More than 50 years on, 'indefatigable' families finally get their day in court

Andrew Madden, Belfast Telegraph, September 16th, 2025

It has taken more than 50 years, but the families of those killed on Bloody Sunday have finally got their day in court.

A large crowd gathered outside Laganside Courthouse before the trial of Soldier F got under way.

The former paratrooper is charged with murdering James Wray (22) and William McKinney (26), and five counts of attempted murder, on January 30, 1972.

The killings happened in the Bogside during a civil rights march — one of the bloodiest days of the Troubles.

While the identity of the accused remains protected under a court order, his name is widely known, not least in Derry.

The families of the victims gathered in the rain before making their way into court while carrying a banner reading “Towards Justice”. In a very literal sense, they took another step towards that goal.

Speaking before the proceedings, John McKinney, brother of William, hailed a “momentous” day.

“It has taken 53 years to get to this point, and we have battled all the odds to get here,” he said.

“Everything that we have achieved to this point has been through relentless commitment and a refusal to lie down.

“We will shortly occupy a courtroom very proudly with our heads held high and in the knowledge that, regardless of the ultimate outcome, that we are on the right side of history.

“A matter of a few metres away from us in the courtroom will sit Soldier F, cowering behind a curtain, waiting to go on trial for two counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder.

“Today, we place our trust in the hands of the Public Prosecution Service to finish the job. We hope that they do not let us down.

“This is a prosecution brought not just on behalf of the Bloody Sunday families and the wounded, but for all the people of Derry and further afield who have stood with us.”

It is not surprising his words were caveated with notes of caution, given how the families have been treated by authorities over the years.

Widgery Tribunal ‘a whitewash’

In the wake of the massacre, the Widgery Tribunal was widely seen as a whitewash.

Led by Lord Chief Justice John Widgery, it concluded the soldiers had been fired on first and blamed the organisers of the march for creating a “highly dangerous situation in which a clash between demonstrators and the security forces was almost inevitable”.

It wasn't until another inquiry was established in 1998, following a hard fought campaign by the families, that those who were killed and injured were vindicated.

The Saville Inquiry found the soldiers' firing was “unjustifiable” and that none of those killed or injured posed a threat. It prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to apologise and condemn the Army's actions as “unjustified and unjustifiable”.

While the findings of Saville were welcomed by the families, ultimately they wanted those responsible to be held to account in a court of law. This has proved to be an arduous task.

Following a police investigation after the second inquiry, 18 soldiers were reported to the PPS.

Only one individual was charged, in 2019: Soldier F.

Prosecution reinstated

Two years later the charges were dropped after a trial involving two other veterans accused of a 1972 murder in Belfast collapsed.

But following a subsequent legal challenge, the prosecution against Soldier F was reinstated.

Ciaran Shiels, solicitor for the families, noted many witnesses present on the day have since died and vital forensic evidence has been lost.

But he said the case against Soldier F is as “close to accountability” as they have been able to achieve.

“The Bloody Sunday families come here with a simple demand that the Public Prosecution Service successfully complete the job that we started and that the court shows moral courage and integrity in convicting this defendant in respect of the charges before it,” Mr Shiels added.

Tony Doherty, who chairs the Bloody Sunday Trust, praised the families' “indefatigable campaign for justice”.

Not everyone supports prosecution of Soldier F, though.

Fomer soldiers feel ‘betrayed’

Veterans Commissioner David Johnstone said many former soldiers feel “betrayed” by how the legacy process has been handled.

“The events around Bloody Sunday are well documented, but there are many families of soldiers across Northern Ireland and indeed GB who have never had the truth regarding the death of their loved one, never had the opportunity for justice as a result of the terrorist campaign that they endured,” he said.

“The stories of soldiers murdered by terrorists receive little media attention... legacy is indeed the unfinished business of the Belfast Agreement, and for there to be any reconciliation in this province, there must first be a fair and balanced legacy process, a process that does not facilitate the wholesale demonisation of those who served and certainly not facilitate the rewriting of the history of the Troubles.”

