Man charged with murder of ex-IRA member and MI5 spy Denis Donaldson
ROBIN SCHILLER, Belfast Telegraph, March 31st, 2026
A man previously jailed over a plot to kill two top loyalists has appeared in court charged with the murder of former MI5 spy Denis Donaldson.
Antoin Duffy was brought before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin — days before the 20th anniversary of Mr Donaldson's death.
He had recently finished a 17-year prison sentence in Scotland for conspiracy to murder Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair and Sam 'Skelly' McCrory.
Mr Donaldson, who had also worked as a Sinn Fein official, was shot dead at his isolated Donegal cottage four months after it was revealed that he had worked as a British intelligence asset.
The Real IRA later admitted responsibility for his murder.
Duffy was extradited from Scotland by military aircraft and brought before the non-jury court yesterday afternoon.
The 49-year-old, who is originally from Donegal, was formally charged with the murder of Mr Donaldson (55) on April 3 or 4 2006, at Cloghercor, Doochary, Co Donegal.
He is also charged with possession of a shotgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life at the same location on the same date.
Duffy is further charged with the attempted murder of Liam Copeland McGinley on November 19, 2007, at a location in Churchill, Co Donegal. He is also charged with possession of a shotgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life at the same location on the same date.
Non-jury court
A state solicitor informed the three judges that the Republic's Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had certified that the accused be tried before the non-jury court as the ordinary courts were inadequate to secure the effective administration of justice.
Detective Garda Liam Aherne, of Letterkenny Garda Station, gave evidence of arresting the accused at 1.22pm yesterday at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnell, west Dublin. He executed a warrant that had been endorsed by the non-jury court on July 2, 2019.
Det Gda Aherne later handed Duffy a copy of the charge sheets in the confines of the court building.
Duffy only spoke to confirm his identity and briefly stood when the registrar read out the first of the six charges to him before resuming his seat.
No application for bail was made as this can only be granted on a murder charge at the High Court.
Duffy was remanded in custody to appear before the non-jury court again in person on April 13. An application for legal aid was also granted by Mr Justice Patrick McGrath, presiding over the three judge court.
Earlier this year Irish Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan had said a prosecution is expected in relation to the fatal shooting. He made the statement after meeting with Mr Donaldson's daughter Jane Kearney.
Donaldson was interned without trial for periods in the 1970s.
After the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Sinn Fein appointed him as an administrator in the party's Stormont offices. But in late 2005, Donaldson confessed he was a spy for British intelligence for two decades.
Within days Donaldson had quit the party and fled across the border, first to Dublin, then to a remote cottage in Co Donegal.
In this isolated setting, the one-time trusted republican lived out his final months, before being tracked down and shot dead in April 2006.
Lurgan town centre closed driver forced at gunpoint to take car to PSNI station
By Jonathan McCambridge, Press Association, Belfast News Letter, March 31st, 2026
A delivery driver in Northern Ireland was forced at gunpoint to drive his vehicle to a police station sparking a major security alert, a senior police officer has said.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said the force’s specialist terrorism unit were leading the investigation into the incident in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
A number of roads have been closed in the centre of the town and homes evacuated over the alert.
Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long has described it as a “shameful and dangerous attack”.
MP for the area Carla Lockhart said she understood that dissident republicans were behind the incident.
The alert began around 10.30pm on Monday night.
Church Place, Church Walk and Wellington Street are currently closed to traffic, as are sections of Market Street, William Street and North Street.
A number of houses have been evacuated and the town hall has been opened to support those moved from their homes.
Mr Henderson told the BBC: “At about 10.30pm last night, a fast food delivery driver was driving their white Audi car in the Deramore Drive area of Kilwilkie in Lurgan.
“The driver, in a terrifying development, was forced to stop their vehicle and threatened at gunpoint, and then the hijackers placed an object inside the vehicle and that driver was then forced and threatened to drive the vehicle to Lurgan police station.”
Mr Henderson said the officer drove to the station and then alerted police.
He added: “Since then there has been a really significant policing operation which we have been coordinating overnight to make sure the car and the contents of the car were secure and safe.
“That has led to the evacuation of a number of homes in the area.
