheme, arguing it reduced an asylum seeker’s rights and therefore breached the Windsor Framework.
The commission won its case. However, the judge at Belfast High Court noted this is a complicated and sometimes finely balanced question. European rights law does allow states to deport people to protect their citizens, even if that breaches deportees’ rights.
Would the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission ever bring a case on behalf of a citizen, arguing that failure to deport a dangerous criminal threatened the citizen’s rights to life and safety – rights the state is meant to pro-actively uphold?
As far as I can ascertain, no human right commission anywhere in the world has ever brought such a case, despite ample grounds to do so. It never seems to occur to them and they would doubtless recoil in horror if it were proposed.
The law and courts recognise that rights conflict with each other and that resolving this is a never-ending debate. Yet on almost every conflict, there is a crushing consensus within the rights sector about which side it is on.
Westminster has just banned nofault evictions for private tenants in England. Sinn Féin wants a similar ban here but the DUP has opted for longer notice periods, arguing it has to respect the property rights of landlords. The European Convention protects the right to property. Would the Human Rights Commission bring a case on behalf of a landlord against no-fault evictions? It is hard to imagine.
The last Conservative government planned to appeal the Rwanda ruling before it lost power and the scheme was scrapped. But the key question in that case came up again last week.
Wider range of voices
Our rights and equality commissions need to reflect a wider range of voices
“ It makes more sense to think of the commissions having a single-minded view that ‘more rights are good’
The Supreme Court ruled the Windsor Framework only protects Good Friday Agreement rights, not more general European rights or non-devolved UK matters like immigration.
The human rights and equality commissions had argued the framework requires Northern Ireland to shadow all European rights law. This would mean cross-border harmonisation, hence unionist accusations of nationalist bias.
It makes more sense to think of the commissions having a single-minded view that ‘more rights are good’.
Some might feel this strays into political activism, or means fewer rights for others, but those people are so far outside the sector’s consensus it struggles to see their views as legitimate.
The scale of this group-think was demonstrated two decades ago during the failed attempt to create a bill of rights.
The Good Friday Agreement requires investigating if any extra rights are necessary “to reflect the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland”.
Instead of the limited bill this implies, the rights sector tried to put broad economic and social rights into law – rights to work, health and housing, for example.
This was opposed by some members of the Human Rights Commission from unionist backgrounds, who said it was undemocratic as it committed Stormont to left-wing government.
When they were outvoted, they asked to have their dissenting opinion included in the commission’s report. That was over-ruled as well.
Dissenters
The members later resigned, the government binned the report for lacking cross-community support, and no lessons were apparently learned.
Correcting this is not as straightforward as appointing more unionist commissioners.
There are no explicitly unionist or nationalist appointees to the human rights or equality commissions, which at first sight might seem positive. Appointments are made on merit by the secretary of state, usually based on experience in relevant sectors. In practice, this reinforces the group-think.
Although appointments to the Human Rights Commission are required “to reflect community balance”, a religious headcount is not enough if most appointees are from the closed shops of the rights and equality sectors.
Balance of left and right is probably more important than balance of unionist and nationalist, although they often serve as proxies for each other.
International rules known as the Paris Principles restrict party political members on human rights commissions and steer appointments towards lawyers, academics and trade unionists. But the rules still require “the pluralist representation of the social forces involved in the protection and promotion of human rights”.
Our commissions need to reflect a much wider range of those forces.
Two-thirds of people back cross-community school mergers to save money
MARK BAIN, Belfast Telegraph, May 5th, 2026
SMALL RURAL SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN COMING UNDER INCREASING FINANCIAL PRESSURE
New polling suggests that almost two-thirds of people in Northern Ireland support the idea of cross-community solutions to ensure the future of schools.
Around 300 schools in Northern Ireland are currently deemed to be below the threshold of sustainability, according to the Department of Education.
Last month, the Education Minister published his draft budget strategy for the next five years, in which the future decrease in pupil numbers and sustainability of small rural schools was highlighted as an important financial and societal consideration.
“Across all school phases, pupil numbers are projected to decline significantly over the next decade. By the 2033/34 academic year, overall enrolment is expected to fall by 12.7pc,” Paul Givan said.
“This trend highlights the urgent need to plan for a smaller, more sustainable school estate. Without action, increasing numbers of schools will struggle to meet these thresholds, placing pressure on resources and limiting opportunities for pupils.”
Conducted by LucidTalk and commissioned by the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), the survey found that 65pc of respondents said they would support cross sectoral mergers and amalgamation of schools.
Over 1,900 responses were collated, and the poll was balanced by gender, age-group, area of residence, and community background, to ensure it was demographically representative of Northern Ireland today.
Further questions focused on the current financial crisis facing both schools and education support bodies. The idea of amalgamating schools on a cross-community basis was the most popular action the government could take according to the survey.
Other findings included overwhelming support (81pc) for a government survey of all parents to assess parental demand and preference for different types of school provision.
In the Republic of Ireland, the government has recently completed a similar exercise with the Department of Education and Youth carrying out a survey which resulted in an exceptionally high level of engagement. More than 41pc of all households with primary school or pre-school-aged children responding to the questionnaire.
One significant outcome of the survey was that around 40pc of parents of children attending Catholic or other religiously denominated primary schools would prefer their child to attend a multi-denominational school.
