Ex-Policing Board member and cleric write references for loyalist facing jail over guns charges
Allison Morris and Ashleigh McDonald, Belfast Telegraph, May 8th, 2025
IRVINE AND CO-ACCUSED TO BE SENTENCED NEXT WEEK
References provided by a former police officer, a minister and an ex-Policing Board member have been submitted to a court for consideration in the sentencing of two loyalists on gun-running charges.
Winston 'Winkie' Irvine and Robin Workman were remanded into custody ahead of a tariff hearing next week.
The pair previously admitted a host of charges dating back to June 2022 when police seized a bag containing weapons and ammunition in north Belfast.
A plea hearing took place at Belfast Crown Court.
After listening to submissions from both the prosecution and defence, Judge Gordon Kerr KC said he was “satisfied that the custody threshold has been met in respect of both defendants”.
Remanding both men into custody, Judge Kerr said he would pass sentence next Thursday, May 15.
Loyalist Communities Council chair David Campbell attended court to give character evidence on Irvine's behalf but was not called by the defence, with a lengthy written reference instead provided.
Deborah Watters, a former Policing Board member and director of Northern Ireland Alternatives, also provided a reference as did Gary Mason, a Methodist minister who directs the Rethinking Conflict group.
The court was told an academic from Queen's University — not named in court — also provided a reference, as did Paul Crawford whose father John was murdered by the UVF in 1974.
Among Workman's references was one from an ex-police officer “with many years service” on the front line. The court was told the officer previously worked as close protection officer to judiciary.
Prior to this, the Crown's case against both men was set out by a senior barrister. The Crown KC revealed that on the morning of June 8, 2022 police observed both men in the Glencairn Crescent area of the city.
Workman (54) was in the area in a red Volkswagen Transporter van whilst Irvine (49) was driving a black Volkswagen Tiguan.
Stopped by Police
Police in the area observed Workman taking an item from the side door of his van, which was placed into the open boot of Irvine's car.
After the boot was closed, Irvine drove to nearby Disraeli Street where, at 9.32am, he was stopped by police.
In what was branded by the Crown barrister as “the first false statement” made by Irvine, he told police he could not account for the bag found in the boot of his car and did not know what it contained.
Items located in the bag included a Brixia pistol, a Brocock air cartridge revolver, ammunition and magazines.
The prosecutor told Judge Kerr that in addition to what was seized by police, CCTV evidence also captured both vehicles moving in the area that morning.
Mobile phone evidence revealed Workman's number was saved in Irvine's phone and that there had been “communications between them” prior to their arrests on June 8.
Workman's Shore Road home in Larne was searched and police recovered items including a UVF magazine, a UVF armband and an air rifle.
During an interview with police, Workman denied ever seeing, possessing or touching any of the items from Mr Irvine's vehicle.
Despite also stating his DNA would definitely not be on any of the items, forensic analysis of the swabs retrieved from the bag revealed his DNA was found on the handle.
Peace Builder
Irvine, from Ballysillan Road in Belfast, was also interviewed and gave a pre-prepared statement.
In it, Irvine outlined his work as a community representative and reiterated his stance that he had no knowledge of what was in the bag found in his boot.
Both men denied all charges levelled at them, which included possessing a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possessing a handgun without a certificate and possessing a prohibited firearm.
Workman was also charged with possessing the air rifle found in his home without a certificate.
Despite their initial denials, both men subsequently pleaded guilty to all the charges.
The prosecutor told the judge: “This is not a terrorist case ... there is no evidence of any specific act of terrorism relating to these offences.” He added that despite this assessment “no explanation has been forthcoming to this day as to what was going on with these firearms and why Mr Workman and Mr Irvine had them in their possession”.
Defence barrister Brenda Campbell KC, representing Irvine, spoke of her client's “long-term commitment to peace-building” and the “positive impact” he had made in both his community and on a cross-community basis.
This, she said, included working with both the British and Irish governments as well as establishing an educational programme for young people.
She outlined Irvine's work and direct engagement with the PSNI and Irish and British governments over many years.
