If you to want know if Shared Island fund works, look at who it upsets

SAM MCBRIDE, Sunday Independent and Sunday Life, May 2rd, 2026

When Micheál Martin unveiled his Shared Island initiative five-and-a-half years ago, it managed to unnerve both northern nationalism and unionism. Ultimately, the triumph of the Taoiseach's idea has been its inoffensiveness. This fund is now more criticised by nationalists than by unionists — a remarkable development.

From the outset, the fund involved the Irish State pumping vast sums of money into everything from roads to railways, mostly in Northern Ireland.

Initially, many unionists viewed Martin's offer of largesse with the suspicion the residents of Troy should have felt on seeing that approaching wooden horse. A section of unionism decided this must be some sly attempt to buy a united Ireland.

The fund was launched at a time when Anglo-Irish and north-south relations were at their lowest point for decades. Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said Martin "made clear today its purpose is to anticipate a break-up of the UK”. ​

Yet, one of Northern Ireland's many baffling elements is that it is not always a land of zero-sum politics; just because one side dislikes something doesn't necessarily mean the other side loves it — sometimes both are wary, but for contradictory reasons.

Some nationalists believed this money wasn't what unionists feared, but was in fact the opposite: an ­attempt to camouflage the Dublin elite's lack of interest in Irish unity. After Leo Varadkar's vow to northern nationalists that they'd "never again be left behind by an Irish government”, they saw this a substitute for serious preparations for a united Ireland. Within weeks of the fund being announced, Trinity academic Etain Tannam noted that "for some nationalists, by emphasising reconciliation and not unification, it is a sell-out”.

It was true that Martin's signature Northern Ireland policy involved far more than mere altruism. ​

There is considerable self-interest in the fund. Some of that is political: if Martin isn't rushing to a border poll, then he needs to show he is doing something on the North.

Common sense

Far more significant is the strategic element. A senior official, close to the Taoiseach and involved in deciding how the funds are spent, once told me the key test was constitutional neutrality: would this make sense if there was a united Ireland, and would this make sense if there was never a united Ireland? An hourly train service between Dublin and Belfast clearly ticks both boxes. Put simply: it's common sense.

Now standing at €2bn, the fund involves building greenways, creating an all-Ireland pollinator plan, funding EV chargers, tacking invasive species on an all-island basis, restoring peatlands and building a respite centre for children with cancer and their families. There's money for Ulster Scots, and €10m for a better museum at the Battle of the Boyne site.

Even Allister, who represents the purest form of hardline unionism, is not releasing regular statements of condemnation of this fund. Indeed, almost no one on the unionist side is doing so. It's hard to get voters worked up about extra training places for nurses or money to upgrade the deadliest road in Northern Ireland.

By contrast, nationalists are increasingly outspoken. Brian Feeney, the most trenchantly nationalist columnist at the Irish News and who sits on the board of Ireland's Future — a non-profit company formed in 2017 — lampooned the fund as "Martin's pet personal device for avoiding addressing problems”, calling it "a list of cosmetic projects... the political equivalent of motherhood and apple pie”.

Last month, former Irish diplomat Ray Bassett said the fund is "being used as an excuse to avoid the prospect of a Border poll”.

Despite the fund's success, bungling could yet see it become far more controversial. Five months ago, the Belfast News Letter highlighted unionist unease at a €14m scheme for "all-island and cross-border media projects”, entirely controlled by Coimisiún na Meán.

In Northern Ireland's acutely sensitive political landscape, government funding of media is laced with peril, even if there isn't the slightest whiff of interference in the journalism produced. Ulster Unionist deputy leader Diana Armstrong said the funding could mean that "some journalists may feel pressured to frame stories through a united Ireland lens to access resources”.

There is scope for funding joint BBC NI and RTÉ films, for instance, but it would require the most transparently rigorous balance. Publicly-funded Ulster Scots and Irish language programmes on BBC NI have often been of high quality and rarely attracted controversy for their content.