IEF chief executive Paul Caskey said it was clear the current education system is no longer fit for purpose.
“Education cannot function efficiently with the current budget available,” he said.
“Seventy per cent of our schools are operating in a financial deficit and many more are due to follow. Schools are in disrepair, with an estimated £800m maintenance and repair backlog across the entire schools' estate.
£150 million cost annually
“The recent Ulster University Transforming Education project estimated the cost of division at an additional £150m each year.
“Ultimately, Northern Ireland can either rationalise the schools' estate within the existing school sectors, or it can seize an opportunity to do things differently and develop meaningful cross-sectoral solutions that contribute to greater integration,” said Mr Caskey.
“At a time when resources are being spread so thinly and the majority of schools are in deficit; we urgently need action and solutions. We simply cannot afford to keep doing what we have been doing for another 20 years.”
Loyalists plan to hold protest during ‘humanitarian’ march
CONNLA YOUNG CRIME and SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, Irish News, May 15th, 2026
LOYALISTS are planning to hold a protest during a “humanitarian” march to highlight the ongoing plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
The ‘Great March for Gaza and International Justice’ has been organised by the Lurgan Branch of the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (IPSC).
Up to 1,500 people are expected to take part in the march from Lurgan to Newry on June 6.
Around 70,000 Palestinians, including thousands of women and children, have been killed since Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza in October 2023.
The attack on Gaza followed a Hamas-led assault on Israel in which around 1,200 were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The route of the march includes a section of the Newry Canal towpath and passes through the mainly unionist village of Scarva, in Co Down.
A group calling itself Scarva Concerned Residents has now signalled it will hold a protest during the march to oppose what it calls a “republican pro-Gaza parade”.
‘Sensitive’
Scarva Concerned Residents have notified the Parades Commission of its intention to hold a protest during the Palestinian support march. The counter-protest has been marked ‘sensitive’.
Flyers circulated on social media state “Scarva rejects republican propaganda” and “our village our choice”.
‘A march for peace with people there from all creeds, colours and religions’
A loyalist band from Markethill in Co Armagh has also organised a “sponsored walk” along the towpath from Scarva to Portadown, which will pass in the opposite direction to the pro-Palestinian march at around the same time.
Markethill Volunteers Flute Band has organised the sponsored walk to mark the 82nd anniversary of D-Day.
The event is in aid of The Frontier Pipes and Drums band, which is the only British military veterans’ pipe band in the north.
Organisers say they are expecting up to 1,000 participants and supporters and have notified the Parades Commission.
The planned walk too has been marked ‘sensitive’.
There was a large police presence as dozens of protesting loyalists gathered in Scarva last year, as a similar IPSC-organised march passed through the area.
Each July, thousands of loyal order members and their supporters descend on the village for a parade and sham fight linked to the Royal Black Institution.
In a statement, the Lurgan Branch of IPSC said the planned march “is a peaceful, community-led and humanitarian mobilisation calling for civilian protection, humanitarian relief, respect for international law and the right to peaceful public assembly”.
The committee said “the genocide in Gaza is not a divisive green and orange issue” adding that it “is a march for peace with people attending from all creeds, colours and religions.
“It has not, is not and never will be a republican march,” it added.
Veterans to be protected from ‘legal wild west’ in Troubles Bill
REBECCA BLACK, Irish News, May 14th, 2026
LAWFUL protection for military veterans and a reformed Legacy Commission have been pledged in the Government’s Troubles Bill to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past.
The proposed legislation, which will replace the previous government’s controversial Legacy Act, will also see a limited number of legacy inquests restored. The Bill is considered by the Government to be needed because the Legacy Act was “flawed and l eft our veterans without any lawful protection and exposed to a legal Wild West”.
The Bill proposes “effective protections” for veterans who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, including ensuring they are “treated with dignity and respect” when approached for information.
The Government’s new Troubles Bill is set to ensure protections for military veterans
It is proposed that cold calls to veterans be stopped, as well as requests for veterans to travel to the north to give evidence. There is also a pledge for “no needless duplication of previous investigations”.
The Bill is described as providing “effective protections for veterans”, as well as enabling bereaved families, including of service personnel, to get answers about what happened to their loved ones.
This is to be supported by the “fullest possible disclosure” from the Republic of Ireland authorities for investigations conducted by the Legacy Commission.
Immunity issue
It was also pledged that “nobody receives immunity for terrorist crimes”, and the “strongest safeguards for veterans and all who served to bring about peace” will be put in place.
The 2023 Legacy Act halted scores of court cases, including of inquests, concerning incidents from the Troubles, with a view to transferring those to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). Conditional immunity had been proposed for the perpetrators of some Troubles crimes in exchange for co-operation with the ICRIR.
Parts of the Act were found to be incompatible with human rights, and also undermined the rights of victims in breach of the Windsor Framework, which was signed following the UK leaving the EU.
The Troubles Act will see a reformed Legacy Commission, reconstituted from the ICRIR, aimed to inspire the confidence of victims and families.
It will have the powers to investigate and fact-find for families affected by the Troubles across the UK, and will have new governance arrangements as well as a statutory victims and survivors advisory group and new conflict of interest duties.