The court was also told Irvine has been invited to travel to Afghanistan by a UN ambassador to speak about his “peacebuilding” work.
Ms Campbell added that the “individual before the court” was evidenced to be “exceptional”.
She also spoke of the impact a period of imprisonment would have on Irvine's wife and two children.
‘Low grade offence’
When Judge Kerr asked what explanation had been offered by Irvine regarding the items found in his boot, Ms Campbell accepted he hadn't put one forward.
She did, however, say that Irvine's possession of the items “was not for any violent or terrorist intent” and pointed out the items were “low grade.”
Workman's barrister Michael Borrelli KC addressed the issue raised by Judge Kerr and said it was his client's case that in the past he had been asked to “act as a messenger” to help prevent or diffuse “problematic situations” within the community.
Regarding the events in June 2022, Mr Borrelli said Workman was asked to receive “a message” which he was asked to “take on and deliver elsewhere”.
The barrister said Workmen then realised on the day in question that he was being asked to transport firearms and that it was his belief he was “being asked to take them away from the risk of unlawful use.”
Mr Borrelli also told Judge Kerr that the air rifle found in Workman's home was used to “cull vermin”.
The court was also told about Workman's previous service with the Ulster Defence Regiment.
After listening to submissions from both the Crown and defence, Judge Kerr remanded both defendants into custody and said he would pass sentence next Thursday.
No planning application received for Bobby Sands statue - Officials
By Iain Gray, Belfast News Letter, May 7th and 8th, 2025
Belfast officials are checking whether a statue of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was built without planning permission.
The city's council says no planning application was filed for the monument, which was unveiled on Sunday (4th) in a ceremony attended by a host of senior Sinn Fein figures, including First Minister Michelle O’Neill and the party’s former president Gerry Adams.
The statue of the IRA hunger striker was erected at a republican memorial garden on Gardenmore Road in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast, to mark the 44th anniversary of Sands’ death.
Yesterday the council stated it had not received a planning application for the sculpture and is investigating the matter.
A Belfast City Council spokesman said: “Planning permission is normally required for outdoor public artworks, including sculptures and statues that are being installed on a long-term or permanent basis.
“As the council has not received a planning application for this statue to date, it is investigating the matter and cannot comment further at this time.”
Asked how long the probe was likely to take, the spokesman told the News Letter: “The Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 provides the statutory basis for most planning enforcement matters.
“The length of an investigation can vary, depending on the specific circumstances of the case.”
Planning Options
Information provided on the council’s website states that when a breach of planning legislation is found, options available to officials are:
· give the people responsible 28 days to submit a retrospective planning application
· tell them to put things back the way they were, which in this case would mean removing or demolishing the statue of Sands
· negotiate with the people behind the at-fault development and try to hammer out a compromise deal.
In this case, it’s yet to be decided whether or not a breach took place, and former Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy has argued that since the statue was built in a republican commemorative garden, it’s unlikely any locals will lodge official planning complaints about it.
The party has sought to distance itself from the planning row, however, telling the BBC those concerns are “a matter for the organising committee”.
After visiting the statue on Sunday, First Minister Michelle O’Neill stated on social media site X, formerly Twitter: “I was honoured to speak with members of the community who helped make this powerful tribute a reality.
“Bobby’s life and sacrifice continues to inspire people here in Ireland and across the world in pursuit of freedom and justice.
“I will continue to work to build a new and united Ireland for everyone who calls this island home.”
Sands died on May 5, 1981, during a hunger strike over the removal of political status from
The officer commanding of the IRA inside the Maze prison, Sands was serving a 14-year stretch for his part in the bombing of a Dunmurry furniture store that ended in a gun battle with the police.
The father-of-one had been elected as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone less than a month before his death. Nine other republican prisoners died during the hunger strike.
Speaker asked to rule on DUP man's comments about West Belfast MLA Danny Baker
Conor McParland, Belfast Media, May 7th, 2025
THE Speaker of the Assembly has been asked to rule on whether comments by a DUP MLA about West Belfast MLA Danny Baker in the chamber on Tuesday were in violation of the Standing Order on Members.
