ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, November 13th, 2026
NORMAN BAXTER CLAIMS 'STONES WERE HIDDEN' TO PROTECT SOURCES AND PEACE PROCESS
The man who led the Omagh bomb investigation has said he believes a covert agent was involved in the atrocity.
Norman Baxter outlined his suspicion that an informer had driven the bomb to the Co Tyrone town as he gave evidence to an inquiry investigating the 1998 massacre.
Mr Baxter said that had more action been taken against the Real IRA unit responsible prior to the attack, there was a “high level of probability” the bomb could have been prevented.
The inquiry into the bombing on August 15, 1998, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins and injured hundreds more, is being chaired by retired Scottish judge Lord Turnbull.
Between May 27, 2002 and November 22, 2008, when he retired, Mr Baxter was the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) into the atrocity, but told the inquiry he did not feel qualified for that role at the time.
Asked by Paul Greaney KC did he feel he was the best person to take on the role of SIO, he said: “No, I didn't.
Poisoned chalice
“I was better suited to be the deputy SIO… I recall saying to some colleagues 'this is a poisoned chalice'. I've been sent here because this is not to be solved.”
The inquiry was told that Mr Baxter provided two statements to the inquiry, one running to 112 pages and a second four-page statement.
The former detective said he “drew the short straw” in being appointed SIO after the previous lead retired, adding that he did not mean that as any disrespect to the families, but just that he got the impression “no one else would go there”.
He said that the previous SIO had done everything he could “to bring people to justice” and exhausted all lines of inquiry, but that this was based on an assessment that was partial as he was not aware of all the intelligence.
“After the bomb exploded the Chief Constable [Ronnie Flanagan] said, 'No stone would be left unturned'. The problem was people had hidden some of the stones, so the investigators couldn't find the stones to look under them,” Mr Baxter said.
“There was a failure to ensure that all the stones to be overturned were available to be looked at. To me they'd been removed.”
Asked what he meant by removing stones and the impact that had on those responsible, Mr Baxter said it “prevented” them from being detected.
Source protection
Asked why this would be the case, he said it was a “hypothesis” based on some reasonable understanding. He said “source protection, methodology understanding and political pressure not to disrupt the peace process by not having large scale police operations in south Armagh” were factors.
Asked who was driving that, he replied: “I know this is very difficult for families and survivors” but said he felt there was a “coordinated obstruction to the investigation”.
When asked about a Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) involvement in the bomb, he said “one of the people who brought the bomb to Omagh on the day was an agent”.
“There are reasonable grounds to hypothesise that whatever was going on operationally was not going to be disclosed,” he said. Mr Baxter added: “Clearly in my mind there was knowledge that something was coming north, there was something going on behind the scenes, the evidence would point to that, there was pre-knowledge”.
Mr Baxter said he personally knew relatives of some of the deceased and also some of the survivors of the bomb and that his wife — a nurse — responded to an emergency call to Omagh and treated some of the injured.
He said that at the time of the bomb he was under dissident threat and was subject to Key Persons Protection, an NIO-funded scheme.
On August 14, 1998 — the day before the bombing — he called to see a senior officer about this.
Knock on the door
While meeting the senior officer about his security arrangements he said there was a knock on the door and 'Officer One', who was regional head of Special Branch at the time, entered the room, apologised for interrupting but said he had an urgent matter to discuss.
Mr Baxter told how Officer One then said gardai had informed him a car bomb “was coming north the next day” but they didn't know where it was destined for, nor details of the vehicle.
He said “they had a short discussion” about where it might be heading and that Lisburn, Banbridge and Portadown were suggested.
He said a “planned proactive operation” involving military and police personnel checkpoints at Newry to protect the area was discussed.
Mr Baxter also spoke about his time heading the investigation, which came amid a backdrop of “tense hostility” between the PSNI and Police Ombudsman.
He said that it was “inconceivable” that had a similar bombing team been operating on the “mainland UK” that there would not have been steps taken to disrupt them.
He said the suspects identified had all been “active terrorists” for years.
Poor co-operation with Garda
Mr Baxter was also asked about cooperation with An Garda Siochana, which he said was good on a personal level but not at a strategic level. He said they would pass on “regurgitated” intelligence based on “what we had already told them”.
He said it was known that a car was stolen in the Republic that was used to transport the bomb and that it had been moved from the Dundalk area.
He said there were unanswered questions as to why suspect Anthony Donegan hadn't been charged by the gardai with stealing the car used in the bomb and why suspected Real IRA member Seamus McKenna had not been arrested.
Donegan, from Dundalk, was eventually charged in Northern Ireland but in 2005 the charges were withdrawn by the PPS. He had been accused of making available the maroon Vauxhall Cavalier car used by the bombers.
Mr Baxter said that gardai were running an informer they believed had provided cars for other Real IRA attacks, but not Omagh. He said detectives in Northern Ireland were denied permission to speak to him.
The man was later arrested coming through Bristol, and police here did question him, but Mr Baxter said this was with “no assistance from the guards”.
In relation to Daly, another of the named suspects, the inquiry was told that in 2003 a file linking the south Armagh man to “the most serious type of terrorist activity” was being prepared by the PSNI and that it would have been “expected” that gardai would be aware that the police in Northern Ireland were “putting together a case”.
Seriously damaging
However, around this time he was arrested in the Republic on suspicion of membership of the Real IRA which meant he couldn't be questioned by the PSNI.
Mr Baxter said this was “seriously damaging” to the case.
Daly was arrested in Northern Ireland in 2014 and charged in connection with the Omagh bomb, but the case collapsed in 2016.
Mr Baxter said that by the time he was arrested 10 years later “we had the issue of a witness changing his mind” and changing a previous statement.
The inquiry was told that at one stage there were over 60 suspects identified as having involvement in the Real IRA unit responsible, and that a list of eight specific suspects was logged.
Asked why Patrick 'Mooch' Blair's name was not on the list, Mr Baxter said he was not able to say the reason in open session.
Blair is a convicted IRA bomb-maker.
“I cannot disclose in this hearing,” Mr Baxter said, adding that he did not meet the criteria as a suspect, “but I cannot give the reason here”.
“I can assure the inquiry that I will answer the question”, he said before adding “but cannot do that in this environment”.
The inquiry continues.