The Shared Island initiative is a test for nationalism on both sides of the Border. If southern nationalists are not happy paying moderately large sums to the North now, then they're not going to be prepared to pay the vast sums required if there is unity.

And for some northern nationalists, the inoffensiveness of this fund clashes with a simple tribal desire to wind up the other side. If hardliners are not regularly denouncing this, then it's a disappointment. ​

The most successful form of Irish unity would be one that was so unthreatening as to win over a significant chunk of unionism. Ironically, the people most upset by that would be the most tribal nationalists.

NIRA READY FOR CEASEFIRE TALKS AFTER DISSIDENT HAWK 'ZACK' REMANDED OVER BOMB ATTACK ON PSNI

EXCLUSIVE SUNDAY LIFE INVESTIGATIONS, May 3rd, 2026

NEW IRA READY FOR NEW CEASEFIRE TALKS NOW THAT DISSIDENT HAWK 'ZACK' IS ON REMAND OVER BOMB ATTACK ON POLICE

The New IRA is set to renew peace talks with the British government now that suspected Dunmurry police station bomber Zack Smyth is off the streets.

The hardline dissident was remanded in custody yesterday, charged with attempted murder following the attack last weekend.

Smyth opposed New IRA ceasefire plans, but with him back behind bars, peace talks — which were revealed at Westminster last week by DUP MP Gavin Robinson — are set to resume.

The politician has branded as “shameful” New IRA demands for prisoner releases in return for silencing its guns.

The New IRA is expected to resume peace talks with the British government in the wake of hardliner Kieran 'Zack' Smyth being charged with bombing Dunmurry PSNI station.

The 66-year-old appeared in court yesterday, accused of masterminding the attack last weekend in which a takeaway driver was forced to transport a car packed with explosives to the gates of the station on the outskirts of west Belfast.

No one was injured in the blast, caused by four gas camping cannisters being detonated into a fireball.

The device did not contain any Semtex, and dashcam footage recovered from the vehicle shows the terrified takeaway driver praying as he brings the bomb to Dunmurry PSNI station.

Police believe that Smyth — who has a Provisional IRA membership conviction from the 1970s — took control of the New IRA in Belfast last year.

Prior to that, the organisation in the city had been quietly supportive of peace talks to end its 14-year campaign of violence.

These negotiations — revealed in the House of Commons last week by East Belfast MP and DUP leader Gavin Robinson — are now expected to resume, with militant Smyth behind bars on remand.

Mr Robinson said he was assured by the Secretary of State Hilary Benn in May last year that there would be no early release for serving dissident republican prisoners in return for a ceasefire.

But he told fellow MPs at Westminster: “Yet that engagement continues. The Northern Ireland Office has appointed a lady called Fleur Ravensbergen, who is engaging with the New IRA, which attacked Dunmurry police station.

“They are asking through their interlocutors and the International Red Cross for the secretary of state to offer them early release. I say shame.”

Hilary Benn denied this, saying: “I have said it in the House before, and I will say it again, there have been no negotiations with dissident terrorists at all.”

However, republican sources agreed with Mr Robinson's assessment and predicted New IRA ceasefire talks with the British government, which had been put on hold, would resume with Zack Smyth behind bars.

“Zack is as hardline as they come, and with him on remand in prison, it'll be much easier for these talks to progress,” an insider told Sunday Life.

Violent

Smyth, who is from the Short Strand but lives in west Belfast, has a long history with violent republicanism.

He took part in the Provisional IRA blanket protest in the Maze Prison during the 1970s, having been jailed for nine years for riotous behaviour, intimidation, public nuisance, making use of prohibited articles, malicious damage and belonging to a proscribed organisation.

Smyth was caged again for seven years in 2015 for the violent home invasion robbery of a couple in their 80s in Co Down.

Having been released early, he was recalled to prison in 2019 amid claims he had accessed weaponry to target Sinn Fein leaders — an allegation he denied.

Two years later, Smyth absconded from prison while on a pre-release scheme, and after being rearrested, he served out the rest of his sentence until being freed in 2024.