It comes after Mr Baker criticised the appearance of three DUP MLAs including Jonathan Buckley at a band parade in Lisburn last month where sectarian songs were played including 'No Pope of Rome' and 'Up to our knees in Fenian blood', just hours after the Pope died.
Speaking in the Assembly chamber at Stormont on Tuesday morning, DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley instead accused Mr Baker of failing to call out Kneecap and criticised his attendance at the Irish Cup Final on Saturday where trouble later broke out among some fans and the unveiling of a Bobby Sands statue on Sunday.
"Just this weekend, that man — Sinn Féin MLA Danny Baker — was among a crowd that wreaked havoc in South Belfast. What did we see there? We saw rioting; a police car's window being smashed; chants of, 'Orange bastards'; IRA chants and songs; the targeting of a Polish war memorial; the ripping apart of poppy wreaths that had been laid by the Polish community; and an IRA flag.
"What else? We saw Danny Baker promoting the illegal use of flares at football games, yet that Member saw fit to deflect from that and try to target a parade in Lisburn that was attended by thousands of people and at which Lisburn Apprentice Boys put on a fantastic display.
‘Fooling Nobody’
"The Member is fooling nobody. The slur that he attempted to place on the community in Lisburn is nothing short of disgraceful, but it lays bare the crass sectarian acts that he has engaged in time and again.
"How quick has the Sinn Féin West Belfast Member been to condemn the actions of Kneecap: the chants of 'Kill your MP'? There has been no comment from Mr Baker in that regard. That may not be surprising; maybe it was a tad embarrassing, because it was Sinn Féin's policy for many years to target and kill MPs in this country. We take no lectures from the party opposite when it comes to standing up and speaking out for victims of terrorism across the community.
"Mr Baker was not finished. At the weekend he attended an event, smiling next to a memorial to Bobby Sands, a man who planned the bombing of Balmoral Furniture Company."
In response, Danny Baker said: “I am again calling on all three DUP MLAs to publicly call out and challenge this blatant sectarianism. There has been a noticeable increase in sectarian incidents across the north, in Lisburn, Belfast and Derry. All manifestations of sectarianism need to be called out."
On the personal remarks directed at him by Jonathan Buckley, Mr Baker said. "Mr. Buckley had the chance to condemn the sectarianism he had a front row seat to. His failure to do so speaks volumes.
"I will continue to call out sectarianism wherever and whenever I see it."
Speaking later in the chamber, Sinn Féin MLA Sinéad Ennis said: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Will you make a ruling on whether Jonathan Buckley's comments about Danny Baker were in violation of the Standing Order on Members' Statements, which states that they cannot: "be used to impugn or to attack another member."?
Mr Buckley replied: "Bring it on. Bring it on."
Rediscovering Derry man who signed American Declaration of Independence
Don Mullan, Irish News, May 8th, 2024
Charles Thomson rose to become a moral compass during the American Revolution, writes Don Mullan
IN 2026, the United States will mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence – a bold and revolutionary document that gave birth to a nation. Across the country, plans are under way to commemorate the milestone. Yet, amid the current turbulence of American politics, there is growing anxiety over whether the Republic can emerge intact.
Under the Trump Administration and a Republican Party increasingly shaped by the MAGA movement and Project 2025, the United States finds itself at a crossroads. The executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, once considered bedrocks of democratic stability, now appear deeply fractured.
At such a moment, America might benefit from looking beyond its borders for perspective. And the people of Derry and Strabane, under the leadership of the Derry and Strabane District Council – birthplace of two key figures of the American Revolution – have a unique emigration story to offer.
On July 4 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The first printed edition appeared the following day with just three names: John Hancock, president of Congress; Charles Thomson, secretary; and John Dunlap, printer. Thomson was born in Maghera, Co Derry in 1729, and John Dunlap was born in Strabane, Co Tyrone in 1746.
Ulster American Folk Park
Surprisingly, John Dunlap receives more recognition at the Ulster American Folk Park – likely because he printed the Declaration of Independence. Yet Charles Thomson, unquestionably the more influential figure, seems largely overlooked.