Given the passage of time, it is hard to predict if the case against Soldier F will lead to a conviction.

What isn't hard to predict is that the Bloody Sunday families will never tire in their pursuit of justice.

Peeping through chinks in the curtain

ALLAN PRESTON, Irish News, September 16th, 2025

IN Belfast Crown Court yesterday, a former paratrooper accused of murdering two people in Derry 53 years ago sat hidden from view behind a large black curtain.

While the families of Bloody Sunday victims have already received a state apology following the Saville Inquiry, the long-awaited murder trial of Soldier F has shifted the focus of a decades-long search for justice to just one individual.

While his identity is protected by a court order, the polarising debate around his prosecution has already made his cipher a household name across Northern Ireland, with street banners claiming his innocence a regular fixture in loyalist areas.

As barristers made their opening statements, around 80 people in the viewing gallery included families from Derry and ex-soldiers who were left to imagine how the defendant now aged in his 70s was reacting.

At one point, the judge questioned the prosecution on how the defendant would be able to see other witnesses while remaining anonymous, asking “are you suggesting he peeps through chinks in the curtain?”

Soldier F stands accused of murdering Jim Wray (22) and William McKinney (26) – as well as the attempted murder of five others; Patrick O’Donnell (now deceased), Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon, Michael Quinn and an unknown person on Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972.

Emotions run high as trial gets under way

He has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges.

Earlier, a large crowd carrying banners and pictures of Bloody Sunday victims included family members of William McKinney and Jim Wray as well as several nationalist MPs.

‘Relentless commitment’

Mr McKinney’s brother John said: “Everything that we have achieved to this point has been through relentless commitment and a refusal to lie down.

“We will shortly occupy a courtroom very proudly, with our heads held high and in the knowledge that regardless of the ultimate outcome that we are on the right side of history.”

Outside the court, a few people wearing army berets gathered to support Soldier F.

Among them was John Ross, a former paratrooper who had served in other parts of Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

“It would be our contention, Soldier F’s a man in his 70s. He’s not in the best of health. He’s not the young soldier he was in 1972,” he told the Irish News.

“So here we have a man, 53 years after the event, is being dragged to court to face trial. He’s already been through contemporaneous investigation, inquiries, he’s had charges dropped, he’s had charges reinstated. Is that fair against a man of his age? We would never stand and say that innocent people weren’t killed by the hands of security forces in Northern Ireland, of course they were.

“But the responsibility with that sits squarely with those who chose to bring weapons of war onto the streets, into the countryside of Northern Ireland and use them. That is where the responsibility lies”.

TUV leader Jim Allister spoke out against veterans being “selectively picked upon” for prosecution “while multiple terrorists continue to walk our streets, effectively exercising immunity from prosecution.”

Inside the court buildings, the public and around 14 journalists were ushered in as some questioned what sentence the law might allow if Soldier F is actually convicted.

Shooting of civilians on Bloody Sunday was ‘unjustified’, Soldier F trial hears

FREYA McCLEMENTS, Northern Editor, Irish Times, September 16th, 2025

Former Parachute Regiment member denies two charges of murder

The shooting of civilians in Derry on Bloody Sunday was “unjustified”, “unnecessary” and “gratuitous”, a prosecution barrister has said on the opening day of the trial of Soldier F.

The former member of the British army’s elite Parachute Regiment is charged with the murders of James Wray and William McKinney and five counts of attempted murder in Derry on January 30th, 1972. He denies the charges.

Thirteen people were killed when members of the regiment opened fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry’s Bogside on what became known as Bloody Sunday. A 14th died later.

Soldier F is the first member of the British armed forces to face prosecution for his actions on the day. He is the subject of a court order protecting his anonymity and cannot be identified, and appeared in court shielded from view by a black curtain.

The non-jury case, heard by Judge Paul Lynch, began at Belfast Crown Court yesterday.

Opening the case for the Crown, Louis Mably KC said that on Bloody Sunday the defendant was “part of a small group of soldiers” who moved into a residential courtyard at Glenfada Park.