Courtney given core participant status at Finucane inquiry
ALAN IRWIN, Belfast Telegraph and Irish News, November 13th, 2026
Informer drove Real IRA bomb to Omagh, ex-top officer tells inquiry
ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, November 13th, 2026
NORMAN BAXTER CLAIMS 'STONES WERE HIDDEN' TO PROTECT SOURCES AND PEACE PROCESS
The man who led the Omagh bomb investigation has said he believes a covert agent was involved in the atrocity.
Norman Baxter outlined his suspicion that an informer had driven the bomb to the Co Tyrone town as he gave evidence to an inquiry investigating the 1998 massacre.
Mr Baxter said that had more action been taken against the Real IRA unit responsible prior to the attack, there was a “high level of probability” the bomb could have been prevented.
The inquiry into the bombing on August 15, 1998, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins and injured hundreds more, is being chaired by retired Scottish judge Lord Turnbull.
Between May 27, 2002 and November 22, 2008, when he retired, Mr Baxter was the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) into the atrocity, but told the inquiry he did not feel qualified for that role at the time.
Asked by Paul Greaney KC did he feel he was the best person to take on the role of SIO, he said: “No, I didn't.
Poisoned chalice
“I was better suited to be the deputy SIO… I recall saying to some colleagues 'this is a poisoned chalice'. I've been sent here because this is not to be solved.”
The inquiry was told that Mr Baxter provided two statements to the inquiry, one running to 112 pages and a second four-page statement.
The former detective said he “drew the short straw” in being appointed SIO after the previous lead retired, adding that he did not mean that as any disrespect to the families, but just that he got the impression “no one else would go there”.
He said that the previous SIO had done everything he could “to bring people to justice” and exhausted all lines of inquiry, but that this was based on an assessment that was partial as he was not aware of all the intelligence.
“After the bomb exploded the Chief Constable [Ronnie Flanagan] said, 'No stone would be left unturned'. The problem was people had hidden some of the stones, so the investigators couldn't find the stones to look under them,” Mr Baxter said.
“There was a failure to ensure that all the stones to be overturned were available to be looked at. To me they'd been removed.”
Asked what he meant by removing stones and the impact that had on those responsible, Mr Baxter said it “prevented” them from being detected.
Source protection
Asked why this would be the case, he said it was a “hypothesis” based on some reasonable understanding. He said “source protection, methodology understanding and political pressure not to disrupt the peace process by not having large scale police operations in south Armagh” were factors.
Asked who was driving that, he replied: “I know this is very difficult for families and survivors” but said he felt there was a “coordinated obstruction to the investigation”.
When asked about a Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) involvement in the bomb, he said “one of the people who brought the bomb to Omagh on the day was an agent”.
“There are reasonable grounds to hypothesise that whatever was going on operationally was not going to be disclosed,” he said. Mr Baxter added: “Clearly in my mind there was knowledge that something was coming north, there was something going on behind the scenes, the evidence would point to that, there was pre-knowledge”.
Mr Baxter said he personally knew relatives of some of the deceased and also some of the survivors of the bomb and that his wife — a nurse — responded to an emergency call to Omagh and treated some of the injured.
He said that at the time of the bomb he was under dissident threat and was subject to Key Persons Protection, an NIO-funded scheme.
On August 14, 1998 — the day before the bombing — he called to see a senior officer about this.
Knock on the door
While meeting the senior officer about his security arrangements he said there was a knock on the door and 'Officer One', who was regional head of Special Branch at the time, entered the room, apologised for interrupting but said he had an urgent matter to discuss.
Mr Baxter told how Officer One then said gardai had informed him a car bomb “was coming north the next day” but they didn't know where it was destined for, nor details of the vehicle.
He said “they had a short discussion” about where it might be heading and that Lisburn, Banbridge and Portadown were suggested.
He said a “planned proactive operation” involving military and police personnel checkpoints at Newry to protect the area was discussed.
Mr Baxter also spoke about his time heading the investigation, which came amid a backdrop of “tense hostility” between the PSNI and Police Ombudsman.
He said that it was “inconceivable” that had a similar bombing team been operating on the “mainland UK” that there would not have been steps taken to disrupt them.
He said the suspects identified had all been “active terrorists” for years.
Poor co-operation with Garda
Mr Baxter was also asked about cooperation with An Garda Siochana, which he said was good on a personal level but not at a strategic level. He said they would pass on “regurgitated” intelligence based on “what we had already told them”.
He said it was known that a car was stolen in the Republic that was used to transport the bomb and that it had been moved from the Dundalk area.
He said there were unanswered questions as to why suspect Anthony Donegan hadn't been charged by the gardai with stealing the car used in the bomb and why suspected Real IRA member Seamus McKenna had not been arrested.
Donegan, from Dundalk, was eventually charged in Northern Ireland but in 2005 the charges were withdrawn by the PPS. He had been accused of making available the maroon Vauxhall Cavalier car used by the bombers.
Mr Baxter said that gardai were running an informer they believed had provided cars for other Real IRA attacks, but not Omagh. He said detectives in Northern Ireland were denied permission to speak to him.
The man was later arrested coming through Bristol, and police here did question him, but Mr Baxter said this was with “no assistance from the guards”.
In relation to Daly, another of the named suspects, the inquiry was told that in 2003 a file linking the south Armagh man to “the most serious type of terrorist activity” was being prepared by the PSNI and that it would have been “expected” that gardai would be aware that the police in Northern Ireland were “putting together a case”.
Seriously damaging
However, around this time he was arrested in the Republic on suspicion of membership of the Real IRA which meant he couldn't be questioned by the PSNI.
Mr Baxter said this was “seriously damaging” to the case.
Daly was arrested in Northern Ireland in 2014 and charged in connection with the Omagh bomb, but the case collapsed in 2016.
Mr Baxter said that by the time he was arrested 10 years later “we had the issue of a witness changing his mind” and changing a previous statement.
The inquiry was told that at one stage there were over 60 suspects identified as having involvement in the Real IRA unit responsible, and that a list of eight specific suspects was logged.
Asked why Patrick 'Mooch' Blair's name was not on the list, Mr Baxter said he was not able to say the reason in open session.
Blair is a convicted IRA bomb-maker.
“I cannot disclose in this hearing,” Mr Baxter said, adding that he did not meet the criteria as a suspect, “but I cannot give the reason here”.