Thomson’s journey began in 1739 when, at age 10, he emigrated from Derry Port with his widowed father and three older brothers. He rose to become a moral compass during the American Revolution, deeply trusted by his peers and profoundly committed to the founding ideals of the Republic, especially justice and equality.
It was my late friend, Dr William ‘Smitty’ Smith, an African American Bahá’í and founder of the National Center for Race Amity, who first introduced me to Thomson’s life. Dr Smith dedicated his life to highlighting the oft-overlooked traditions of friendship and collaboration across race and faith in American history. In 2014, he produced a PBS documentary series, American Stories – Race Amity and the Other Tradition, which opened with the remarkable bond between Thomson and Teedyuscung, chief of the Lenape Nation.
The relationship between Thomson and the Lenape (Delaware Indians) was not one of formality, but of genuine trust and kinship. So great was their faith in him that the Lenape adopted Thomson into their nation, bestowing upon him the name Wegh-wu-law-mo-end – “the man who tells the truth”. In a time of deep mistrust between settlers and Native peoples, Thomson was a rare exception – a bridge between two worlds. His honesty, humility, and respect for the Lenape earned him their confidence and trust.
Thomson’s empathy for Native Americans was matched by his uncompromising stance on slavery. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Thomson was an abolitionist, a fact that may have been responsible for Thomson’s shafting by slave-owning president George Washington who overlooked him for his inaugural cabinet.
It is likely that Thomson persuaded Thomas Jefferson to include in his original handwritten draft of the Declaration a powerful denunciation of slavery:
Condemnation of Slavery
“He [King George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither…”
Yet, Jefferson, himself a slave owner, later admitted the paragraph was removed “in compliance to South Carolina and Georgia”, slaveholding colonies unwilling to support its inclusion.
Thus, the Declaration’s immortal opening line – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” – rang hollow for millions, excluding enslaved Africans and women alike.
Thomson, however, never abandoned his abolitionist convictions. In a letter to Jefferson in 1786, he prophesised the American Civil War 75-year hence: “This is a cancer we must get rid of. It is a blot on our character that must be wiped out. If it cannot be done by religion, reason, and philosophy, confident I am that it will be one day, by blood.”
Beyond his secretarial duties, Thomson shaped enduring national symbols. He finalised the design of the Great Seal of the United States and advocated for its motto: E Pluribus Unum – “Out of many, one”. This vision of unity remains aspirational. Dr Smith would later adapt it to guide the National Center for Race Amity: Toward E Pluribus Unum, a reminder that America’s promise is still unfinished.
A London/Derry man
I was astonished to learn that this remarkable man, so central to America’s founding, hailed from my own county with the contentious name London/Derry. Alongside my friend, Rev David Latimer, a retired Presbyterian minister, we feel compelled to help restore Thomson’s rightful place in history. He deserves to be remembered, not only by Americans but by Irish and British people as well.
Thomson’s contemporaries certainly recognised his contributions. In 1783, John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States, wrote: “I consider that no person in the world is so perfectly acquainted with the rise, conduct and conclusion of the American Revolution as yourself.”
That same year, Washington praised Thomson’s “unsullied reputation” and declared that posterity would find his name “honourably connected with the verification of such a multitude of astonishing facts”.
Conscious of Thomson’s disappointment at being overlooked by Washington, John Jay wrote again to Thomson in 1791, offering some consolation: “As we enter this, our new beginning in the history of our nation and have reflected on the fact that you are not part of our new government, I know that you are disappointed in that omission. However, upon reflection I wonder if that may not turn out for the best. My friend, you have been at the very center, the heart of our revolution from the beginning to the end… When others have absconded and abandoned their duties, you have remained at your post. During the fifteen years of our government in which the Continental Congress was our government and led us through the revolution and early days of peace and hard times you have never failed your duty.”
Thomson’s continuing relevance
As the USA approaches this milestone anniversary, it faces profound challenges to its democratic ideals. It must decide whether E Pluribus Unum will remain a motto or become a lived reality. In such a moment, Charles Thomson’s life offers both a mirror and a map.