The Bill also proposes an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR) jointly with the Irish Government, described as “consistent with the Stormont House Agreement”. It is to operate, initially on a pilot basis, to provide families with an additional means to retrieve information. Any information disclosed by individuals to the ICIR is to be inadmissible in criminal and civil proceedings.
Heated words as DUP man and High Court judge clash over victim payment scheme
ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, May 14th, 2026
MR JUSTICE MCALINDEN ACCUSES MLA OF 'NOT BEING RESPECTFUL' DURING STORMONT COMMITTEE MEETING
Heated words were exchanged between a High Court judge and a DUP MLA during a Stormont committee meeting yesterday over what defines a Troubles victim.
Mr Justice McAlinden, who is also president of the Victims' Payments Board (VPB), accused Phillip Brett of “not being respectful” after the DUP MLA said the judge seemed to be “getting very angry” over his questioning.
Members of the Executive Office scrutiny committee received an update briefing on the work of the VPB, which provides payments to those who suffered permanent physical or physiological injuries through Troubles-related incidents.
The committee was told that more than 13,000 applications to the scheme have been made to date, with around 4,800 cases being determined and 3,000 of these being deemed eligible.
To date, the scheme has paid out £139m to victims.
During the meeting, Mr Brett brought up comments Mr Justice McAlinden had made during a previous appearance before the committee last year, in which he said there were “clear deficiencies” in the scheme, which had been “imposed” by Westminster after the Executive was “unable to agree a scheme that facilitated all views on victimhood”.
Mr Brett pointed to the judge's comment that, if the Assembly and Executive could “bring their heads together”, they could “reconstruct the scheme to make sure that everyone who was injured was included”.
The current scheme does not allow for payments for those injured by their own hand, or many of those bereaved through Troubles incidents.
Yesterday, Mr Justice McAlinden said: “The one issue that I think is crying out for improvement here is the inclusion of the bereaved within some form of scheme. The present scheme does not include the bereaved.”
Mr Brett, who wasn't a member of the committee when the judge appeared previously, pushed back: “Your comments didn't say bereaved, with all due respect.
“Your comments said 'reconstruct the scheme to make sure that everyone who was injured was included'.”
Redefining victims
The judge said if the scheme was to be improved so that it has “universal support within Northern Ireland” it would “require a redefinition of victimhood”.
“It would, in essence, mean that the issue of what you were doing at the time that you were injured, etc, would all have to be looked at,” he said.
“Are people who are, let's say, injured when they are engaging in certain activities, are they still victims of the Troubles that are entitled to payment? That would be an issue for the Executive, an issue for the Assembly.”
Mr Brett said Mr Justice McAlinden's previous comments “didn't preface that”, but he had “said to change the scheme to make sure that everyone who was injured was included”.
The judge hit back: “I'm not advocating a change in the scheme. You weren't here. I was here, and I know what I was...”
Mr Brett interjected: “You seem to be getting very angry, but I'm just bringing back to your words.” At this point, committee chair urged the pair to “please be respectful”, to which the DUP MLA said he was. Mr Justice McAlinden responded: “No you're not, actually. You're not being respectful.”
The judge added: “I've had a difficult enough five years engaging in this scheme, trying to run this scheme, as well as running my job as a High Court judge, OK?
“I'm doing this entirely on a voluntary basis without one cent of payment, because I was asked to do it by the former Lord Chief Justice.
“I do my best to ensure that that scheme is operated in accordance with the legislative provisions that I have. That's my duty as a judge. But I do operate within the real world, and I know that this scheme and the definition of victimhood is something that is divisive in our society.”
Mr Brett, whose brother Gavin was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in 2001, pointed out that he himself is a victim also, which the judge acknowledged. The DUP MLA added: “My party's position will remain that, if you blew yourself up, you did not injure yourself and be entitled to receive compensation.”
Mr Justice McAlinden said his worry is that “we, in this society, tend to drag each other back and we are unable to embrace each other and move forward”.
Mr Brett replied: “I have no problem with embracing people. All I do have a problem with is trying to put on the same level somebody that was blown up in a bomb and someone who played a part in placing that bomb.
“All I was doing, with all due respect, sir, was quoting back the remarks that you made.”
Bertie, master of plámásing voters, comes unstuck by social media
MARY REGAN, Irish Independent, May 14th, 2026
Election canvass backfires as ex-FF leader lands party in racism row
During the 2007 general election, when Bertie Ahern was on a roll as taoiseach, he was still looking after his home turf, out pounding the pavements in Drumcondra.
When he knocked on the door of one voter, he found a former friendly face who was extremely angry after losing a certain social welfare benefit because he had taken on a couple of hours' extra work.
Ahern shook his head in disbelief and told the man: "I cannot believe they did that to you.”
The master of the art of the political canvass left even his own team gobsmacked when he managed to convince the voter that it was someone else's fault entirely that he had lost the payment.
Bertie the candidate had successfully managed to separate himself from Ahern the Taoiseach.
The encounter went down in the lore of Fianna Fáil, and is often used as an example of Ahern's unrivalled ability to tell people what they wanted to hear and convince whoever he was talking to that he was on their side.
That political trademark which was the key to his success - not just in his constituency of Dublin Central, but in securing three successive government terms for his party - has now come unstuck as he finds himself at the centre of a racism row.