Soldiers “opened fire with their self-loading rifles, shooting at the civilians as they ran away, and the result was ... two deaths and four men wounded”, he said.

The prosecution’s case was, Mr Mably said, “that the shooting was unjustified, the civilians in the courtyard did not pose a threat to the soldiers and nor could the soldiers have believed that they did”.

Shot as they ran away

The civilians were “unarmed, they were simply shot as they ran away ... the shooting was unnecessary and it was gratuitous”, the barrister said.

“It was carried out, given the weapon involved, with an intent to kill” or cause serious harm.

Afterwards, Mr Mably said, the consequences were “dire” and “could not be disguised, because in the courtyard were the bodies of young men lying on the ground”.

Soldiers subsequently gave “false accounts” of what had happened, but Soldier F’s colleagues admitted the defendant had opened fire.

They sought to justify the shooting by claiming the victims had been armed, “an attempt to justify and confuse but ... demonstrably false”, Mr Mably said.

The significance of these statements, he said, was that “they did identify the defendant as one of the people who would open fire at the material time”.

Hearsay application

These statements will be the subject of a hearsay application to determine their admissibility as trial evidence later in the week.

Earlier, relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday and their supporters marched together to court holding placards bearing the faces of their loved ones.

A small group of people also gathered in support of Soldier F, some wearing Parachute Regiment insignia.

Northern Ireland’s Veterans Commissioner, David Johnstone, said former soldiers were being demonised and that “for there to be any reconciliation in this province, there must first be a fair and balanced legacy process”.

He called for “a process that does not facilitate the wholesale demonisation of those who served and certainly not facilitate the rewriting of the history of the Troubles”.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Mr McKinney’s brother, John McKinney, said yesterday was a “momentous day in our battle to secure justice for our loved ones who were murdered on Bloody Sunday”.

He said they had “battled all the odds to get here”.

“Today, we place our trust in the hands of the Public Prosecution Service to finish the job. We hope that they do not let us down.”

Bloody Sunday shootings 'unjustified and gratuitous', Soldier F's trial is told

Ex-paratrooper in court accused of two murders and five counts of attempted murder

DAVID YOUNG, REBECCA BLACK AND JONATHAN MCCAMBRIDGE, Irish Independent, September 16th, 2025

The shooting of civilians on Bloody Sunday by a former paratrooper and his platoon mates were "unjustified”, "unnecessary” and "gratuitous”, the veteran's murder trial has heard.

Soldier F, who cannot be identified, is accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney on January 30, 1972 - the day when members of Britain's Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 civil rights protesters on the streets of Derry.

He is also charged with five attempted murders during the incident in Derry's Bogside area, namely of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon, Patrick O'Donnell and a person unknown.

He has pleaded not guilty to the seven counts.

Soldier F's long-awaited trial began at Belfast Crown Court yesterday.

The non-jury case is being heard by Judge Patrick Lynch.

Before the trial began, the veteran was brought into the courtroom in the absence of the public and press and placed in a part of the dock surrounded by curtains.

A short time later, prosecution barrister Louis Mably KC began proceedings by setting out the Crown's opening statement.

He said the events of Bloody Sunday had a "long-lasting and profound effect” on Northern Ireland. He made clear the trial would have a "specific and narrow focus” on the shootings in a courtyard in Glenfada Park North.

"The defendant was part of a small group of soldiers who moved west from Rossville Street into that courtyard,” he said. "At the far end civilians, fearful of the approach of the soldiers, began running across the courtyard towards a gap at one of the corners in order to escape.

Acting together

"As they did so, soldiers acting together, and therefore with joint responsibility, opened fire with their self-loading rifles, shooting at the civilians as they ran away. And the result was the casualties that I've described: two deaths and four men wounded.

"And the prosecution case is that that shooting was unjustified. The civilians in the courtyard did not pose a threat to the soldiers and nor could the soldiers have believed that they did.

"The civilians were unarmed and they were simply shot as they ran away or, in one case, as he was simply in the square, either taking shelter or trying to evade the soldiers.