“I can assure the inquiry that I will answer the question”, he said before adding “but cannot do that in this environment”.
The inquiry continues.
The south is finally getting serious about Irish unity
CHRIS DONNELLY, Irish News, November 13th, 2026
THE past few weeks have witnessed significant steps forward being taken in the campaign for Irish unity and the comprehensive constitutional change programme that will and must precede it.
Fine Gael launched their ‘Blueprint for a Unified Island’ document last weekend. Informed by research and engagements undertaken by Professor Deirdre Heenan and Professor Stephen Kinsella, the report contains many positive and meaningful proposals.
The party suggests an expansion of “practical all-island co-operation through the North South Ministerial Council” as well as building “the all-island economy through closer co-operation between development agencies”.
These objectives, whilst both admirable and sensible, will almost certainly be met with resistance by unionist leaders, who will and have exercised their vetoes at Stormont to thwart the potential growth and development of such areas to date in the knowledge that, whilst beneficial for people across the island, they nevertheless logically substantiate the argument for political unity.
Other proposals include establishing a Standing Constitutional Forum to enable structured political, civic and public consideration of the choices that could arise in advance of any referendum, a potentially useful vehicle to promote engagement and deliberation upon the various unity models.
The proposal to “undertake detailed work on public services, taxation, pensions, welfare, economic transition, security and future institutional arrangements” is potentially of great significance, because bringing it into reality would necessitate finally taking concrete, pro-active steps utilising the state bureaucracy and government departments to plan and prepare across the breadth of areas.
Fine Gael proposes to “strengthen constitutional planning capacity” by locating responsibility firmly within the Taoiseach’s office to lead on “evidence-based preparation across departments”, with a Constitutional Planning Unit co-ordinating the work across government.
A Minister of State for North-South Relations post would be set up and a sovereign wealth fund created as part of financial planning to prepare for unity.
Reconciliation
One of the key observations within the report is the statement that “reconciliation must remain fundamental to the process but not stall progress”, a clear recognition of the fact some have cynically employed reconciliation as an obstructionist tactic to delay commencement of substantive planning for unity.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris have both announced initiatives on the potential for constitutional change over the last week
Another notable observation was the recognition that “defence and security” matters will remain important and therefore issues such as policing, justice, national security and defence capabilities must be carefully considered.
“ Many will suspect the two government parties have only been brought to the point of announcing these policy developments due to the rise of Sinn Féin. Whatever the reasons, the end result is the same
Stephen Kinsella’s modelling of the cost implications for different unity scenarios is very useful and will no doubt be further explored and built upon in the time ahead, adding to other modelling research that has already been published.
Days prior to the Fine Gael launch, the Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, announced at a meeting of his parliamentary party that a Futures Study Initiative would be set up by his own party to look at possible constitutional arrangements in the future.
His plan would also involve setting up a dedicated secretariat within the Taoiseach’s office and would involve exploring constitutional, legal, economic, health, education and security issues amongst others.
Micheál Martin is coming to the end of his time as Taoiseach and almost certainly as an active political figure.
Part of his legacy will be his failure to lead on introducing and progressing planning and preparation for constitutional change during the post-Brexit years, so this initiative has the feel of a politician succumbing to the inevitable, with a nod to both his legacy and an instinctive desire to prevent the frenemies in Fine Gael with whom he shares government from further establishing their credibility on this issue at the expense of Fianna Fáil.
Whilst all of this was happening, further evidence of the necessity and desirability of constitutional change was apparent in the dreary steeples conduct of unionist politicians who ganged up at Stormont this week to deliver a blow to children taught through the medium of Irish education – and all because they continue to throw a tantrum at the failure of loyalists to parade through a Catholic area in Portadown.
Many will suspect the two Dublin government parties have only been brought to the point of announcing these policy developments due to the rise of Sinn Féin as the lead party of Opposition in the Dáil.
Whatever the reasons, the end result is the same.
Extending the franchise
For the first time ever, both traditional mainstream southern parties are now committed to publicly revealed proposals that collectively signal the commencement of substantive and credible government-level planning and preparation for Irish unity, with the proposals almost exclusively being firmly within the control of an Irish government to deliver upon without delay and fear of hindrance or impediment from political unionism. A final thought. Beneath the headline ‘Questions requiring wider agreement’, the Fine Gael document raised the issue once again of extending the vote to Irish citizens in the north for Presidential elections.
Let us hope the process of satisfactorily resolving this issue is expedited. In a very tangible way, an all-Ireland Presidential campaign has the potential to invite people of all persuasions into a national conversation.
It would promote positive island-wide engagements and provoke discussions in households and across local communities.
The campaign would necessitate bringing canvass teams from the main southern parties to the north and incentivise them to establish and expand a northern presence, a process which invariably would enhance their understanding of the north and further embed the desire to fulfil the work of building the new Ireland destined to be the defining achievement of 21st century Ireland.
It is also completely within the power and authority of an Irish government to deliver.
50 years on: How John Patch became fourth Tele staffer murdered in 1976
LIAM TUNNEY, Belfast Telegraph, November 13th, 2026
MAINTENANCE MAN ABDUCTED AND SHOT BY LOYALISTS ON WAY HOME FROM NIGHT OUT
There was heavy fog on the Cliftonville Road on November 13, 1976. It was a Saturday evening and John Patch had been out for a drink.
Mr Patch, a Catholic, had joined the Belfast Telegraph's despatch department as a 15-year-old and had worked there for more than two decades, ending up in the maintenance department.
As he made his way home with a neighbour that night 50 years ago, he was abducted and killed by loyalists.
Mr Patch became the 53rd person to die at the hands of terrorists in north Belfast in 1976, and the fourth Belfast Telegraph employee to be murdered that year.
On September 15, 63-year-old stereotype worker Joe Paton was killed after the IRA exploded a bomb at the newspaper's office on Royal Avenue.
The following month, delivery men John Maguire (56) and Charles Corbett (21) were shot dead by a UVF death squad in Glenbank Place.
Less than a fortnight after those murders, loyalist killers struck again.
After being out for the night, Mr Patch had fallen in with a neighbour who had been drinking at a separate club.
The pair made their way up the Cliftonville Road towards Mr Patch's home on Elimgrove Street, where he lived with his 80-year-old father John and sister Ellen.