A twin monument – one in Derry, one in Pennsylvania – honouring Thomson and Dunlap would be a fitting tribute to two emigrants who helped define the American experiment. And perhaps, in celebrating them, we can reignite the spirit of unity, justice, and truth on which that experiment was founded and is still to be realised.
Don Mullan is the author of Eyewitness Bloody Sunday – The Truth (Wolfhound Press, 1997; Red Stripe Press, 2022) and a consultant with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). As part of his 10,000 Days Hope Initiatives, he is working with Gambian environmentalist and presidential candidate Kemo Fatty on the development of the Atlantic Slave Memorial in The Gambia – a living tribute comprising 18 million trees, one for every soul stolen from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade. The memorial also serves as a contribution to the African Union’s Great Green Wall Initiative. Mullan is further collaborating with Rev David Latimer and the DerryLondonderry International City of Peace to advance the UN’s Peace Forest Initiative, a cross-border environmental project promoting peace and sustainability.
Is US Vice President a genuine Billy Boy?
John Laverty, Belfast Telegraph, May 8th, 2025
Did you know that the term 'hillbilly' emanates from these shores? The 'Billy' bit requires little explanation, referring to Ulster Scot Protestants beholden to William of Orange.
The 'hill', however, alludes not to Stormont but to the Appalachian Mountains, where so many folk from here ultimately settled centuries ago. They became known in America as Billys, Billy Boys and, ultimately, Hillbillies.
One of their more prominent families was the Vances — forefathers of one James David Vance who is now well-placed to become the 48th US President, the 18th with prominent Ulster roots — and the third Catholic one.
Despite his proud Protestant lineage, Vance — no stranger to dramatic reinvention — switched allegiance to the Church of Rome in 2019.
Indeed, the former Ohio senator now holds the rather dubious honour of being the last politician to spend time in the company of Pope Francis, who died the following day.
This prompted wry suggestions that the late pontiff — like Queen Elizabeth II following her audience with hapless ex-PM Liz Truss in 2022 — knew then that it was probably the right time to shuffle off this mortal coil.
So Vance — who was born James Donald Bowman, later became James David Hamel and ultimately adopted his grandmother's surname — has, to use Norn Iron sectarian vernacular, a foot in both camps.
Surely that should be enough for us to embrace good ol' boy JD as one of our own?
Yet we don't seem to be in much of a hurry for that, even though, apparently, we no longer need to fight the Scots for claiming rights.
The current Veep's proud boast of Ulster Scots ancestry is being challenged by a US-based research group who believe The Donald's right-hand man is not, as was widely thought, a direct descendant of Rev John Vaus/Vance, who emigrated from the highlands to nine-county Ulster in the early 17th century.
David Vance, from the Vance Family Association, told the Times last week that there's no conclusive evidence JD has any Caledonian blood, although his heritage from this side of the Irish Sea is not in dispute.
The Association believes the VP is from a different Vance clan which pre-dates the Ulster Plantation.
Gordon Lyons believes Vance is ‘one of our own’
Unperturbed, the DUP's Gordon Lyons is pressing ahead with the conviction that JD Vance is a genuine Ulster Scots descendant.
In fact, our communities minister is planning to present carefully researched proof of that claim to VP JD in DC next year, when the US will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain.
Lyons says he has secured a deal granting the region “special status” at the commemorations courtesy of Ulster's historical influence on previous White House administrations.
The respected historian John Hagan — whose findings have been endorsed by the NI Public Record Office — is in no doubt that JD Vance's ancestors were descendants of Rev John and settled in Coagh, Co Tyrone, where they have a burial plot in St Luke's Parish Church.
Disputed bloodline notwithstanding, JD certainly has many traits of a typical Ulsterman, including punching well above his weight.
Written off as a millstone for Trump and branded a weirdo by Democrats, it looked as if JD had seriously damaged the Republicans' campaign when it emerged he'd labelled women without children as “childless cat ladies”.
Rivals weren't slow either in pointing out that Vance had once referred to his senior running mate as “America's Hitler”, and that his Catholicism meant he endorsed a nationwide abortion ban.