"The shooting was unnecessary and it was gratuitous and it was carried out, given the weapon involved, with an intent to kill and, in any event, at the least with an intent to cause really serious harm.”

Mr Mably went on to set the scene of the shootings, noting that those shot were mostly struck to the side or the back, describing scared people who were running away. "These soldiers lost control of themselves,” he said, describing their behaviour as "unprofessional”.

"Shooting people as they ran away… an act which disgraced the British army.”

Earlier, the Wray and McKinney families were joined by a large group of supporters as they walked together to the court. The marchers carried a banner bearing the words "Towards Justice”.

A short rally was then held outside the court buildings.

John McKinney, a brother of William McKinney, told those gathered: "Today marks a momentous day in our battle to secure justice for our loved ones who were murdered on Bloody Sunday.

"It has taken 53 years to get to this point, and we have battled all the odds to get here.

"Everything that we have achieved to this point has been through relentless commitment and a refusal to lie down.

"We will shortly occupy a courtroom, very proudly with our heads held high and in the knowledge that, regardless of the ultimate outcome, that we are on the right side of history.

"A matter of a few metres away from us in the courtroom will sit Soldier F, cowering behind a curtain, waiting to go on trial for two counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder.

"Today, we place our trust in the hands of the Public Prosecution Service to finish the job. We hope that they do not let us down.

"This is a prosecution brought not just on behalf of the Bloody Sunday families and the wounded, but for all the people of Derry and farther afield who have stood with us.

"We sincerely thank all those who have joined with us in solidarity today, and have supported our justice campaign over the last 50 years.

"Today, our message is simple: towards justice, we shall overcome.”

Veterans community

Supporters of Soldier F and the ­wider veterans' community also gathered outside the court.

Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner David Johnstone said former soldiers were being subjected to "wholesale demonisation” as a result of the legacy process in Northern Ireland.

"Many veterans today feel frustrated, feel angry, and indeed feel betrayed by the legacy process since 1998,” he said.

"The legacy of Northern Ireland's past is emotive and still very raw for many who lost loved ones during what were very turbulent and dark days in our province.

"Legacy is indeed the unfinished business of the Belfast Agreement, and for there to be any reconciliation in this province, there must first be a fair and balanced legacy process, a process that does not facilitate the wholesale demonisation of those who served and certainly not facilitate the rewriting of the history of the Troubles.”

Bloody Sunday was one of the most notorious incidents of the Troubles.

Thirteen people were killed on the day and another man shot by paratroopers died four months later. Many consider him the 14th victim of Bloody Sunday but his death was formally attributed to an inoperable brain tumour.

Yesterday afternoon, the trial heard a number of statements read to the court.

These included one given to the criminal investigation in 2015 by former Stormont MP Ivan Cooper, who had organised the civil rights march.

Mr Cooper, who died in 2019, said the march started with a carnival atmosphere, before the day descended into chaos with live rounds being fired.

He told investigators that while he did not feel like he was blamed for the killings, he "had to live with the responsibility of bringing the people of Derry on the streets that day”.

The next hearing will take place tomorrow.

Family of man killed in UVF bomb at Dublin Airport ‘let down by RUC and gardai’

Fresh information about the lethal explosion which killed John Hayes has been revealed under Operation Denton, which was set up to review the infamous Glenanne Gang, but the victim’s son, Brendan, is no nearer to getting closure for his family

CONNLA YOUNG CRIME AND SECURITY CORRESPONDANT, Irish News, September 16th, 2025

THE son of man killed in a loyalist bomb attack at Dublin Airport believes his family has been let down by authorities on both sides of the border.

Aer Lingus baggage handler John Hayes (38) was killed when a UVF bomb ripped through the airport on November 29, 1975.

Fresh information about the lethal explosion has now been revealed to Mr Hayes’ son Brendan by the Kenova investigation team as part of Operation Denton.

It was established to carry out a review of the infamous Glenanne Gang which included members of the RUC, UDR and UVF.

The notorious murder squad is reported to have been based at a farmyard owned by former RUC reservist James Mitchell at Glenanne in south Armagh.

It has been linked to the deaths of around 120 people in the 1970s.