As Ahern finds himself back knocking on doors in his old stomping ground after an absence of over 15 years, the master of the art of the canvass has found he has a lot to learn in the new age of social media and political polarisation.
Against charges of "disgusting racism” in the Dáil, those who know Ahern well have turned to his political trademark of telling people what they want to hear as an excuse for his comments about migration. He has used a similar defence as he was forced to disavow the comments he made to a voter when he did not know he was being recorded.
"I was trying to calm it all down, you know. You knock on hundreds of doors and she was taping it behind the door,” he told the Irish Independent.
In the recording, Ahern is challenged by a woman who can be heard complaining about the "hordes of foreigners coming into our country” and asked: "Can we not close our borders?”
She said: "All these people coming in. The Indians, that have a space programme, all these Muslims have 47 countries. All these Africans that have a massive continent and massive natural resources.”
The former Fianna Fáil leader, who did not know he was being recorded, is heard saying he thinks "there are too many coming in”.
‘No problems with Ukrainians’
"I think we have to take some in,” he said. "I have no problems with the Ukrainians. In fairness, Russia moved in and [there is] war in their country.
"But the ones I worry about are the Africans. I agree with you on the Africans. We can't be taking in people from the Congo and all these places. I think there's too many from those places.”
The woman asked him about Muslim migrants and said she was concerned about Sharia law.
Mr Ahern said he did not "worry about this generation of Muslims”, but he did worry about the "next generation and the kids growing up”.
"That's when I think the problem will be. I said this to [Justice Minister] Jim O'Callaghan. That's where the problem comes. How are you anyway?” he added.
The episode has led to criticism in the Dáil, where Mr Ahern was accused of "disgusting racism” by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy. who said: "People from the Congo didn't take corrupt payments from developers to blow up the property bubble.
"Muslim children didn't crash the economy, causing years of misery and austerity for ordinary people.”
Although he had not apologised, Mr Ahern has resiled from the comments made during the covert recording, saying he supports Mr O'Callaghan's policies on immigration.
"I have said in the past the asylum process should be quicker, but I do acknowledge it has speeded up a bit in recent times,” he said. "I have no problem with people who come here through the visa and asylum systems.”
The comments are unlikely to shift the dial in the Dublin Central by-election where the party's candidate, John Stephens, was never expected to win the seat.
Nor are the comments likely to inflict any major damage on Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.
However, they will not be much help either and are another addition to the list of political headaches the party has to deal with as it prepares to mark its ard fheis and centenary celebrations this weekend.
While Mr Martin tried to distance himself from the comments, saying it is "not appropriate to be specific about any ethnicity”, there will be many who think he should have gone much further in criticising Mr Ahern's words, which risk spreading further fear and division among communities.
Setback
The Social Democrats candidate in the constituency, Daniel Ennis, said the comments set back attempts at integration in Dublin's north inner city.
"Fianna Fáil's Bertie Ahern was happy to toe this odious line on the streets of Dublin - happy to promote discrimination for a vote,” he said. "This is the opposite of the leadership our community needs.”
He called on Fianna Fáil to clarify whether Mr Ahern will continue on the campaign trail.
More than anything, the comments are a wake-up call for all politicians on the changing nature of political campaigning. In the age of digital recording and social media, those who go looking for votes cannot always tell the voters what they think they want to hear.
In recent elections, political parties, including Mr Ahern's own, have been careful to warn canvassers that not only are they at risk of being recorded, but many homes have video-recording devices at their doorbells.
"If you are trying to get votes, you are trying to be agreeable to people and you'll often just politely go along with what they're saying,” one seasoned canvasser said last night. "But the encounters at the doorstep are becoming far more cautious now.”
As Mr Ahern put it yesterday: "One time you could talk to people and argue with them. It's a different world, this social media thing. You talk to people at doors and you don't expect people to be taping you, you don't expect people to be recording.”
But recording they were, and in any increasingly polarised age, with deep divisions over migration and racial tensions bubbling in communities such as the one he represented, it is no longer possible to be all things to all people.
No Irish language strategy in lifetime of current Stormont executive
ALAN ERWIN, Irish News, May 14th, 2026
AN Irish language strategy will not be implemented during the current Stormont Executive’s lifetime, the High Court has been told.
The Department for Communities has confirmed there are no current plans to deliver the long-awaited blueprint before the power-sharing mandate ends next year, a judge was told.
Irish language campaigners Conradh na Gaeilge described the development as “outrageous”.
The group is now pressing for a judicial order compelling Communities Minister Gordon Lyons to put a strategy in place.
Conradh na Gaeilge has been involved in a long-running legal battle over pledges to progress an initiative for the Irish language which dates back to the 2006 St Andrews Agreement.
The High Court has already ruled on two previous occasions that the Stormont administration is in breach of an obligation to adopt a blueprint.
The continued failure contravenes the 1998 Northern Ireland Act, successive judges held.
Amid an ongoing alleged violation of that legal duty, the language campaigners issued fresh judicial review proceedings against both the Executive and the Communities Minister.
Breach
Counsel for Conradh na Gaeilge contends the ongoing failure to implement a strategy cannot be justified, and that Mr Lyons is in breach of an obligation to put a strategy in place.