As they reached the entrance to the street, an orange estate car sped towards them through the November fog.
The following year, John's friend would tell an inquest into his death that a passenger shouted from the car as it drew alongside them.
He said he didn't hear exactly what was said, but that the word “b*****d” had been used.
John and his neighbour tried to escape by running into Elimgrove Street, but Mr Patch stumbled and fell.
Reporting on the inquest in November 1977, the Belfast Telegraph noted: “The witness told how he stopped and heard voices saying: 'Get him into the car quickly.'
“But he could not see what was happening as it was foggy.
“He shouted that he was going for the police to try and stop the men from capturing Mr Patch.
Ran to police station
“He then told the court that he ran to Oldpark RUC station.”
A second witness said he had heard what he thought was an “argument” outside the gates of a nearby park.
“He told the court he thought it was a drunken brawl involving men from a nearby social club,” added the report.
“He later heard a shot, but thought it came from a different direction from the argument.”
Mr Patch's body was later discovered close to an electricity transformer in the Alliance Road area.
He had been beaten and shot at close range through the neck.
At the inquest, police confirmed he was not linked to any illegal organisation.
A detective told the court he had not been selected individually, but “just happened to be there at the time”.
“He added that no one had been charged in connection with the shooting. An open verdict was returned.”
On the Monday after his death, this newspaper carried a picture of Mr Patch on its front page, describing north Belfast's latest Troubles victim as a “well-liked man”.
His sister Ellen told the Belfast Telegraph at the time: “John was an innocent man and he was an easy target. I think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I can't hold ill feelings against those people who murdered him. But I would like to meet them and ask them: 'Why John?'
“It was to be his 36th birthday next week. All I hope is that he was not tortured before he was killed.”
Father served in Army
His father, John Patch Sr, who served in the Army for 35 years, lamented the rising number of Troubles deaths, which reached 297 in 1976.
“It is terrible the number of innocent people getting shot. What good will it do?” he told this newspaper.
Former journalist William Graham worked in the Belfast Telegraph alongside Mr Patch.
“Norman Jenkinson was the news editor there, and I always remember John came in early to do his work,” he said this week.
“He always had a bit of a chat, a bit of a joke and a bit of banter with us.
“Those were dangerous times, with paramilitaries roaming the streets, and people could easily be picked up.
“It came as a huge shock to hear he had been abducted and killed. It was a terrible, terrible thing to happen to anybody.”
John's funeral took place on November 16 at Sacred Heart Church on the Oldpark Road. He was buried afterwards in Milltown Cemetery, west Belfast.
“The service was attended by relatives and friends of the dead man, as well as colleagues from the Belfast Telegraph, where he had worked since he was 15,” reported this newspaper.
“Mr Patch was the 53rd person to die at the hands of terrorists in north Belfast this year.”
Nobody was ever prosecuted for Mr Patch's murder.
Masked gang who told drinkers 'we are New IRA' admit charges
ASHLEIGH MCDONALD, Belfast Telegraph and Irish News, November 13th, 2026
Three men are to be sentenced in January on charges of IRA membership and possessing weapons.
The trio appeared at Belfast Crown Court yesterday where their case was listed to proceed as a trial.
All three initially denied the charges levelled at them but barristers representing the defendants asked that their clients be re-arraigned. Dermot Kenneth Burke (62) from Hass Road in Dungiven, 36-year-old Michael Stephen Conwell, from Castletown Square in Fintona, and a youth from Co Londonderry were then charged with three offences dating back to January 19, 2024.
All three pleaded guilty to belonging to or professing to belong to the Irish Republican Army; possessing a firearm or imitation firearm, namely a handgun, with intent to cause fear of violence; and possessing an offensive weapon, namely two metal bars, at locations between and including Garvagh Road in Dungiven and Main Street in Dungiven.
After the trio admitted the three charges, a Crown barrister informed Judge Gordon Kerr KC that a second charge of belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA, on January 19, 2024 was being “left on the books”.
Following this, Judge Kerr ordered that pre-sentence reports be compiled on all three.
Although no details of the offending were aired yesterday, during a previous court hearing it emerged that a masked and armed gang entered a number of licensed premises in Dungiven on the evening of January 19, 2024.
While in the various pubs and a GAA club, the masked gang told patrons “we are New IRA, we are here to clean up the bars. If you don't clean up the bars we are doing it. The bars are full of drugs.”
Burke, Conway and the youth will be sentenced for three offences on January 14, 2027.
As no objection was raised by the Crown, the judge released all three on continuing bail ahead of sentencing in the new year.
Victims ask Pope Leo to intervene with Irish Christian Brothers on child sex abuse legal strategy
COLM KEENA, Irish Times, November 13th, 2026
Silence from Vatican in relation to obstructive legal tactics adopted by congregation in Ireland
A Dublin law firm acting for men sexually abused as children by members of the Christian Brothers has twice written to the pope seeking help.
The Christian Brothers has adopted a legal strategy that is frustrating the efforts of people seeking damages for child sex abuse to get a hearing, and the law firm wrote to Rome asking that the pope might direct the Irish congregation to alter its controversial approach.
However, the pleas – one to the late Pope Francis in May 2023, and another to his successor, Pope Leo, in September of this year – have been met with silence.
Last week, High Court Judge Mary Rose Gearty, when hearing applications in relation to three child abuse cases, wondered if there might be something in canon law that would allow the Vatican to direct the head of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, David Gibson, to change its approach.
“I don’t know enough about canon law to know whether Mr Gibson would have any duty to obey what he was asked to do by the pope; I don’t. I am not suggesting, at this stage, to serve the pope but I am not ruling it out,” she said.
In response, barrister Andrew Nugent, instructed by Coleman Legal, which represents a number of men seeking to sue [the] congregation, said there “have been moves in that direction. I will say no more.”
In a letter to Pope Leo in September, which included a copy of a 2023 letter to Pope Francis, Coleman Legal said the “cynicism” of the Christian Brothers is causing further trauma to victims and “must run contrary to every tenet of the Catholic Church”.
“The purpose of this letter to you is to invite your intercession, on behalf of the Catholic Church, with the congregation of Christian Brothers,” the law firm said.