“Clearly an absolutely terrifying ordeal to the poor man who was forced to drive the car, hugely disruptive and distressing event for the local community in Lurgan.
Specialist terrorism investigation unit
“Our specialist terrorism investigation unit have been leading the investigation into it.”
Ms Long said: “This is a shameful and dangerous attack that has put lives at risk and caused disruption and upset to the local community.
“There is absolutely no place for this utterly reckless and abhorrent behaviour.
“I would like to commend the police officers who responded quickly and professionally to this incident and my thoughts are also with all those who have been caught up by this despicable attack.”
Ms Lockhart said it was a “very serious incident”.
She added: “It cannot be understated the seriousness of it, but the resolve of this community against these individuals has been something else and I want to reassure the community that we will continue to call it out.
“I want to assure them they can come forward to the PSNI, they can report anything they have seen.
“These individuals are pathetic, they need to be apprehended by the police and to face the full rigours of the law.”
Asked who she thought was responsible, the DUP MP said: “My understanding is that it is dissident republicans, they are small in number.
“There is a small nucleus that want to drag this place back.
“This screams of the past, it is like something you may have reported on years ago.
“It is not wanted, we have seen widespread disruption, we have seen business impacted, people put out of their homes and that is not what we want in 2026.”
Sinn Fein MLA John O’Dowd said: “Police have now confirmed a suspicious object was placed in a vehicle which was left outside Lurgan police station.
“The actions of those involved stand in stark contrast to the scenes in Lurgan only two weeks ago when thousands gathered to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, with a parade and family fun day.
“Those scenes of joy and hope are what Lurgan and its people are about.
“Those behind this morning’s actions represent no one but themselves, and stand isolated from the community.
“Progress will not be stymied by these people, Lurgan will continue to move forward.
“I want to once again thank all those who helped and offered shelter to those families who were out of their homes as a result of this alert.
“And I want to offer my solidarity to the van driver who went through a terrifying experience.”
Alliance Party deputy leader Eoin Tennyson said his thoughts were with all those who had been impacted.
He said: “The kind of panic, trauma and disruption caused by this attack is a stark reminder of the dark days of our past, days we will not allow ourselves to be dragged back to by those who only stand to cause our communities harm.”
SDLP leader Claire Hanna said: “It was a completely reckless act and we could have been waking up to a very different situation today.”
Society that venerates masked men cannot disown violence against women
MÁIRÍA CAHILL, Irish News, March 31st, 2026
A FEW months ago, I was in a shop with my daughter. An agitated man was bouncing on his heels, swinging his arms back and forth.
His partner was browsing an aisle. He muttered under his breath repeatedly, before finally roaring a string of expletives.
Then, he menaced her: “If you don’t move yourself now, I swear to God…”
I lifted my head from the item I was examining and caught his eye.
Then, in a cool, deliberate voice loud enough for him to hear, but addressing my daughter, I said: “Never, ever end up with a man who speaks to a woman like that.”
His mouth flapped open and shut like a fish. No doubt he holds a far better opinion of himself than the one he was projecting to the rest of us.
We’re a bit like that here. We like to present an image of a Nobel-worthy post-conflict society.
The reality? Decades of decaying political relationships, propped up by an on-off, fascia-like bulwark on the hill, surveying the rot beneath.
Enmity is stronger in some quarters than pre-1998, whipped up by politicians and social media commentators with little social conscience. Political firefighting on a whole host of issues trumps prevention.
Isn’t it instructive that in all our hand-wringing about the 30 women killed in recent years here, the elephant in the room still stumbles large?
To halt a cycle of violence, we must tackle the root cause.
The word “misogyny” is often used, principally because we have a severe problem with it. Less popular is addressing how to stop someone committing intimate harm.
Less again is calling out a society that deems some acts of violence horrific, and others heroic.
It might as well be me
Someone has to say it. As one who has had the misfortune to be on the wrong end of violence – domestically, sexually, and politically – it might as well be me.
It’s a familiar pattern. Man murders woman, and politicians and journalists rush to condemn it.
There are calls for tougher sanctions, and interviews with refuge workers and grieving family members.
Each time, the chorus of “never again” reaches fever pitch.