In court yesterday, Karen Quinlivan KC urged the judge to ensure no further delay in determining the merits of their case.
She revealed that a senior official within the department has submitted a further affidavit about the prospects of delivering on the initiative.
“(He) has now acknowledged there will be no Irish language strategy within the lifetime of this Executive, in other words before it falls next year,” the barrister said.
Ms Quinlivan added: “We have two High Court judgments which say delaying for a year is too long. But here is an Executive Committee saying to the court ‘we have these judgments against us, so what? It doesn’t make any difference, we will not produce an Irish language strategy within the lifetime of this Executive’.”
During further preliminary submissions, the debate centred on using some of the same evidence for separate legal action by loyalist activist Jamie Bryson to the planned installation of Irish language signs at Belfast’s Grand Central Station.
Mr Bryson, who is intervening in Conradh na Gaeilge’s challenge, insisted the campaigners should not be allowed to deploy that evidence in his case.
He likened it to him disclosing documents on BBC presenter Stephen Nolan’s radio show in a bid to pressurise ministers into advancing his own political agenda.
“What we would then have is cha-os in government policy,” he submitted,
“The Irish language strategy is not agreed by the Executive, or agreed to go out for consultation. But if (Conradh naGaeilge) is correct I could simply present it live to the Nolan Show to the world at large and undermine that government policy making.”
Sinn Féin councillor points finger at Royal Mail over street sign issue
TANYA FOWLES, Irish News, May 14th, 2026
A SINN FÉIN councillor has disputed a residents’ survey asking if they wanted a dual language street sign, saying he knew “in his heart and soul” it was wrong.
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council member Declan McArdle expressed “disbelief” at the figures for an application for Slieve View in Derrylin.
He suggested Royal Mail may be at fault for completed forms not being returned.
The scheme operates by applications being submitted for an additional language to be included with the English street name.
Council officials then survey all residents, who are asked to complete a form indicating whether they support the application or not.
If 15% of households support the application, it is approved.
Presenting the latest figures to the council, Director of Community and Wellbeing John Boyle said 15 applications were processed, of which 13 met the threshold – all for Irish language signage.
For Slieve View, 53 households were surveyed, but no responses were sent back to the council either for or against the application.
“I went round all the houses and I know in my heart and soul the responses were sent on time. That’s a false reading. Anyone seeing that will say what’s the problem here? I know for a fact these were sent back, maybe not all but there was definitely no problem in meeting the threshold.”
Mr Boyle replied, “I can confidently say that no responses were received by the date of closure. I’ll certainly take a look to see how many have come in since that.”
SDLP councillor Adam Gannon also felt the Slieve View figures were “very strange”, adding that a three-week response time “is obviously just too tight and clearly something has happened.”
Ulster Unionist councillor John McClaughry remarked: “I find it quite strange that the postman would selectively go down a road and only deliver to certain houses.”
If 15% of houesholds in a street support an application for dual language street signs it is approved.
Irish is nourishing and more than merely a language
Pro Fide et Patria, Irish News, Mat 14th, 2026
THERE was a time when the Irish language was dismissed by some as a cultural luxury; a worthy pursuit but hardly essential to modern life. Increasingly, however, research and lived experience are pointing to something far more profound.
For many people, particularly in working-class communities that have endured decades of trauma, inequality and neglect, the language has become a source of connection, identity and healing.
That message was delivered powerfully this week by psychiatrist Dr Pat Bracken during his visit to west Belfast. His intervention deserves attention, not simply because of his international reputation, but because it cuts against the grain of how mental health has too often been approached across these islands.
Dr Bracken’s criticism of an “over-medicalised” system will resonate with many families. Too often, those struggling with anxiety, depression or isolation find themselves caught on a conveyor belt of prescriptions, waiting lists and limited interventions. GPs and frontline staff are doing their best in an overstretched system, but there is growing recognition that medication alone cannot mend lives shaped by poverty, loneliness or social dislocation.
“ Community gardens, arts projects, language classes and shared activities may appear modest compared with clinical interventions, but their impact can be transformative
In that context, the work being undertaken by community organisations across the north is both practical and imaginative and it is no coincidence that Irish language groups are central to these efforts. For many people, learning Irish is not merely educational; it is empowering. It creates friendships, restores confidence and fosters a sense of belonging that formal services often struggle to provide.
The significance of this should not be underestimated in a region where mental health pressures remain severe. Northern Ireland continues to live with the psychological legacy of conflict, while economic hardship and uncertainty add further strain. Yet communities here have long understood something that policymakers sometimes overlook: healing is rarely achieved in isolation.
Dr Bracken’s reflections on his experience in Uganda are instructive. His argument is not that medicine has no role – clearly it does – but that western systems can become too focused on the individual while neglecting the collective supports that sustain wellbeing. Community gardens, arts projects, language classes and shared activities may appear modest compared with clinical interventions, but their impact can be transformative.
There is also a wider lesson for government. Stormont departments routinely speak about prevention and early intervention, yet funding structures still overwhelmingly favour crisis response over community resilience. Organisations like Glór na Móna and New Script are demonstrating what preventative work can look like in practice, often on limited resources.