The letter was also sent to the Papal Nuncio in Ireland and a number of Irish law firms linked to the litigation.
The letter was written on behalf of a man who was seeking damages after being sexually abused as a child by three brothers in the CBS primary school on Stephen Street, Kilkenny, in the 1970s.
One of the abusers, Liam Coughlan, died last month in Mountjoy Prison, where he was serving sentences for multiple sexual assaults on children in Kilkenny and elsewhere.
Another, Martin O’Flaherty, is in prison, having been convicted of multiple instances of sexual assault on children in the Kilkenny school.
Garda inquiry
The third, Seán Murphy, was the subject of a Garda inquiry into sexual assault in the Kilkenny school but died before any charges were brought against him.
The Christian Brothers, like most religious congregations, is an unincorporated association. Most congregations, when involved in litigation, put forward a nominee to represent the association for the purposes of the case, but the Christian Brothers has been opting not to do so in cases of child sex abuse.
As a result, claimants, to advance their case to the stage where it can be heard, must identify and sue everyone who was a member of the congregation at the time of the sexual assaults, a complicated and hugely expensive process.
Earlier this year, the president of the Circuit Court, Judge Keenan Johnson, described the Christian Brothers’ strategy as “morally bankrupt” and said it appeared to be designed to protect the congregation’s assets.
According to the Charities Register, the Christian Brothers had net assets of €51.7 million at the end of 2025. Income last year was €18.7 million, while expenditure was €11 million.
Multiple claims
The congregation is currently facing multiple child sex abuse claims in the High Court. It is widely believed that many who might make claims are being dissuaded from doing so by the brothers’ obstructive legal strategy, or are settling.
People bringing claims have to serve legal papers on all those men still alive, or who have died in the past two years, who were in the congregation at the time of the alleged or actual sexual assault.
Papers have to be served on both former members and men still in the congregation. The congregation has been ordered by the courts to hand over the relevant names.
Earlier this year, Gearty gave permission to Coleman Legal to serve papers in one case on more than 300 former members by way of putting a notice in a national newspaper. The advertisement named all the men and informed them they were being made defendants in a child sex abuse case involving Coughlan and assaults in the 1970s.
Last week, lawyers for three of the men named in the advertisement were in court. One lawyer said her client had found it “very upsetting and distressing” to be publicly named about a crime with which he had no connection.
Two of the men named had never completed their training with the congregation, their lawyers told the court.
Nevertheless, Gearty granted permission to Coleman Legal to repeat the exercise in relation to another two new cases. This will see two more newspaper advertisements, one in relation to 435 former members, and the other in relation to 314 former members, which will list the names of the men and say they are being joined as defendants in child sex abuse cases.
Men who have come forward in relation to the first case will not be named in the new advertisements.
In both cases, the law firm is also joining 104 existing members of the congregation to the case as defendants. The new advertisements will differ from the one published earlier this year in that Gearty acceded to a request from barrister Andrew Nugent, instructed by Philip Treacy of Coleman Legal, that the new advertisements will say that all further correspondence in relation to the cases can be collected by the defendants from the Christian Brothers headquarters, in Marino, Dublin 9.
Most of the 341 former brothers named in the first advertisement, published in August, have not responded to the notice, the court was told. Coleman Legal will now begin the process of securing judgments in default of appearance against these men, Nugent said.
Processing costs
Geary’s decision that correspondence can be sent to Marino will significantly reduce the cost of processing the claims for the claimants. However, for the congregation, it means it will have to deal with correspondence in relation to hundreds of former members in respect of a growing number of cases.
Nugent told the court his firm has 13 new cases for which it will be seeking similar orders next month.
Hundreds of former brothers now face the possibility of having multiple judgments in default registered against them. Alternatively, they face incurring the legal cost of trying to extricate themselves from potentially multiple High Court cases.
Barrister Mark Finan, for one of the men named in the first advertisement, referred on Wednesday to the possibility that his client might bring an application early next year to see if the man can “get out at an early stage, mentally and financially”, from the litigation.
Finan said a letter had been sent to Gibson asking whether the congregation was willing to provide an indemnity to his client in relation to the litigation.
Gibson was represented in court on Wednesday in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the congregation.
His barrister, Isabelle Aylmer, instructed by Frank Buttimer and Co, solicitors, said she had no instructions on the matter of indemnity. Gearty said perhaps Gibson could be asked if he would “give that comfort to former members”.
PSNI sacks officers over 'sickening' treatment of vulnerable people
ABDULLAH SABRI, Belfast Telegraph, November 13th, 2026
DISMISSAL OF THE PAIR FOLLOWS POLICE OMBUDSMAN AND INTERNAL PROBES
The PSNI has sacked two police officers after investigations found they were to blame for “sickening” behaviour towards vulnerable members of the public.
The pair were dismissed as part of Police Ombudsman and internal probes into Police Officer A and Police Officer B.
Examination of Police Officer A's personal devices also brought to light evidence of “racial, sexist and misogynistic memes” shared between officers.
Misconduct by A centred around photographing and recording people who were reporting crimes, required assistance, were intoxicated or deemed a self-harm risk.
Some were shared on WhatsApp and were typically paired with derogatory and insulting language.
The footage took place in hospitals, patrol vehicles, and people's homes between 2016 and 2021, with 18 people being identified, including via message.
The media was discovered after A was accused of having established a sexual relationship with a woman he met while on duty.
It prompted a Police Ombudsman investigation in December 2021 and led to his arrest, but no further action was taken against him.
However, the probe led to the examination of his electronic devices, which revealed the concerning footage on his personal phones.
A particular incident, described as “one of the most disturbing” by a Police Ombudsman spokesperson, was recorded by Police Officer A in June 2021.
Accompanied by Police Officer B, the pair were tasked with a report of a concern for safety involving a woman with mental health problems and learning difficulties.
A video captured the woman in her nightwear with B present as A “asked a highly inappropriate question using a slang term and apparently relating to the woman's sex life, after which Police Officer B shouted a comment and invited her to repeat it”.
The woman told the officers she was recording them, prompting Police Officer A to tell her to “lighten up” as they were having “craic”.
The female victim said she was “disgusted” by what had happened after showing the video to Police Ombudsman investigators.
Reprehensible
“Such behaviour from police officers tasked to assist a vulnerable woman at a time of distress is reprehensible,” Police Ombudsman Jacqui Durkin said.