It was after this that sources say Smyth began to take control of the New IRA in Belfast — replacing its former leader last year when he was charged with terror offences and forced to move to a bail address outside the city.

Smyth appeared in Lisburn Magistrates Court yesterday via video-link from the custody suite of Musgrave PSNI station to be charged with attempted murder, hijacking, unlawful possession of explosives, causing an explosion and possession of a mobile phone and sim card for use in an act of terrorism.

The court heard a call was made to a Chinese restaurant in west Belfast, requesting a delivery to the Summerhill Park area on April 25 shortly before the bombing took place.

A police officer told the court: “On arrival, the driver was threatened by two males. We believe he was threatened with a firearm.

“They put a gas canister-type bomb in the vehicle, and he was told to drive it to Dunmurry police station, where he had 30 minutes to get out before it would explode.

“On arrival, the driver raised the alarm, and police were in the process of evacuating the area and clearing the premises when it detonated.

“It caused significant damage to property and could have killed anyone in close proximity.”

The court heard police have evidence indicating a £10 top-up was bought by Smyth at a Centra in Beechmount Avenue for the phone number which called the Chinese restaurant for a delivery.

Police said the next transaction made on the same machine was a £20 top-up for a Monzo bank account linked to Smyth. The court heard investigators also obtained CCTV footage showing a male believed to be the defendant wearing a distinctive green hoodie with the word 'Brazil' across the front making the transactions.

Mobile phone data also showed the call to the Chinese restaurant coming from an area “which would cover his home address”, the court heard.

Police said further CCTV footage showed the defendant leaving his home address carrying a rucksack shortly after 4pm before returning just before 6pm. He is also seen leaving the address just after 9pm and returning again just before midnight.

An officer added: “Analysis of his personal mobile phone (not the one used to call the Chinese) show it was powered off from 4pm to 11:45pm, meaning it was inactive during the preparation and commission of this terrorist attack.”

During a search of Smyth's home, the court was told, the green Brazil hoodie seen on CCTV was seized by police.

Defence counsel disputed Smyth could be connected to any of the charges, except possession of the sim card and mobile phone.

He told the court: “This is a case of overcharging on those offences. There are some suspicious elements to it, but I submit the evidence doesn't meet the test for connection. There is no evidence that puts him in any of these locations.”

District Judge Anne Marshall held there was enough evidence to connect the defendant to the charges, and he was remanded in custody until May 18.

No application for bail was made.

Terrorism expert plays down claim of connections to iran & Hezbollah

MARK BAIN, Sunday Life, May 3rd, 2026

An expert on Irish republicanism has said it is unlikely the New IRA is acting as part of a worldwide terror network.

Martyn Frampton spoke out after a report in US media said the dissidents behind the attack on Dunmurry PSNI station had forged links with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The New IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing and said anyone cooperating with the PSNI would “be severely dealt with”.

Fox News cited a 2020 report by The Times newspaper which published information from an MI5 informant alleging dissidents had links to the Middle East.

Former US Defence Department intelligence officer Andrew Badger told Fox: “The New IRA-Hezbollah link is a useful data point in a larger pattern: the operationalisation of the so-called axis of resistance.

“This joins Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and an expanding bench of non-state actors into a logistical and tradecraft network across the globe.

Sabotage

“The real challenge for Irish police and security services is that these groups now compound each other's learning.

“A tactic battle-tested in one theatre can be in the hands of a dissident cell in another within months, and Western counter-terror structures simply aren't wired to track that kind of cross-pollination.

“A Lebanese Shia militia training a hard-left Irish republican faction would have looked exotic 10 years ago. Today, it is consistent with a wider pipeline including Russian sabotage cells using local criminal proxies in Europe and Iranian-directed assassination plots on UK and US soil.

“The playbook of these actors — proxies, dual-use logistics, weapons and finance pipelines, exploitation of grievance movements in the target country — appear to be converging.”

But Mr Frampton, a professor of modern history at Queen Mary University of London, and author of Legion of the Rearguard: Dissident Irish Republicanism, cast doubt on the report.