Are US politics going to the Dogs?
Moreover, it was Vance who pushed the ludicrous narrative that Haitian immigrants had been eating family pets in his native Ohio.
Instead of rebuking him, however, Trump — who never forsakes an opportunity to bolster his anti-immigration stance — merely repeated the claim during a presidential debate.
“They're eating the dogs; the people that came in, they're eating the cats,” became a viral soundbite, but did no harm to Trump's campaign. Quite the reverse, in fact.
Add to this the appalling bad cop/bad cop attack on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and you can see why the Oval Office's big orange man-child regards his VP as a major asset.
JD's a BFF at present, but that could all change in a heartbeat; just ask The Donald's first Veep, one Mike Pence.
That's the same Mike Pence whose acceptance of Joe Biden as the new POTUS — on January 6, 2021 — led to hundreds of rabid Trump supporters storming the Capitol Building while carrying a gallows noose and a sign reading: “Hang Pence.”
Those who masterminded that day's terrifying carnage were jailed but subsequently and shamefully pardoned when Trump returned to office.
Pence is now teaching political science at a college in Pennsylvania; bereft of Secret Service protection, the poor man will probably be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life.
Heaven forbid that something similar should happen again — but if JD did end up needing a bolt hole, he'd be more than welcome at the Department for Communities HQ in Bedford Street. And at least one wee village in Co Tyrone.
DUP and Sinn Féin have given up on Tax Reform
Newton Emerson, Irish News, May 8th, 2025
THE argument for devolving more tax powers to Stormont appears to be dead: the DUP has ruled it out and Sinn Féin no longer wants to talk about it.
The SDLP tried to talk about it at the monthly ‘opposition day’ debate last week, but as usual it was treated with contempt.
Both the largest parties have developed a tactic over the past year of sending only a handful of their MLAs into the chamber during the debate, to show disdain without surrendering the floor.
As a final insult, all their MLAs then turn up at the end to vote, to ensure the motion still goes their way.
This happened again last week. The smaller parties were particularly unimpressed that Sinn Féin Finance Minister John O’Dowd did not attend, although he still voted.
SF Flagship
Devolving taxes is supposedly a flagship Sinn Féin policy, for economic and constitutional reasons.
The party’s official position is that powers should still be “repatriated from Britain”, whether or not the executive can afford to use them.
O’Dowd’s predecessor, Conor Murphy, set up a panel of experts in 2021 – the Fiscal Commission – to review the case for devolving more taxes. This was a Sinn Féin minister’s initiative.
The commission should not be confused with the Fiscal Council, which advises the executive on its finances and was established under New Decade, New Approach.
Sinn Féin made a big deal of the commission. The party’s manifesto for the May 2022 assembly election promised to “seek greater devolution of fiscal powers”.
The commission published its final report two weeks later. It made 23 recommendations including devolution of stamp duty, landfill tax and partial devolution of income tax.
Media attention focused on the income tax proposal, although this was hardly a surprise, as Scotland and Wales have had similar powers for a decade.
The smaller proposals were in many ways more interesting and representative of what is possible.
For example, Stormont could take direct control of the £60 million apprenticeship levy and develop a regional scheme better focused on growing the economy.
The DUP had walked out of Stormont by May 2022 but the executive was limping on in shadow form, so Murphy was still in post to give the commission’s findings an enthusiastic welcome.
“This landmark report clearly identifies the potential benefits of greater local control over taxation,” he said.
That was the high water mark of his party’s enthusiasm for the idea.
Lip service
Following Stormont’s restoration last year, new Sinn Féin finance minister Caoimhe Archibald paid lip service to the report but she was clearly kicking it into the long grass.
O’Dowd, who succeeded Archibald in February, has proved even less interested. Two weeks after his appointment, in response to an SDLP question, he gave a non-committal assurance that the Fiscal Commission was “continuing its work”.
SDLP assembly leader Matthew O’Toole had to point out the commission has not existed for three years.
At least O’Dowd turned up for that exchange. Last week, Sinn Féin sent its employment spokesperson, Emma Dolan, to answer on the party’s behalf.