The officers in question also traded messages and photos in November 2020 after being called to a separate incident.
Police Officer B, who was present at the incident, sent pictures and messages to Police Officer A which included sexual and derogatory terms about the women, who were known to have vulnerabilities.
When questioned later about the incident, B said he was a junior officer that was “trying to fit in” with A being his probationary support officer.
Meanwhile, one of the women told investigators that, after becoming aware of the incident, it reinforced her belief that police were “out to get her”.
Other evidence uncovered from A's devices included him sending a member of the public images and disclosing medical details of a woman who was considered a suicide risk.
The woman later took her own life.
Police Officer A was subsequently dismissed in May 2025 for gross misconduct after the internal PSNI investigation.
Police Officer B was dismissed on the same grounds in July of this year.
Written warning
Misconduct files were also submitted against two others, Police Officer C and Police Officer D.
C was given a final written warning after receiving a video of a vulnerable person from Police Officer A, and later sent it back to him.
Police Officer D was present during a video taken by Police Officer A but no action was taken after he said that he was unaware that a recording took place.
A separate investigation which followed the initial inspection of Police Officer A's personal devices found that 74 officers, including him, had accessed body-worn footage without any legitimate reason to do so.
Management action was taken against all 74 officers by the PSNI.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher welcomed news of the two dismissals following the “horrifying behaviour”.
Mr Boutcher said: “It will shock and appal our officers and staff that any member of the public needing our help was treated in this cruel and dismissive way.
“It represented a serious breach of trust, particularly affecting people who were entitled to care, compassion and professional support at times of acute vulnerability.”
Justice Minister Naomi Long said she was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the report, but steps were being taken to improve processes involving misconduct.
“The actions of the officers were abhorrent, wholly unacceptable and completely indefensible, and it is right that they have been dismissed from the PSNI. There is no place in our police service for officers who behave in this way,” she said.
Senior member of Law Society Council resigns over CEO controversy
KURTIS REID, Belfast Telegraph, November 13th, 2026
A senior member of the Law Society of Northern Ireland Council has resigned amid growing frustration over the organisation's response to a series of no-confidence votes passed by solicitors last month.
Karen Cherry, who also served on the Society's Executive Committee, is understood to have stepped down amid concerns about the level of information being provided to council members and the wider profession.
Her departure comes just weeks after solicitors voted overwhelmingly in favour of an independent review into the society's handling of the controversy surrounding its chief executive, David Lavery.
The Belfast Telegraph understands there is mounting frustration among members over what they regard as a lack of meaningful action, leadership and urgency following the Special General Meetings (SGMs) held in October.
Sources have expressed concern that the Society's Executive Committee has made little visible progress in responding to the outcome of the meetings, despite members voting for significant changes to how the organisation is governed.
Ms Cherry's resignation represents another departure from the society's leadership following months of turmoil over Mr Lavery, who was found guilty of gross misconduct after providing a character reference for his convicted sex offender cousin.
Ms Cherry did not return a request for comment on her resignation when contacted.
Resignations
The latest resignation follows those of solicitors Philip Armstrong and Julie-Ann McCaffrey, who stepped down from the council earlier in the controversy.
At the October meetings, members passed a series of motions expressing no confidence in Mr Lavery and the society's handling of the affair.
A motion expressing no confidence in the chief executive and calling for his resignation or termination was backed by 755 solicitors, with just 47 voting against.
The result represented 94pc support for the motion.
Members also passed two further motions expressing no confidence in the wider leadership and council's handling of the controversy. Separate proposals calling for the president to be removed and the council to relinquish its positions did not secure sufficient support.
A resolution expressing no confidence in the president was defeated by 291 votes to 247. The meetings also saw overwhelming support for an independent review, with members voting in favour of examining the society's handling of the controversy.
Members also voted in favour of holding a further general meeting following the review and requiring the council to consider its findings and report on the actions taken.
Questions are now being raised over what progress has been made towards establishing the review, whether its terms of reference have been agreed and when members can expect to see its findings.
The Belfast Telegraph understands there are also concerns about the level of communication between the leadership and council members regarding decisions taken since the meetings.
The controversy began after it emerged that Mr Lavery had provided a character reference for his cousin William Lloyd-Lavery, a former teacher convicted of indecently assaulting four girls at Richmond Lodge School in Belfast during the 1970s.
Mr Lavery subsequently apologised for providing the reference, describing his decision as a “serious error of judgment”. An internal investigation later resulted in an independent disciplinary panel finding him guilty of gross misconduct, although a sanction short of dismissal was imposed.
The finding was not initially disclosed to members, prompting further criticism over transparency after Law Society president Mark Borland had publicly backed Mr Lavery to continue as chief executive.
Suspended
Mr Lavery was subsequently suspended from his position.
Mr Borland previously acknowledged that the society had made mistakes in its handling of the controversy and committed to rebuilding confidence among members.
Following the October meetings, he described the period as “difficult and challenging” and indicated that an independent review would form part of efforts to address members' concerns.
The latest resignation will place renewed scrutiny on the society's leadership and its response to the decisions taken by solicitors.
In a statement to the Belfast Telegraph, a spokesperson for the Law Society said it “has heard and recognises the concerns raised by our members”.
It added that its council will commission an independent review of the matters and members of the society will be informed directly when Terms of Reference and an Independent Reviewer are appointed, adding that work is “ongoing”.
Nephew of IRA victim pleads for end to attacks on memorial
CONOR SHEILS, Irish News, November 13th, 2026
THE nephew of a man shot dead by the IRA in 1970 has pleaded with those who targeted his uncle’s memorial twice in a week to “just stop”, and said his family will forgive them.
Flags were stolen from the Mc-Currie/Neill memorial garden on the lower Newtownards Road in east Belfast in the days before Remembrance Sunday.
Wreaths laid there during Sunday’s commemoration were then taken hours later.
The garden, close to the Short Strand interface, remembers Bobby Neill (38) and Jimmy McCurrie (34).
Mr Neill and Mr McCurrie, both civilians, were shot dead by the IRA on the night of June 27 1970.
Bobby Foster (69), who was named after his uncle, said the latest attacks had caused deep hurt to the family. “It’s very upsetting,” he said. “My uncle wasn’t a convicted terrorist in any way. My uncle didn’t want to listen to politics. He had a lot of friends that were Catholics.