A draft of the Operation Denton report has recently been circulated and is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

While the UDA initially claimed the airport attack, Operation Denton officials have now told relatives of the murdered man that the UVF was in fact responsible.

Two brothers from Portadown, Ivor and Stewart Young, who have been identified by Operation Denton officials as being senior members of the Mid Ulster UVF, are both said to have been involved in the attack along with several members of the UVF from north Belfast.

The murder of Mr Hayes, a father-of three, took place over a year after the UVF detonated bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, claiming the lives of 33 people.

Brendan Hayes was aged just three when his father’s life was cut short in the no-warning blast in the toilet block of an airport terminal.

A second bomb went off around an hour later but caused no injuries after the building was evacuated.

RUC provided Garda with information on suspects

Mr Hayes recently met with Operation Denton officials, who confirmed that in 1976 the RUC provided gardai with information relating to two suspects, referred to as Man One and Man Two.

However, the RUC did not disclose the role of either of the Young brothers to gardai.

Information was also provided to Mr Hayes about a third suspect, Man Three, while Operation Denton believes up to 12 people in total may have been involved in the bomb attack.

Brendan Hayes said the bomb attack had a “devastating effect” on his family and spoke of the personal impact on him.

“I have got PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), I have got recurrent depressive disorder because of what happened,” he said.

“It had a terrible effect.”

He revealed that until recently his family was not aware there was a suspect list relating to the killing of his father.

“This is information we should have been told right from the start if there had been an effective investigation,” he said.

“It’s what the police do, they identify suspects, they arrest them, and they take it from there.

“We had two suspect names of a possible five, but it has taken 50 years to get that information.

‘It’s ridiculous, they can’t do anything now’

“It’s ridiculous and they can’t do anything with it now.

“According to them the suspects are deceased.”

Mr Hayes has questioned why the remaining suspects have not been named.

“It seems they are not naming these other people because they had direct involvement with the security forces, they were either members, they were informants or they were being provided with information,” he said.

Mr Hayes said that in relation to the named suspects “there was no direct link between them and the security forces and the security services (MI5) in terms of collusion”.

“That’s what I suspect, they are reluctant to name any other people,” he added.

The campaigning son believes that Operation Denton has attempted to place the focus on a failure by the gardai to investigate the airport attack.

“I got the impression they were trying to distance themselves from culpability, the state as a whole, that they were trying to put the emphasis on the lack of investigations from the gardai,” he said.

“The information had been passed from the RUC to the gardai about two suspects, the gardai practically did nothing, there was no follow-ups.

“We had two suspect names of a possible five, but it has taken 50 years to get that information. It’s ridiculous and they can’t do anything with it now. According to them the suspects are deceased

“The RUC knew who these suspects were, why didn’t they pick them up and do something about it?

“They (Operation Kenova) were trying to put more of the emphasis on the gardai’s lack of investigation.”

Attempt to steer focus away from collusion

Mr Hayes claims Operation Denton has attempted to steer the focus away from collusion.

“They are trying to put the onus on the gardai rather than the collusion aspect,” he said.

“I think they downplayed the collusion with this.

“I did ask, I said, ‘what connection did these Youngs have with the security forces (they said) there’s no… direct link, we can’t say there’s direct collusion between security forces and the Young brothers.”

Mr Hayes said that up until recently he believed the UDA was responsible for his father’s murder.

He explained that the Glenanne Gang wasn’t mentioned in much detail during the recent briefing, with the emphasis being placed on the Mid Ulster UVF.

“And I said….does that include the Glenanne Gang as well – they were a little bit coy about it,” he said.

“I sensed they were being a bit coy, it was like, again, they were trying to get away with that direct link of collusion, that’s my impression of it.”

Mr Hayes believes gardai did “practically nothing” to investigate his father’s murder and that his family has been let down by authorities on both sides of the border.

‘Complete lack of investigation from the guards’

“You have the people up north, you have the culpability and the actual crime itself and then you have got the complete lack of investigation from the guards,” he said.

“At this stage, after 50 years, we have been fed minimal information.”