And then they do nothing. Or worse, they contribute to the toxic sludge that passes for normal behaviour here.
The noise dies down. Until the next murder. Repeat ad infinitum.
We are at a critical juncture. Last year, 30,793 domestic abuse incidents were reported to an under-resourced PSNI.
Children exposed to misogynistic social media content were almost five times more likely to view hurting someone physically as acceptable.
A mural celebrating UVF gunmen at Mount Vernon in north Belfast, which was repaired last year after storm damage
Celebrating violence
“If your political party continues to celebrate individuals who killed people for a living, then you’re part of the problem
A fortnight ago, youth services warned Stormont that some of them might not survive the summer due to funding difficulties.
Counselling lists for children with behavioural difficulties are a mile long.
We don’t routinely offer help to children of domestic abuse victims and perpetrators. Why not?
Stormont talks about “tackling violence against women”. How about preventing it instead?
All our research is dangerously piecemeal. We should map adverse experiences from childhood onwards, to inform practice.
Until we see those who commit violent acts against women not as monsters, but as flawed humans whose behaviour needs therapeutic intervention, the cycle continues.
And where is the uniform schools programme with proven results which addresses all ages about appropriate behaviour?
A friend with a child with behavioural needs has been waiting three years on an assessment. Another, over a year for counselling. Any wonder issues develop from boy to man?
We also have a responsibility to ensure our actions are not contributing to a societal acceptance of violence.
Walk through any inner-city housing estate and look at the gable walls: balaclava-clad men, guns raised, granite slabs etched with the names of those who were killed for their “cause”. Martyrs of murder.
Little children have grown up with these symbols, and will one day walk our streets as adults. Some, indeed, have become grown-ups with violent tendencies.
And we ponder why this is the most dangerous place to be a woman?
Blind
Those who support armed groups blindly refuse to see the correlation between street violence and home violence. Not our boys, they say.
Yet those with a propensity towards any type of violence, whether bombs, guns, or beating kids, are more predisposed to pumping their adrenaline once their home door shuts.
The reverse is also true. As the writer Joan Smith put it in her book examining the links: “Terrorism begins at home.”
This is the hypocrisy at the heart of it: a society that still venerates masked men cannot credibly claim to abhor violence against women.
Many domestic abusers also believe their anger is legitimate: that’s often why they blame their victims.
If your political party continues to celebrate individuals who killed people for a living, then you’re part of the problem.
If you are happy to turn a blind eye to doublespeak instead of calling it out, then you are just as cowardly as those men who need to dominate females.
So, politicians, if you truly want to prevent violence against women, put your money where your mouth is and stop talking out of both sides of it.
Why should I feel ashamed for what others have done?
MALACHI O’DOHERTY, Belfast Telegraph, March 31st, 2026
There are violent men, warped and damaged, but they are the exception
People fall too easily into sectarian, racist and sexist generalisations and part of the consciousness raising of recent decades has been about recognising that.
Chris de Burgh wrote a song after the Enniskillen bomb with the repeated line, 'I am ashamed to be Irish on Remembrance Day.'
Nothing that he had done had contributed to that atrocity. I don't know the man, but I think I can be fairly sure of that.
And the point of the song was that just being Irish itself was tainted by the behaviour of the psychopathic loons who had placed a bomb at the cenotaph there and slaughtered innocent people.
But Ireland was appalled. If there was ever an occasion to be proud of being Irish — a fairly dubious concept anyway — it was when the whole country was united in condemnation of what the IRA had done that day.
In another kind of stereotyping and generalising, innocent Jews are being held accountable for the barbarism of Israel.
I have been reading my friend Ian Samson's diary in the current issue of The Dublin Review, and he recounts several occasions when people who have recognised him as a Jew blame him, and Jews generally, for the state of the world. Or they haven't noticed that he's a Jew and blithely air their anti-Semitism in his company.
In the past week, several voices, including Hilary Benn's, have suggested that Northern Ireland should be ashamed on account of the number of women who have been murdered here in the last five years.
Double that number of men have been murdered, but we are not being asked to be ashamed about that. Nor should we be.