“Practically all of his life was before the Troubles.
“Our family were in no way against any religion. We have friends in both communities.”
Mr Foster said he was at a loss as to why the memorial garden has been singled out.
“Why touch it? Why should somebody go and damage this one?” he said.
“You could maybe pick another memorial and say, maybe people have something against it because the people on them were convicted of things. But every name on that memorial garden down there were innocent victims.”
Earlier this week, DUP MLA Joanne Bunting said she had stood with a crowd at the memorial on Remembrance Sunday.
“Two days later, the Union flag and wreaths are stolen. This is hate crime,” she wrote on social media.
“I have raised this with the PSNI as this memorial has been attacked several times this year. Enough is enough.”
The East Belfast Memorial Committee said it was the second night of attacks on memorial gardens in the area within a week and called on the PSNI to treat the incidents as hate crimes.
The committee called for the stolen property to be returned and appealed to its own community: “We would urge our young not to retaliate.”
The memorial has been attacked repeatedly since it was erected in 2003, including paint attacks in 2004 and 2008.
In July this year it was paint-bombed, an incident police treated as a hate crime.
Mr Foster urged anyone who may have influence over the attackers to help bring the attacks to an end.
“Just stop it. Please stop it. It’s only hurting people. It’s not doing anybody any good, and it’s damaging the relationship between the two communities. It’s creating tension in the area,” he said.
“I don’t want to get them into trouble, I’d be happy if they just don’t do it again.
“My attitude is just stop and we’ll forgive them. We’ll forgive them for what they’ve already done. Just stop it, please, just stop it – that’s my message.”
The PSNI has been contacted for comment.
I will not stand at cenotaphs or at graves
Irish News, November 13th, 2026
LETTERS,
I will not stand at cenotaphs or at graves
WE have just had the annual round of pageantry associated with Remembrance Sunday.
Royalty, politicians, clergymen, ex-servicemen and local dignitaries, all with solemn faces, jostle for positions around cenotaphs; they lay wreaths and a bugler will sound the Last Post, ‘lest we forget’.
The fallen at the Battle of the Somme, which began on July 1 1916, are among those remembered.
Twenty thousand allied casualties were recorded on the first day of that battle but the cannon fodder strategy continued, day after day until November that year; the final death toll on both sides is probably in excess of one million.
To paraphrase the words of Eric Bogle: “We buried ours, they buried theirs and we started all over again.”
This pageantry is more for the benefit of the living rather than the dead and absolutely no comfort to the millions who died agonizingly in no man’s land.
The dead of the First World War and other conflicts are remembered each November with wreaths and solemn ceremonies
No doubt the generals at the Somme also stood at mass graves with grim faces, and then sat in court martial to condemn a shell-shocked ‘coward’ to the mercy of a firing squad.
Martyrdom is actually a weapon of war and something the Irish have been particularly good at, from Wolfe Tone to the 1916 Rising, probably the only time in human conflict the leaders of a revolution sacrificed themselves.
In our own era 10 young men, with of an average age of 25, starved to death while others reaped the political benefit.
I have the greatest respect for those who gave their lives so courageously but utter contempt for the armchair generals who indoctrinate young men to die for a particular cause.
How many First World War generals faced a court martial for reckless endangerment of life?
How many days did Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams go without food?
I will continue to remember the victims of war in my own way but will not be standing at cenotaphs or Fenian graves.
I conclude with another quote from Eric Bogle, “…the young people ask, what are they marching for and I ask myself the same question”.
PATRICK MCKENNA Newry
'One attack is one too many'... ambulance chief appeals for abuse of paramedics to stop
KYLE FRAZER, Belfast Telegraph, November 13th, 2026
MARK COCHRANE'S CALL TO PUBLIC AFTER TEAM MEMBER IS ATTACKED OUTSIDE ALTNAGELVIN ED
A senior Ambulance Service figure has urged communities to come together to stop the abuse of frontline paramedics during call-outs, amid hundreds of incidents this year.
Mark Cochrane, who serves as the assistant director of operations at NIAS, was speaking after a paramedic was left injured in the north west last weekend.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Cochrane said this year there have been more than 650 recorded incidents of abuse towards paramedics.
“One incident is one incident too many and that is the message I want to get out there, because these incidents of aggression are directed towards our staff and close to half of those have involved physical abuse of one kind or another,” he said.
“This attack is right at the top end of that scale and these are very exceptional kinds of incidents — but all of them, whether that be physical or verbal, have an impact on our staff and our ability to provide a service.
“On Saturday evening, the incident happened outside Altnagelvin Emergency Department when we had one paramedic who sustained physical injuries.
“Two other staff were also involved in the incident but were not physically attacked. All three still continue to recover and are making a good recovery from the physical side of their injuries.
Psychological impact
“But it is the psychological impact that this will have on them all that will take much longer to resolve.”
Mr Cochrane said the response from the community has been excellent and has demonstrated that the majority of people would never dream of attacking a first responder.
“There has been a huge response to this and lots of well wishes to those who were involved and lots of condemnation from general members of the public — the vast majority of whom we know support us in everything we do,” he added.
“This incident happened in ED, there were lots of staff there working in the hospital who witnessed the aftermath of this and who felt personally involved.
“Then colleagues in other emergency services are also subjected to similar levels of abuse.”
He said that there is a real anxiety for workers like his daughter, who is also a paramedic, and that the abuse is ultimately making it a challenge to recruit new paramedics
“It goes without saying it's not acceptable. We ran a campaign several years ago 'stop the abuse now' — and that is the clear message,” Mr Cochrane added.
“This is not acceptable, and we will pursue through all avenues available to us, including all legal avenues, anyone who directs violence towards our staff.
“Understandably, all the colleagues of these staff who were involved will look at this and be afraid of what call they are going to next.
“Our staff shouldn't be going to work with this fear hanging over them. I do have concerns for staff who are in the job at the moment, but also in recruitment and trying to get new staff in.
“Personally, I have a daughter in this job and whenever I think that this is what she is facing, I see it from two sides in terms of both management and in terms of being a daddy.
“That scares me and I know that is a piece of work we need to do.”