At a time when public discourse around the Irish language can still descend into weary political point-scoring, it is worth pausing on a simpler truth. For thousands of people, the language is not a battleground but a bridge – to culture, to confidence and to one another.
That may not solve every mental health challenge facing society. But in communities searching for hope and solidarity, it is already proving to be part of the answer.
'I was an alcoholic sleeping rough... the kindness of others saved me'
JOHN HAUGHEY, Belfast Telegraph, May 5th, 2026
FILOMENO TAVARES, FROM CAPE VERDE, ON HIS JOURNEY THROUGH HOMELESSNESS, PEOPLE WHO REFUSED TO GIVE UP ON HIM, AND WHAT HE'S DOING TO HELP THOSE IN SIMILAR POSITION
“The front door of the church I go to every Sunday is one metre from the place where I slept when I was homeless”.
Filomeno Tavares is peering over the railings to the steps that hide the area in a tiny basement where he slept on and off for five months in 2018.
It's below the Holiday Inn hotel on Hope Street, a few hundred yards from Belfast city centre.
And now, every Sunday morning, Filomeno, his wife Lurdes and their children are a stride away from that four square metre spot when they reach the door of the Christ Embassy.
During that chaotic period in his life caused by chronic alcohol addiction, Filomeno, who's from Cape Verde, continued to attend the church that he and Lurdes had joined in 2013 after arriving in Belfast.
On the nights he couldn't get a bed in one of the city's homeless hostels, he headed down the steps to the basement on Hope Street.
If it happened to be a Saturday, he would get up early the next morning and remove his personal items, so that he wouldn't be spotted sleeping there by his fellow congregants.
He says: “We had been advised not to sleep on our own. I told another homeless guy that I had a safe place to sleep and I brought him there, but he had a knife and tried to stab me.
“I ran up the stairs to the hotel and the security guard saw I was in a panic and opened the door to let me in. I never slept there again.”
That same security guard regularly brought coffee and breakfast down to Filomeno. There were mornings when he would wake to find a tray had been placed beside him.
“One of my guardian angels,” he says.
Another is a former employer who, having learnt of Filomeno's homelessness, secured funding for his three-month stay at the Cuan Mhuire addiction centre in Newry.
Filomeno was collected from his homeless night shelter on August 22, 2018, driven to Newry, and has been sober ever since.
Having completed a course in counselling, he now attempts to give back by volunteering for the People's Kitchen, which provides support to Belfast's homeless.
“That's why I'm still studying English at Belfast Metropolitan College, even though the exams are difficult for me. I want to be able to express myself so that I can help people because I know what these people are experiencing.”
Born in December 1977, within 18 months Filomeno and his siblings were uprooted from Cape Verde as his mother headed to the outskirts of Lisbon to join his father who had been part of a wave of emigration from the archipelago in the early 1970s.
Filomeno and Lurdes were teenage sweethearts, but while he followed his father into construction work, life wasn't easy for the residents of the low-income Cova da Moura.
When the 2008 global financial crash brought high unemployment rate in Portugal, the Tavares family tried their luck in Switzerland before taking the decision in 2013 to join the large group of Portuguese passport holders who had settled in Northern Ireland.
After working in a chicken factory and doing cleaning jobs, Filomeno landed a comparatively well-paid role with a recycling firm just outside Belfast. However, that was soon to bring its own problems as his increased financial resources meant the ability to buy alcohol.
“I had controlled my drinking in Portugal, but I wasn't doing that here,” he admits. As his health began to deteriorate, and with the loss of his job only compounding matters, a serious bout of pneumonia a few weeks into 2018 led to a 23-day stint in Belfast's Mater Hospital. His family at one stage was told to potentially expect the worst. Filomeno did pull through, but he arrived home to find his bags packed, with Lurdes telling him he had a week to find alternative accommodation. “I started crying. I was losing my partner and my boys. And on the same day, I got a phone call to tell me my brother had passed away. I remember saying 'I want to die'.
“I went to Portugal and buried him. All the family was broken. Nobody knew I had separated from Lurdes or that I had been in hospital. I came back after the funeral and I was on the streets in Belfast.” Filomeno says the following six months remain something of a blur amid his alcohol addiction, as his stays in the Morning Star Hostel and the Welcome Organisation's Centenary House were interspersed with those nights under the basement steps of Hope Street.
Sleeping in Shelters
“You didn't really sleep in the shelters because there would be a lot of shouting and people crying out, so you couldn't be relaxed there.”
Filomeno recalls one particularly desperate moment in the summer of 2018 when he “asked Jesus for help”.
“The next day I remembered my former employer Jeremy, who had been friendly to me when I had been working as a cleaner for him. I phoned him and he told me he would give me another job.
“During one of my shifts I just collapsed because of exhaustion and was eventually found by one of the staff members. Jeremy sat me down the next day. I started crying and told him about everything.
“He then helped me so much by contacting Alcoholics Anonymous and arranged my stay at Cuan Mhuire, where I remained for three months.
“I loved staying there. I wanted to stay longer, but the 12 Steps programme was for three months. I learned how to deal with my past there and how to discipline myself.”
Filomeno's treatment continued as he was sent to the Gray's Court supported living project in north Belfast, set up by the Carlisle House Rehabilitation Centre to help homeless people with addiction issues.