“The whole thing to me has been like a complete disappointment,” he said.

“My hopes weren’t really high to begin with, even when we were starting with this I wrote to Denton….telling them what I thought of the whole thing,” he said.

“I didn’t really see it as anything more than a massive public relations exercise for them to say we have fulfilled our obligations, we have conducted a thorough investigation.

“It was never an investigation, it was a review. “That’s all it was.” Mr Hayes has been told he is unlikely to find out any new information when the Operation Denton report is finally released in the coming weeks.

“I am not expecting any great deal of further information,” he said.

“We just go forward with the legal case and see what we can do with that.”

A special 50th anniversary event for Mr Hayes will take place at Dublin airport later this year.

“It has been forgotten about and obviously there are people who want it to be forgotten for obvious reasons,” he said.

“Even speaking to the priest the other day, he was 15 at the time, born and grew up in Dublin, and he didn’t know about it, he had no idea.

“A bombing at the airport, it’s one of those things that would have stuck in the minds of people.

“But there’s so many people, even people who would have been alive at the time who just don’t know about it.”

Accessing intelligence ‘long overdue’ says Kevin Winters

Mr Hayes’ solicitor Kevin Winters, of KRW Law, said “This case specifically and Denton generally highlights the need for some long overdue consistency in terms of accessing intelligence material.

“If you don’t ask you don’t get and for far too long now either investigators don’t ask or more tellingly, they don’t have the power to ask.

“I am confident that if the same level of scrutiny was applied across the board, then satisfaction levels within Troubles bereaved families would increase.

“That satisfaction levels remain abysmally low reflect the inadequacy of the current piecemeal approach to this sector.”

A spokesman for Operation Denton said: “”We are currently working through individual briefings with families affected by Operation Den-ton ahead of the final report of the review which is being prepared for publication later in the year.

“We remain committed to providing all families with as much information as is possible in relation to what happened to their loved ones, however it would not be appropriate to comment while those briefings are taking place and ahead of publication of the final report.”

The PSNI did not provide a direct response while gardai said they would respond “in due course”.

MI5 facing legal action after unlawfully monitoring ex-BBC NI journalist's phone

NINA MASSEY, Belfast Telegraph, September 16th, 2025

SECURITY SERVICE'S 'UNPRECEDENTED' ADMISSION LEADS TO CALL FOR INQUIRY

MI5 is facing legal action after it admitted unlawfully obtaining the communications data of a former BBC journalist in Northern Ireland, a tribunal has heard.

The “unprecedented” admission relating to Vincent Kearney came in a letter ahead of an Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London.

The tribunal has been examining claims reporters here were subjected to unlawful covert intelligence.

Mr Kearney brought legal action after reports that files in the case of documentary makers Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney had suggested he had been spied on by the Metropolitan Police, PSNI and Durham Constabulary.

The claims relate to his work on a 2011 Spotlight programme about the independence of the Police Ombudsman's office.

Mr Kearney, who is now northern editor at RTE, said: “This unprecedented admission by the British security service MI5 that it unlawfully obtained data about my mobile phone communications while I was conducting lawful journalism on behalf of the BBC is deeply concerning, not just for myself, but for all journalists.

“I am keen to establish as much detail as possible about the nature of these two instances of unlawful intrusion, and whether MI5 illegally gathered information about my mobile phone communications on other occasions.

“These issues will be the subject of further legal enquiries by the BBC's legal team.”

Jude Bunting KC, representing Mr Kearney and the BBC, told a hearing yesterday: “MI5 now confirms publicly that in 2006 and 2009 MI5 obtained communications data in relation to Vincent Kearney.”

He added it “accepted” it had breached Mr Kearney's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr Bunting said: “This appears to be the first time in any tribunal proceedings in which MI5 publicly accept interference with a journalist's communications data, and also publicly accept that they acted unlawfully in doing so.”

He said that it twice accessed Mr Kearney's data represented “serious and sustained illegality on the part of MI5”.