Attacks ‘alarmingly high’
The number of frontline workers who are attacked in Northern Ireland is alarmingly high.
Earlier this year, research in the British Medical Journal uncovered that on average there are 32 physical attacks on healthcare workers every day.
That average was collated from data which documented 72,000 attacks over a five-year period - 60,000 of which were physical assaults.
Mr Cochrane added that substance abuse can often at times be a factor behind attacks, it doesn't make it acceptable when staff are only doing their jobs.
“People will call 999, and we will respond and try and help them to the best of our ability. We are invited into these situations,” he said.
“A lot of the incidents we know have other factors involved, such as alcohol and substance abuse, so there are factors.
“We do a lot of work before we send someone to a call to make sure we are sending them to a safe call as best as we can. But sometimes an incident can happen when nobody is expecting it to happen.
“It goes without saying it's not acceptable. We ran a campaign several years ago 'stop the abuse now' — and that is the clear message.”
Delays to Housing Executive reform 'could hit maintenance and repairs'
ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, November 13th, 2026
Without reform of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), it may have to stop investing in certain homes next year, a Stormont committee has heard.
The issue is “one of the biggest risks” facing the Department for Communities, of which NIHE is an arm's-length body, MLAs were told.
For years there have been plans for our largest landlord to change its classification to enable it to leverage its assets and borrow.
The final decision on such a decision, which would put NIHE on a much more stable financial footing, lies with the Treasury.
There is currently a housing crisis, with demand far outstripping supply and more than 50,000 applicants on the waiting list.
NIHE has around 85,000 social homes. However, much of its stock is aging and is in need of repair as well as maintenance.
On Thursday members of the DfC committee were briefed by Minister Gordon Lyons, DfC permanent secretary Grainia Long, who is a former NIHE chief executive, and Paul Price, DfC's deputy secretary of housing and sustainability.
Sinn Féin's Colm Gildernew asked about the progress on reforming NIHE, because news on this front had gone “very quiet”.
Mr Lyons said he shared Mr Gildernew's “frustration”, but “we've gotten further than ever before” in achieving the goal.
“We have had the right people in the room as we have met with the Treasury and there's been good progress made as part of the talks,” he said.
“I can't really say much more at this stage other than we've been very clear in our case, we've presented the information, and we are, I think it's fair to say, further forward.”
Ms Long said, that in her role as permanent secretary and accounting officer for DfC, it was “among one of the biggest risks for the department... we could have a public housing authority without a long-term investment strategy”.
‘Inability to invest’
She added: “We cannot afford to lose a single property due to inability to invest in it or a long-term plan, and that certainly would be a risk in the next mandate, that the Housing Executive would have to stop investing in certain homes from an economic viability point of view.
“[NIHE] has made it very clear to us that that would be a really significant risk. So we have continued to make progress.
“We are further forward than we were last year.
“We had a very important meeting with the Treasury at the end of the last calendar year.
“Those discussions have continued, as the minister has said, as part of the discussions around future funding and a longer-term budget revitalisation remains part of those discussions.”
Ms Long said it was as expensive for the public purse to borrow now as it was when NIHE stopped doing so in the early 2000s.
“In that entire generation, we've lost homes and we've lost investment in homes,” she said.
“So, it is a big ask of Treasury to be able to allow the Housing Executive to borrow, but it is an ask that should continue to be made, and it continues to be made.”
Jeffrey Donaldson was LVF ‘go-between’ over William McKee death threats
CONNLA YOUNG, Irish News, November 13th, 2026
DISGRACED ex-DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson acted as a ‘go-between’ with the LVF in a bid to lift a death threat against a former H-Block governor wrongly suspected of involvement in the killing of Billy Wright.
Ex-prison chief William McKee has now revealed how Donaldson ‘nearly got him killed’ before intervening to ‘save his life’ after Wright was shot dead by the INLA inside the H-Blocks 1997.
A former UVF commander and founding member of the LVF, Wright is believed to have been involved in multiple sectarian murders.
Opposed to the emerging peace process, the LVF was responsible for a series of sectarian killings before Wright was himself shot dead almost 30 years ago.
While supporters of Wright suspect there may have been state involvement in his death, in 2010 an inquiry found there was no collusion.
Mr McKee, who was on duty the day Wright was killed, said that in subsequent years the “Prison Service had deliberately tried to keep disgraced ex-DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson’s name secret because loyalists believed there had been collusion and he would become a target.
Speaking to The Ireland Podcast, Mr McKee said Donaldson, who was an MP for Lagan Valley, later demanded at Westminster that the governor be named.
“He was told, ‘we can’t name him under security grounds’, which actually made it worse for me because then it sounded like, what, was he MI5 or what then? “Why can’t you name him?” Mr McKee said loyalists later became aware of his identity and the LVF threatened to kill him.
“But then what happened later on, my name….fell into the hands of the LVF and the death threat was then issued against me,” he said.
He said he then approached Donaldson, who was handed a 15-year sentence last month for a series of historical sex offences, including one count of rape, against two women when they were children, for help.
“I went to see Jeffrey Donaldson,” he said.
“Unbeknown to me, he had stood in parliament and nearly contributed to me getting killed by demanding that I would be named.
‘I’m under threat’
“So, I spoke to Jeffrey Donaldson, look, ‘I’m under threat’.
“’If there was collusion, it had nothing to do with me.
“’I was only in doing my job, and there’s all these circumstances happening around me which ended up with Billy Wright being killed.
“’There’s nothing to do with me’.”
The former governor reveals that Donaldson made contact with the LVF.
“So, he believed me and got what he described as a ‘middle man’ that he had a conversation with following my conversation with him,” he said.
Mr McKee said the LVF later said they accepted that he was not involved in the killing of Wright.
“Word then came back from the LVF to Jeffrey Donaldson that they accepted that Governor McKee had nothing to do with the murder of Billy Wright, but it was still collusion,” he said.
“But they lifted the death threat on me.”
“So, on one hand, Jeffrey Donaldson nearly got me killed, and another hand, he probably saved me from being killed. “You know, ironic.”
Last year Mr McKee published Collusion: Inside the Maze, which was described as blending “historical fact with gripping fiction”, that weaves “a compelling alternative to the government’s official version of events”.
Since then the trilogy has been completed with the publication of two more books, Operation Unification and the recent release of Personal Reckoning.