After 500 words of waffle about British austerity, she concluded: “Ultimately, the full devolution of fiscal powers through Irish unity provides the greatest opportunity to build and deliver better public services that meet the needs of everyone.”
In other words, this reward awaits us in paradise.
Posture politics
It must be asked if Sinn Féin has ever been serious about fiscal devolution. Perhaps it wanted to appear serious ahead of last year’s election in the Republic but now thinks the posture is more trouble than it is worth.
Another reason it may have given up is that the DUP would apparently refuse to cooperate, dooming the policy regardless.
DUP MLA Diane Forsythe told last week’s debate that her party does not support fiscal devolution “at this time” because “we do not believe that the capacity exists in departments or in the Northern Ireland Civil Service to manage further complex and fundamental elements of the tax system”.
The 2022 report addressed this concern in detail, by proposing UK tax authorities administer devolved taxes, for example.
It seems the DUP has lost the visionary ambition it had when it advocated for the devolution of corporation tax a decade ago.
Perhaps it thinks this posture is more trouble than it is worth now it is no longer Stormont’s leading party.
If either main party ever wanted the responsibility for raising revenue, they clearly no longer do so. They are scarcely even bothering to pretend otherwise.
Marking VE Day in the North: ‘The tensions of our politics seep into remembrance’
Freya McClements, Northern Editor, Irish Times, May 8th, 2025
Today is the 80th anniversary of the end of the second World War. This week, Northern Ireland has again been remembering
As a child growing up in west Belfast, Tom Hartley remembers hearing the story of Leading Seaman James Magennis, the only person from Northern Ireland to be awarded a Victoria Cross during the second World War.
“He was born in Majorca Street off the Grosvenor Road, so effectively he was a part of the Lower Falls community,” says Hartley, a former Sinn Féin lord mayor of Belfast.
Magennis joined the Royal Navy and was honoured for his bravery while attaching limpet mines to a Japanese cruiser.
“What happened was, they were going to have a dinner for him in the City Hall after the second World War, but then they found out he was a Catholic. No dinner.”
Hartley emphasises that he didn’t know how true that was, “but that was a common narrative I heard inside the nationalist community”.
“He wasn’t remembered by Belfast City Council until October 1999, when a stone was put up outside the front door of the City Hall for him,” he said.
“In some sense that shows you ... the tensions of our politics seeping into the whole politics of remembrance.”
This week, Northern Ireland has again been remembering. On May 8th, 1945, thousands of people gathered at Belfast City Hall to celebrate victory in Europe.
Today, City Hall will again be lit up to mark the anniversary, with a replica Spitfire and brass band to help recreate the feeling of “jubilation”, according to the current lord mayor of Belfast, the Alliance Party’s Micky Murray.
“Eighty years on, the building will once again be a focal point to remember Belfast’s wartime experiences, pay tribute to those veterans who contributed to bringing about peace and look back at how the war shaped our city as it is today,” he said.
Similar events are taking place across Northern Ireland. St Anne’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Belfast held a service of thanksgiving on Sunday, while the Northern Assembly marked the anniversary at Stormont on Tuesday.
Local pipers and drummers are to parade through Enniskillen. In Lisburn, the band of the Royal Irish Regiment will lead a beating retreat through the town, while Derry will mark its own unique link with the end of the second World War – the surrender of the German Atlantic U-boat fleet in its port at Lisahally – on its 80th anniversary the following week.
At a bank holiday Monday street party on Woodstock Road in east Belfast, there was tea, cake and a funfair for the children; union flags marking VE Day and support for Charles III decorated the stage, along with an orange-coloured banner proclaiming, “celebrating culture in the broad unionist community”.
For those present, it was about marking the anniversary and the area’s association with British military service, but also, as organiser Stephen Gough put it: “The community coming out and having a good time, putting the smiles on their faces, seeing the children happy.”