Troubled history
During the Troubles, it would have been seen as obvious bigotry to suggest all Catholics should be ashamed of the IRA, though that was the position of loyalists who would kill any Catholic they could get their hands on.
It is predictable that society will be more shocked by the murder of a woman than that of a man. The woman is understood to be the vulnerable one who let the stronger, more dangerous man into her home.
And the question is, what are we to do about that, to make women safer with men?
And the answer we hear is that men have to change.
First we have to admit to our shame. But if you make the 'not all men' argument, you get accused of lacking empathy, of putting your own absolution above concern for the victims.
Manon Garcia, writing about the horrific case of Gisele Pelicot in her recent book, Living With Men, concluded that there is a broad culture, which valorises rape and violence against women. Fifty men have been convicted of raping Mme Pelicot at the invitation of her husband while she was drugged.
Garcia was writing specifically about France, but it's hardly much different there than here in the horrors that may emerge in some relationships.
Faced with two theories about why so many men accepted invitations into the Pelicot home to rape Mme Pelicot, Manon concluded that the problem is with men generally and their attitudes to women. The other theory, which she dismissed, was that most of those men who had accepted the invitation to rape her had been exceptional.
They had come from families in which incest was normal and that background experience enabled them to trivialise what they were doing.
The problem, as she saw it, has to be wider, it has to be societal and if societal then that means men generally being the problem.
This approach creates two big problems. One, perhaps less serious, is that it maligns masculinity, does to men what feminism abhors being done to women. Maybe we should expect that.
Misdirection
But, worse, it directs attention at the wrong target.
There are violent men among us and they are a danger to men as well. There are obviously more violent men than violent women, since the prisons are full of them.
They are damaged and warped. And there are enough of those violent men around to make women feel uneasy walking alone at night and for some women to be suckered by charm into taking them into their homes.
Look at that video of Stephen McCullagh, drunk and swearing at a video game he is playing for six hours. He is friendless, pathetic and nasty. How many men do you know who behave like that? Suzanne Breen called him 'fundamentally mediocre'.
Retired detective James Brannigan said of Jonathan Creswell, who murdered Katie Simpson, 'people who knew Creswell, people in the horse community, they knew what he was like. They knew the real Jonathan Creswell'.
That is, they knew him to be exceptional, not like other men.
Police renew appeal over 1973 killing of teen found in quarry
PAUL AINSWORTH, Irish News, March 31st, 2026
THE PSNI has renewed its appeal for information into the 1973 murder of Co Armagh teenager Marian Beattie as part of a review by the force’s Legacy Investigation Branch.
The appeal comes weeks after an independent peer review into the murder investigation was commissioned by PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher.
Marian Beattie, from Portadown, was 18 in 1973 when her partially clothed body was found at the bottom of a 90ft drop at a quarry in the Aughnacloy area of Co Tyrone.
She had attended a nearby charity dance the night before her body was discovered, and was last seen leaving in the company of a “young man”.
No-one has ever been charged with her murder.
Last year a damning report by the Police Ombudsman recommended that the PSNI commission an independent review into the murder investigation, after the watchdog identified “numerous failings during police enquiries”.
Among details to emerge from the report were that RUC investigators had “little doubt” a man with suspected paramilitary links and who would later be convicted of sexual assault was responsible for the murder.
The original documentation of the suspect’s interviews were found to be missing from the RUC files, the Ombudsman’s report confirmed.
Ms Beattie’s loved ones “have lost confidence and trust in the police” as a result of how the investigation was handled, Police Ombudsman chief executive Hugh Hume said.
Although no criminality or misconduct by officers was found, the probe had been “undermined by organisational and systemic failings”, Mr Hume added.
In February, it was revealed that the independent peer review will be conducted by Bedfordshire Police.
Yesterday, the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch renewed an appeal for information on the murder of Ms Beattie, who had been at the dance at Hadden’s Garage in Aughnacloy on March 30 to watch her brother’s band perform.
Last seen just after 1am on March 31, 1973
She was last seen leaving with a male just after 1am on March 31, and her body was found at the bottom of Hadden’s Quarry shortly after 6am.