He said: “I would say it's plausible that the New IRA and hardline republicans have sought to build some kind of connection with forces they deem anti-British — whether that's Iran or Hezbollah.

“The history of militant Irish republicanism contains many such examples where different iterations of the IRA articulated solidarity with, or sought to build practical alliances with, those who shared their animus of the British.

“I think it would be very surprising, and probably unprecedented, if there were any operational dimension to the relationship, as the Fox News report seems to imply that the New IRA would act at the instigation of Iran/Hezbollah.

“What's far more conceivable is that the New IRA went to them, and doubtless others, asking for arms.

“Whether they got them, I have no idea, but that seems unlikely.”

Belfast man Kieran Smyth (66) appeared in court yesterday in connection with the bomb attack. He is charged with attempted murder, causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury. He is also accused of hijacking, possessing explosives with intent to endanger life and possessing articles for use in terrorism.

During the week, in response to the bomb, the PSNI mounted a major checkpoint operation at locations across Belfast.

Policing Board chair Brendan Mullan said: “Those who have issued the claim of responsibility for the attack are living in a past nobody wants.”

Popular ref who died on pitch was UVF woman killer

RAB SWANN TURNED HIS LIFE AROUND AFTER BEING FREED

CIARAN BARNES, Sunday Life, May 3rd, 2026

A popular referee who dropped dead during a football game he was officiating served a prison sentence for the horrific UVF murder of a Catholic woman.

Robert 'Rab' Swann, who passed away last weekend, was convicted of the 1975 killing of Colette Brown (31) in Larne.

The mother-of-four, who was also in the Army, was abducted by the UVF following a row after a family wedding. Her body was dumped in a roadside ditch.

After getting out of prison in 1985, Swann turned his back on paramilitarism and became employed in cross-community work.

He was also heavily involved in amateur football, and while refereeing a game last weekend between Sixmile Athletic FC and Olderfleet Swifts FC, he died suddenly on the pitch.

Tributes have since been paid to him by sporting clubs throughout east Antrim and Belfast.

A minute's silence was also held at amateur football games throughout Ballymena on Saturday, with some teams donning black armbands.

Loyalists told Sunday Life the grandfather made no secret of his past and deeply regretted Colette Brown's murder.

“Rab was really well regarded and was genuinely remorseful.

“There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't regret being involved in that woman's murder,” said a former UVF prisoner.

“When he got out of jail, he became a Christian and was heavily involved in cross-community projects around Antrim.

Contrast

“He would tell young Protestants and Catholics that they had a shared future and they should work towards that.”

Rab Swann's commitment to turning his life around was in sharp contrast to that of UVF man Jack McAuley, who was also convicted of the murder of Colette Brown.

In 2021, McAuley, who is now in his mid-70s, was put on probation for two years after being caught with a sickening stash of images of children being sexually abused.

When police arrested the sectarian killer at his Larne home, he confessed: “I'm a dirty old b*****d, I'm guilty.”

Rab Swann had nothing to do with McAuley, having cut ties with him many years beforehand.

But during the height of sectarian violence in the 1970s, they were both members of a violent UVF gang based in Larne.

They abducted Colette Brown after she got into a row with loyalists at a party following her brother's wedding.

UVF members decided to kill her despite their victim being a member of Women's Royal Army Corps and having a brother in the UDR — James Kelly, who had been murdered by the UDA two years earlier.

Swann and McAuley took Colette to a rural roadside where she was shot dead and dumped in a ditch.

Loyalists told Sunday Life that Swann was also a talented musician and singer who took part in charity gigs.

They said it was the football referee who shot Colette in the head, with McAuley acting as the getaway driver.

Our source added: “Look, I'm not going to sit here and eulogise Rab Swann or make out that he led the perfect life. He killed an innocent woman, and he went to jail for that horrible crime.

“But when he got out, he showed true remorse by getting involved in cross-community work and trying to get kids to stay away from sectarianism.

“It's easy to beat ex-prisoners down, and a lot of them do themselves no favours, but Rab Swann wasn't like that. He was a man who had genuinely changed.”