‘Heritage of wartime service’
“The Protestant/unionist community would feel much more comfortable commemorating the day,” says Dr Niamh Gallagher, associate professor in modern British and Irish history at the University of Cambridge, “because it taps into publicly available memories ... of respect for working for one’s country, fighting and dying for one’s country, and a longer heritage of wartime service. Does that mean they were affected more than Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland? Not a bit, in terms of the day-to-day experience.”
As the only part of the island to remain in the United Kingdom after Partition, the North had a direct experience of the war in the way the South did not – be it through rationing, the numbers who signed up for military duty, the bombs of the Belfast blitz in which about 1,000 people died, or the social impact of the roughly 300,000 American GIs stationed in the North.
South of the border, neutral Ireland lived through not the Second World War, but the Emergency.
“It’s a very different day-to-day experience,” says Gallagher. “Life continues in the South. The lights go on at night, whereas in Northern Ireland, the lights are switched off.
“But the grey area in between that isn’t talked about so much is that there are actually hugely muddied waters and crossovers between the two.”
This includes the number of Irish men and women who fought and acted in support and auxiliary roles in the British services in the second World War; the most recent estimate, says Gallagher, is more than 66,000 from the South and 64,000 from the North.
There was also “a huge amount” of emigration from the South to work in British factories.
“Hundreds of thousands temporarily go over, and they’re the ones who are making up a key part of the British war effort,” she says.
“Are Irish nationalists going to be comfortable with that heritage?” she asks. “It’s much more tricky, because the Irish Government and public are not comfortable with the second World War.”
Hartley is comfortable with his own “complex” history. His uncle, David Nelson, was a Belfast Catholic who joined the British navy in the 1930s; during the Second World War “the story is that he was torpedoed twice off Dunkirk, and he served on the Arctic convoys”.
Nelson’s father – Hartley’s grandfather, also called David Nelson – was a Presbyterian who married a Catholic and fought in the first World War. Further back, “my grandmother was a McGovern from Belturbet, Co Cavan, and I remember my mother saying in her family there was a box of chocolates given to a member of her family by Queen Victoria, because he had fought in the Crimean War.”
On his father’s side, “in that tight space of a family”, he had uncles in the IRA in the 1920s, another in the British army, and yet another who joined the Free State army.
When nationalists have begun to engage with such history they have done so, he says, “particularly through families asserting their history, and also through debates and discussions and talking about placing their history into a bigger world history. And unionists, of course, do that too, but I don’t think there is a tradition of street parties inside the nationalist community.”
Yet the reclaiming of complex histories such as Hartley’s, which was such a feature of the Decade of Centenaries and the commemoration of the first World War, has been largely absent from the marking of the second World War.
“I get the sense that Ireland, before the First World War, was a much greyer space in terms of identity. But I think with Partition comes a bitterness in politics.”
‘Underlying contradiction’
The “underlying contradiction” between a nationalist identity and a role in the British armed forces was sharpened by the events of 1916-23.
“I think there’s a political tension as we try and deal with this past as we also move into a future which is in every sense, it hasn’t come to rest yet,” says Hartley.
“It’s much easier to have a reconciled history about the First World War and much more difficult to have it about the second,” says Gallagher. “Nationalists helped defeat Hitler – many of them would have done so through the British forces – but all of that becomes so much more difficult when you fast forward 20, 30-odd years and you’re in the middle of the Troubles, with the British army on the streets of Northern Ireland in a way the vast majority of Northern nationalists were not going to be in favour of.”
But, says Hartley, the type of reflection that happened during the Decade of Centenaries “has to happen” in regard to the Second World War, or “even coming to a point of understanding that we are in a conflicted space ... because of that there is a complexity to our history which needs to be thought through.”
“So much of this is actually reflective of our political present,” says Gallagher. “Fundamentally, commemoration is about the present; it’s not really about the past, even though we pretend that it is.
“Where are we sitting today? In a world full of populism, uncertainty, the resurgence of the far right ... the second World War is a very good way to remind us what the world was like whenever dangerous, populist leaders came to the fore and people, whether they wanted to or not, were forced to respond.
“There’s a lot that can be learned from this that would help remind us about friends and allies and relationships, and it would also address the politics of reconciliation on this island itself.”