Being back in Belfast enabled him to see his children and Lurdes.
“At the start, when I was visiting my children, she would say she didn't want to see me and would tell me when it was time to go. But one day, when I was there drinking my coffee and expecting to be told to go, she gave me another coffee. I said to her, 'you are not chasing me away?' She laughed and said 'I want you back'.”
The day Filomeno departed from Gray's Court, he was in his wedding suit as he and Lurdes were set to get married.
“I remember Frances, the manager at Gray's Court , being in tears when I left that day to get married. She told me I had done so well on my programme and that it was a wonderful story.
“She took a photo of me and my wife and gave it to another resident and said 'this is Filomeno... he stayed here for over two years and never went back to drinking and today he is getting married'.”
Five years on, Filomeno has two further additions to the family — daughter Jael (3) and nine-month-old Gabriel. His eldest son Anderson is studying computing at Ulster University, while Luis Miguel is also studying at Belfast Metropolitan College.
Filomeno continues to find time for his volunteering at the People's Kitchen.
“Sometimes you need to get past the bad stuff to get to the good stuff,” he says.
Omagh victims campaigner glad to be allowed off virus-hit liner
JESSICA RICE and KURTIS REID, Belfast Telegraph, May 14th, 2026
Passengers locked down in a French port after an outbreak of suspected norovirus on their luxury liner are preparing to finally leave this morning.
The Ambassador Cruise Line ship had been held in Bordeaux since Tuesday after 49 of the 1,700 passengers and crew fell ill from gastroenteritis.
At 315m long and 43m wide, the Ambition is Europe's largest cruise liner.
It left Belfast on Friday and travelled to Liverpool the following day.
It had originally been due to leave Bordeaux for Ferrol in Spain, before travelling to Gijon and Bilbao.
A spokesman for the cruise line said there was no link with the outbreak of hantavirus on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Michael Gallagher from Northern Ireland was one of the many passengers celebrating last night after the good news was announced that they were no longer stuck onboard the Ambition.
“It was at about 8.30 [pm], we were sitting in the dining hall and the captain came on over the intercom and said we were allowed off the ship,” said Mr Gallagher, well known for his campaign for justice for the Omagh bomb victims.
“We were all so relieved. There were people cheering, it was like, 'We finally have our freedom back'.
“It took so long because we had to wait to hear from the central French government, not just the local government, but they said we are allowed off.
“That means we will be able to get up and about in the morning — apart from the people that are quarantining.”
Michael and his wife Patsy are “very pleased” they will finally be able to start enjoying the cruise.
“It's great news because if we weren't allowed off on Thursday that would have been three days and it's awful to not know what's happening or when we will be allowed off,” Michael added.
The couple said they have been worried about their fellow passengers.
“Last night, at around 2am we were woken by the noise of a helicopter landing.
“It could have been an air ambulance or something, I'm not sure, and then again at 4am we heard it again.
“So that's been quite difficult because, we don't really know, not that we should, but we don't really know the full story,” he said.
Michael said he wasn't exactly sure how many passengers were quarantined.
Quarantine
“We heard that it was maybe around 50 but we don't know. We think some people that were told to quarantine are now out of that quarantine but we don't know.
“We know that three of the rooms have been fumigated and those passengers haven't been allowed to leave their cabin,” he added.
Staff were seen in full protective suits spraying cabins with disinfectant, with strict hygiene and distancing rules aimed at slowing the spread enforced.
Despite not being ordered to quarantine, Patsy and Michael spent most of their time in their room.
“We haven't really left the cabin much ourselves,” said Michael.
“We have only really left to go and get something to eat because it's really not worth the risk of catching it being out in those big crowds.
“But we are pleased with his update from the captain now, it just makes everyone feel a bit better,” he added.
Michael praised the captain and crew for their professionalism.
“Really the captain and crew have been working really hard,” he said.
“They are keeping the place very clean and they have put on extra entertainment for people because some people had different excursions planned today for vineyards and things so those people would have been very disappointed.
“The crew have been doing the best they can to make the situation a bit easier for everyone.”
In a statement last night, Ambassador Cruise Line confirmed that the ship has been cleared, following laboratory analysis undertaken in Bordeaux.
“French health authorities have completed their review of the health situation onboard Ambition and confirmed that the gastrointestinal illness affecting a number of guests and crew is viral gastroenteritis (norovirus), with transmission from person to person or through the environment,” they said.
“At this stage, no serious cases have been reported.”
They also confirmed that a 92-year-old man had passed away on May 10, but had not reported gastrointestinal symptoms.
“Ambition has now been released by the relevant French health authorities to continue normal operations,” they added.
“Guests are now able to disembark and all scheduled shore excursions will be operating as planned tomorrow.”
Scotland’s First Minister claims Ian Paisley signed the Good Friday Agreement
NIALL DEENEY, Irish News, May 14th, 2026
Scotland’s First Minister has incorrectly claimed Ian Paisley signed the Good Friday Agreement.
The Scottish National Party leader John Swinney appeared to confuse two pivotal political deals in Northern Ireland as he defended his party’s plans to work with Sinn Féin – a move he admitted had caused “a bit of media consternation in Scotland”.