“We believe Marian left the dance at Hadden’s Garage with a man, walking in the direction of the nearby car park at the top of Hadden’s Quarry about 400 yards away from the garage,” Detective Inspector McCrissican said.
“We do not know what happened next but Marian’s body was found at the bottom of the quarry below the car park.
“I appreciate this murder took place over 50 years ago but we would like to talk to anyone who was at the dance at Hadden’s Garage on the night of Friday, 30th March 1973.
“Marian went there with a girlfriend to listen to her brother’s band. Did you see who she was dancing with or speaking with? Did you see her leave the dance with a man?
“Do you know who he was? Did you see her in the car park at the quarry any time after 1.15am on the Saturday morning?
“Additionally, do you remember anyone who was at the dance returning home distressed or with dirt on their clothes?
“Has anyone ever talked about the events of that night?”
DI McCrissican added: “Marian’s family deserve to know what happened to her that night.
“I am appealing to anyone who may be able to help us progress the investigation and bring some closure to the Beattie family to come forward and speak to Detectives in Legacy Investigation Branch.
“Detectives can be contacted by calling 101. Alternatively a report can be made online at www.psni.police. uk/makeareport and also via Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestop-pers-uk.org.”
LETTERS, Irish News, March 31st, 2026
If you want Irish unity, a good strategy would be for unionists to feel welcome
I WELCOME the reply to my letter by Joe Reid – ‘Yes, unionists were the villains in a state founded on inequality and fear’ (March 27).
I have always believed that if you are going to sell something (a product or an idea), you first research your target audience and try to adjust your selling strategy to their particular interests, desires and fears.
The analogy of a secondary school teacher who needs to encourage primary school pupils to choose to come to his school might be useful here. If he simply says something like, ‘Don’t worry, you won’t be bullied or picked on, you will be treated exactly the same as all the other children’, will that be good enough? I think not.
When we welcome new pupils from primary to our secondary schools we literally spend weeks telling the pupils how delighted we are that they will be joining us as equals, that we are looking forward to working with them over the next five to seven years. We tell them we will work to make sure their time with us is successful and happy. We work very hard to build a school where all feel they belong.
“In a tight border poll, the perception of unionists being generously welcomed might reduce the likelihood of unionists voting ‘No’
I do not think the school I worked in is unique in behaving like this when a stressful transition between schools is required.
If we were in the process of trying to welcome a new minority into a country, is there something I could learn from this approach? Would building a New Ireland, a successful and unified country, require a similar level of generosity? If we want to attract unionists to Irish unity, try thinking of unionists as the prodigal sons to be welcomed home, not as a people to be tolerated.
Such generosity might be undeserved, but it would cost little and have major benefits.
Anyone who genuinely desires a successful Irish unity must know that there are two obstacles: winning a border poll and then ensuring the new state works well.
In a tight border poll, the perception of unionists being generously welcomed might reduce the likelihood of unionists voting ‘No’, and more importantly reducing the possibility of some nationalists, who fear disruption and chaos, failing to vote ‘Yes’.
Secondly, such generosity could dramatically reduce the likelihood of turmoil and division after unity.
Undeserved or not, if you want unity, it is a good strategy.
ARNOLD CARTON Belfast BT6
Orange arch erected at site of asbestos bonfire
PAUL AINSWORTH, Irish News, March 31st, 2026
AN Orange arch-style sign has been erected in Belfast to mark the site of a bonfire on land where a health risk from asbestos remains.
The sign appeared over the weekend at an entrance to the site in the city’s Village area.
Located in the south of the city, yards from the Westlink, the controversial bonfire site was the centre of a “major incident” declared by police last July over concerns of asbestos contamination, and the proximity of the pyre to an electricity substation supplying the nearby Royal Victoria and City hospitals.
The land is owned by Boron Developments Ltd, and as concerns grew last summer over the loyalist Eleventh Night celebrations at the site, efforts by Belfast City Council to remove gathered material for burning failed, and the pyre was lit.
Despite the fears, the burning of the bonfire at the location was supported by Orange Order Grand Secretary Mervyn Gibson, who said people should “go and enjoy themselves” ahead of last July’s Eleventh Night.
Around 20kg of material had been removed from the site just days before the bonfire event by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).