Rab Swann will be cremated on May 5 following a funeral service at Larne Elim Church.

A death notice said: “Robert will be sadly missed and fondly remembered by his loving family.”

New IRA grinds to a halt in Derry as pressure grows on 'Uncle Fergal'

SUNDAY LIFE REPORTER, May 3rd, 2026

New IRA armchair general Fergal Melaugh is coming under pressure to sanction a terror attack on the PSNI in Derry — but republicans say he does not want the hassle.

In public, the ageing terror boss gives the impression of being a hardliner, but in private, sources insist he is more moderate.

“Fergal makes a nice living from the New IRA's extortion rackets and money-lending. The last thing he wants at his age is the cops coming down hard on him because the organisation has targeted the cops in Derry,” an insider told Sunday Life.

“We call him 'Uncle Fergal' after the Uncle Junior character from The Sopranos because he's a grumpy old b*****d who only cares about money.”

Melaugh took over the leadership of the New IRA in Derry after former boss Thomas Mellon stood himself down last year.

intense

Since he assumed control, the republican gang has largely been inactive in the city, which at one point was a hotbed of dissident activity.

The New IRA's Easter Monday parade in Derry last month was the first time in years that the event passed off peacefully.

Prior to Melaugh taking over, it was the catalyst for intense rioting and petrol bomb attacks on the PSNI.

“It's no coincidence that New IRA activity in Derry has been scaled back under Fergal's watch because he doesn't want the hassle or the PSNI attention,” added our source.

Melaugh was pictured standing at the side of the Glengalliagh Road last weekend after being pulled over by the PSNI in a stop-and-search operation. He was freed a short time later when checks on his car finished.

Sources explained how the Derry New IRA's building site extortion and money-lending profits — totalling thousands of pounds every month — are divided up between Melaugh and his suspected second-in-command Kieran 'Douse' Gallagher.

Last November, alleged money-lender Gallagher was the target of a counter-terrorism assets freeze by the Treasury, which said it had “reasonable grounds” to suspect he was involved in terrorist activity linked to the New IRA.

Of the thousands of pounds the pair take in, only £350 is put into a New IRA national pot. A further £100 is set aside for New IRA prisoner Niall Sheerin, who is from Derry and is in jail for possessing the handgun used to murder journalist Lyra McKee in 2019.

Our source said: “As far as Uncle Fergal and Douse are concerned, they don't give a f**k about other areas. All they care about is Derry and keeping the money coming in.

“The last thing they want is to sanction an attack on the cops because that would bring a lot of heat on them and disrupt the money-making scams. Derry has never been quieter with those two in charge.”

Shamed NIRA dealer in dock disrupted PSNI event

JOHN TONER, Sunday Life, May 3rd, 2026

A New IRA drug dealer has been charged over an incident in which masked men disrupted a policing event in north Belfast.

Ian Cotter is accused of being disorderly at, and unlawfully disrupting, a public meeting at Girdwood Community Hub in February last year.

The 52-year-old, of Rodney Drive, is jointly charged alongside Liam Murray (31), of Juniper Park, and Declan Saunders (27), of Antrim Close, all Belfast.

The cases against the three men, who all face the same charges, was heard briefly at Laganside Magistrates Court last week before being adjourned until next month.

In March, Cotter (right) was handed a suspended sentence at the same court for dealing pregabalin.

The prosecution arose out of a PSNI investigation into drug dealing which police publicly linked to the New IRA.

His conviction caused a PR disaster for Saoradh, the political wing of the New IRA, as it had previously claimed his arrest was politically motivated before disowning him after he entered a guilty plea.

Following his conviction, Saoradh released a statement distancing itself from him and reiterating its supposed zero-tolerance approach to drugs.

The New IRA has in the past murdered men it accused of drug dealing, including Kevin Kearney and Conor McKee.

In February last year, police condemned republican protesters who disrupted meetings for two days in a row at which the PSNI was trying to build relations with Belfast communities.