Speaking to The Herald newspaper in Scotland, the Holyrood leader pointed to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement as evidence the world had “moved on” from the Troubles as he defended his “dialogue” with Sinn Féin.
Appearing to confuse the negotiated peace settlement that the DUP actively opposed in 1998 with the 2006 St Andrew’s Agreement that the party did sign up to, Mr Swinney said: “I did a dissertation about the politics of Northern Ireland and I looked at it very closely.
“If you’d said to me in 1986 when I was doing that that Northern Ireland would be able to deliver the Good Friday Agreement – signed off by Ian Paisley as the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and Gerry Adams as the President of Sinn Féin, supported by the British and Irish governments – I would have been pretty sceptical about that. But it happened, so the world’s moved on.”
The DUP was fundamentally opposed to the Good Friday Agreement and campaigned, unsuccessfully, for a ‘no’ vote in the referendum held in 1998.
The party, led by the late Ian Paisley, had opposed the inclusion of Sinn Fein in the deal before the IRA had fully decommissioned its weapons, and had opposed power sharing.
The party did, however, sign up to a deal negotiated in St Andrews, Scotland in 2006 under Ian Paisley’s leadership. By that time, a change in the way the devolved government at Stormont worked meant that the DUP – which had overtaken the UUP to become the largest party – could take the First Minister’s post without its MLAs voting for a Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister.
John Swinney, leader of the Scottish National Party and also Scotland’s First Minister
The DUP pointed to Sinn Fein backing for the PSNI and a promise from the IRA to decommission its weaponry as reasons for its support of the St Andrew’s Agreement.
In his interview with the Herald in Scotland, meanwhile, Mr Swinney sought to play down concerns about his party’s work with Sinn Féin.
“I know that my dialogue with Sinn Féin caused a bit of media consternation in Scotland,” he said. “I think people have got to move on.”
Mr Swinney has sought to work with Sinn Féin during what he described as a “pivotal moment” with the devolved governments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales now all led by parties who wish to leave the UK.
COMMENT: Letters, Irish News, May 14th, 2026
Reducing situations to a ‘Stormont circus’ undermines public confidence
THE editorial dated May 7 on the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project was wrongly framed.
The Sinn Féin economy minister Caoimhe Archibald stepping in to secure funding and save the Place-Name Project was the right thing to do. However, your editorial offered only a token acknowledgement of that.
There seems to be an increasing tendency in your paper to portray all politics here as equally dysfunctional and negative.
While that may create headlines, it oversimplifies the challenges that our politics has to deal with and fails to show where responsibility for blocking progress actually lies.
The reality of this funding debacle comes down to one simple point. Funding was withdrawn because the DUP communities minister, Gordon Lyons, chose not to provide it.
In a world of spin, including journalistic, it is important to be clear. A decision not to fund something is a political decision.
The DUP minister’s choice disproportionately targeted an Irish-language initiative, and many people were rightly angered by the hostility towards Irish identity and culture.
Your editorial glossed over the fact that all progressive parties across the Assembly recognised this as the wrong approach.
Instead, readers were presented with the ‘two sides at fault’ narrative which is, of course, misleading.
This was not ‘collective dysfunction’.
The Place-Name Project is not some trivial political football. It preserves and researches thousands of local place names and contributes to a wider understanding of our shared history. Allowing it to collapse would have been disgraceful.
The media, including The Irish News, should challenge all parties fairly.
However, repeatedly reducing situations like this to a “Stormont circus” or “they’re all as bad as each other” dangerously undermines public confidence in the institutions.
The institutions are flawed, of that there is no doubt.
But that does not give anyone the right to deliberately fail in their distinction between those who create problems and those who are working to make things better.
If one party blocks progress while others step in to find solutions, impartial journalism should be capable of recognising the difference.
PATRICK MULHERN Dunmurry, Co Antrim
We cannot go on living in a country of denial or avoidance
CENSORSHIP is a word in most people’s minds which is anti-democratic. However, there are problems with it in this so-called free country of ours.
One of the most censored subject matters is the issue of immigration, where any discussion will be silenced with allegations of racism, no matter how carefully balanced.
It matters not whether legal or illegal immigration is discussed, the demagogues will be out in force to brand any broadcast or press report they feel is in any way biased or prejudiced as racist and not up to their standard, and promoting hatred against immigrants.
The fear of a backlash is so great that many media outlets barely touch upon the subject matter because they are afraid of being accused of racism and losing their audience, or sponsors.
It has effectively silenced open or any discussion on immigration, asylum, or international protection – whether legal or illegal.
Then there is the issue of suicide which is another highly censored subject, which many people conversely believe should get the widest and fullest debate. Yet, members of the press are accused of endorsing unproven copycat suicides by covering the profound issue and are effectively told not to print or comment.
Currently, around 500 people die by suicide every year, according to the National Office of Suicide Prevention. This is certainly a matter which should be discussed, not buried by self-appointed censors and moderators. Discussion of censorship itself is also censored and what an irony that is. There are pressure groups out there effectively silencing legitimate debate on the matter for their own ends.
We cannot go on living in a country of denial or avoidance where the media is policed by special interest groups and capitulates to them. Or self-censors because they might like to play it safe to avoid the silencers’ criticisms. The truth will set us free.
MAURICE FITZGERALD Shanbally, Co Cork