The following month, remedial work got underway at the site by the landowner, in which hazardous material was removed, and the work was concluded by November.
‘Fragments of Asbestos’
However, last month the NIEA said the site still contains “fragments of asbestos”, and urged the public to avoid it, stating it could take up to two years before the area was fully decontaminated.
The agency – which is conducting an ongoing criminal investigation into the presence of the asbestos at the site – also stressed that “ongoing trespassing” there would make further remediation work “extremely difficult”.
Asbestos is a carcinogenic material, exposure to which can cause serious lung damage and cancer.
Earlier this month, Stormont Environment Minister Andrew Muir said he was “deeply concerned” that warning signs urging people to keep out of the vacant site were being ignored, and that pallets were being gathered again for a bonfire this summer.
The new sign that has appeared at the Monarch Parade entrance to the site appears to resemble traditional arches erected at parade locations in the north during the Orange Order marching season.
The PSNI has said it supports “partner agencies who lead on public health matters concerning bonfires”, while Belfast City Council has said the landowner is responsible for remediation of the site.
A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs told The Irish News: “Given the ongoing risk to the safety of people accessing the site, NIEA would again urge members of the public not to access it under any circumstances.
“Minister Muir would again urge local elected representatives to provide the leadership needed to ensure everyone obeys the law and heeds the warnings issued to keep people off the site.”
Material has been gathered at controversial site in recent weeks ahead of summer bonfire, but NIEA warns of continued asbestos risk.
Stormont spent almost £5k on photographer for St Patrick's Day trip
ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, March 31st, 2026
EXECUTIVE OFFICE AND DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES 'SHARED' US BILL
Two Stormont departments spent almost £5,000 on a photographer to accompany ministers to Washington for St Patrick's Day, it has emerged.
Despite departments being able to utilise in-house staff for photography, many still hire external professionals for work, paid for by the public purse.
Earlier this month, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Communities Minister Gordon Lyons travelled to Washington for a series of engagements over the St Patrick's week.
Their party colleague, Education Minister Paul Givan, also made the trip.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill boycotted the trip due to Sinn Fein's opposition to US foreign policy on Gaza.
Figures provided by The Executive Office (TEO) in response to an Assembly question tabled by the TUV's Timothy Gaston show that £4,714 was spent on a photographer for the trip, including travel and accommodation costs.
TEO said these costs were “part shared” with the Department for Communities (DfC). DfC has confirmed it contributed £500 to the bill. The department was also asked for details of “any competitive procurement process that was following in making the appointment” of the photographer.
A TEO spokesperson said: “The appointment was made in line with NICS procurement policy.”
Mr Gaston said: “While we now know that £4,714 of public money was spent on a photographer for this trip, the key part of the question has not been answered.
“I asked what competitive procurement process was followed. Instead of setting that out, the response simply claims that policy was adhered to. That is not the same thing.
“The public are entitled to know whether there was any competition, how many suppliers were considered and how this individual was selected. This is a matter I will return to once the Easter break is concluded and MLAs can submit questions again.
“At a time when families are being told there is no money available, ministers must be prepared to fully justify spending decisions — not hide behind vague references to process.
“Nor does it make it any better that the costs were shared with another department. This is all public money.
“Whether it comes from one department's budget or is spread across two makes no difference to the taxpayer who ultimately foots the bill.”
TEO has been contacted for further comment.
Ms O'Neill also boycotted last year's St Patrick's Washington trip, however in 2024 she did attend alongside Ms Little-Pengelly, with the visit costing almost £53,780.
This expenditure included £31,182 on flights, £13,195 on hotels and £6,339 on taxis.
The figures were only revealed to the Belfast Telegraph after TEO spent a year trying to avoid disclosing the details, and only did so following an intervention from the Information Commissioner's Office.
Earlier this month this newspaper also reported that TEO spent almost £150,000 on hospitality over the space of just 14 months, including £60,000 over the St Patrick's Day period last year.
The vast majority of the total expenditure, £149,078, was spent by the core department, with the remaining £42,789 being forked out by a dozen arm's-length bodies combined.
Over the course of 2025, Stormont departments ran up a combined bill of £136,000 travelling around the world.