Around a dozen protesters, some of them with scarves pulled over their faces, entered a Policing and Community Safety Partnership meeting at the Girdwood Community Hub in north Belfast.

Young members of Saoradh walked to the front of the meeting, shouting “SS RUC” in footage circulated on social media.

One said: “The revolutionary republican party would like to outline our opposition to this event today, which is nothing other than the latest attempt at pushing crown forces' normalisation agenda.”

Belfast District Commander Chief Superintendent Jeremy Lindsay said at the time “a number of protesters, some of whom were masked” had entered the building and disrupted the event.

He added: “A similar protest at a meeting in St Comgall's in west Belfast also resulted in disruption to the public meeting.

“Many of those attending both meetings reported feeling threatened and intimidated.

“While we would always seek to facilitate peaceful protest, disorderly behaviour which prevents a lawful public meeting is not acceptable.”

DUP leader Gavin Robinson condemned the actions at the time and said that dissident republicans were “ramping up agitation against the police” in “a throwback to the past”.

Dissidents set to expel 'hood' with badger baiting past

PAULA MACKIN, Sunday Life, May 3rd, 2026

MICHAEL CONWELL LED EASTER RISING COMMEMORATIONS AT MILLTOWN

A convicted badger baiter is facing the boot from a new dissident republican grouping after details of his animal abuse crimes emerged.

Members of Glor na hOglaigh (GnH), which is the political wing of a faction of the ONH (Oglaigh na hEireann) terror gang, are up in arms about Michael Conwell's involvement with the organisation.

They are even more furious that he played a prominent role at the party's Easter Rising commemorations at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast last month, where he introduced several speakers.

It was GnH's first public event but has been overshadowed by Conwell's links to barbaric badger baiting.

Members told Sunday Life the new grouping was letting standards slip by “recruiting scum” — something they accused prominent dissident Carl Reilly of when they broke away from his ONH faction 18 months ago.

“Most people didn't know who Michael Conwell was, but I knew straight away, and it wasn't long before everyone found out who he was,” a GnH member said.

“He is a thug. There is nothing good about that boy, and he should be nowhere near us, never mind reading out a speech at Easter at the republican plot.

“People may look at us and think we are criminals, but we are not. We are hard-working republicans, we are not thugs who torture animals. What type of sicko does that?

“Our dogs are treated a part of the family in our house. Taking them out to be ripped apart for fun is disgusting. It takes a disturbed mind to do that.”

Carl Reilly's rival ONH faction, which had been involved in a violent feud with the GnH-backed ONH grouping since the split, is now using Michael Conwell to wage a propaganda war against them.

Reilly's supporters have branded GnH 'Glor na Hoods' because they accepted a convicted badger baiter into the ranks.

Our GnH source added: “We thought when we got rid of Reilly and his hangers-on that this was a fresh, clean start, but now people like Michael Conwell are members.

Masked

“It beggars belief, especially when we know he would have been vetted before joining. So anyone is welcome now then? Might as well bring that scumbag Reilly back.”

Conwell, who is from Derry, is not a popular character in the city. He was previously kicked out of Saoradh, the political wing of the New IRA, after it found out about his badger baiting conviction.

The 31-year-old is currently on bail, charged with membership of a proscribed organisation and possessing a handgun with intent.

The allegations against him, which he denies, are connected to a New IRA show of strength in Dungiven two years ago when armed and masked men toured several bars in the town threatening drug dealers.

The gang told patrons in St Canice's GAA club, which included families with young children: “We are New IRA. We are here to clean up the bars. If you don't clean up the bars, we are going to do it. The bars are full of drugs.”

In 2017, Conwell was handed a three-month suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay kennelling costs of £14,000 after being convicted of animal cruelty.

Three dogs found in his home in the Claudy area had severe injuries to their mouths, indicative of being attacked by a badger or larger animal.

Conwell was back in court again in 2021 to be convicted of a second similar offence, receiving another lifetime ban from keeping animals.

When he again walked free with a suspended sentence, the USPCA accused him of being “linked to badger baiting, one of the most callous, premeditated acts of animal cruelty”.