Mr Bunting told the tribunal the police forces involved had also made admissions. In written submissions, he said the Met accepted it twice obtained Mr Kearney's communications data in 2012, stored it, and provided some of it to Durham Constabulary in 2018.

He added the PSNI “concedes illegality” for obtaining, storing and using Mr Kearney's communications data.

The tribunal was told this included authorisations relating to the investigation into the murder of PSNI constable Stephen Carroll in 2009, and authorisations arising from Operation Erewhon in 2012, when the Met obtained material in an investigation into alleged leaking in the Police Ombudsman's office.

Mr Bunting said Durham Constabulary conceded its officers sought, obtained, reviewed and used material from the Met, arguing it did so for, and on behalf of, the PSNI.

After the hearing, the BBC said: “MI5's admission that it illegally obtained communications data of a BBC journalist is a matter of grave concern. It raises serious and important questions that we will continue to pursue.”

SDLP to raise issues at Policing Board

SDLP leader Claire Hanna MP said: “Once again we have learned that security agencies, whose role should be the protection of our democracy, have overstepped the mark. The evidence emerging from Northern Ireland shows that these same agencies are failing to meet the Nolan Principles in their conduct towards the public.

“The Policing Board must now exercise its powers to conduct a forensic review of surveillance practices targeting local journalism and to examine any political interference by security actors, a clear abuse of power that cannot be justified.”

She said a proposal will be formally brought forward by SDLP board member Colin McGrath MLA.

Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty International said: “The disclosure that MI5 has twice trampled human rights law by unlawfully prying into the phone records of a journalist in Northern Ireland is profoundly alarming.

“A journalist's right to protect their sources is not a luxury, it is the bedrock of a free and fearless press.

“This is not just about one journalist, it is about the public's right to know the truth.

“The revelation that MI5 itself has been breaking the law to rifle through journalists' communications should chill anyone who cares about freedom of the press in the UK.

“What is now urgently required is full transparency, genuine accountability and an end to this pattern of unlawful intrusion.”

Fr Kearney complained to the IPT after a separate claim was brought to the tribunal by Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birney.

The pair were arrested in 2018 as part of a police investigation into the alleged leaking of a confidential document that appeared in their film No Stone Unturned, about the 1994 Loughinisland massacre by loyalist terrorists.

The PSNI asked Durham Constabulary to investigate the leak of the Police Ombudsman document.

But in 2020 the High Court in Belfast ruled warrants secured by police to raid their homes and business offices were wrongly obtained. The IPT later established that a covert surveillance operation against the pair was unlawful.

MI5 admission raises many questions for press freedom

Pro Fide, Pro Patria, Irish News, September 16th, 2025

MI5’s admission that it unlawfully spied on journalist Vincent Kearney represents a deeply troubling development for press freedom and accountability in Northern Ireland.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has confirmed that the security service accessed Mr Kearney’s phone data in 2006 and 2009, at a time when he was working with the BBC in Belfast.

Such revelations strike at the very heart of public trust. Journalism depends on the ability of reporters to work independently, free from interference or covert monitoring. The protection of sources is not a professional courtesy but a cornerstone of a democratic society. Without it, those who expose wrongdoing or abuse of power may simply remain silent, and the public is left less informed as a result.

“MI5 and other agencies must not be allowed to operate in a space where oversight is nominal and breaches are revealed only years after the fact

The case follows other high-profile examples, notably those involving journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, who were unlawfully targeted by police. The emerging pattern is one of state agencies overstepping their legal and ethical boundaries in pursuit of information they are not entitled to obtain. That these breaches have now touched multiple respected journalists raises legitimate concerns about how widespread such practices may have been.

Mr Kearney described the developments as “deeply concerning,” and his reaction will resonate with colleagues across the media. The BBC also underlined the seriousness of MI5’s actions, while Amnesty International has rightly pointed out the broader human rights implications.

These are not abstract concerns. If security agencies feel empowered to disregard legal safeguards in relation to journalists, it raises questions about the protections in place for citizens more generally.

Human rights organisations and media representatives have rightly warned that such practices erode basic freedoms. A journalist’s right to protect sources is not a professional privilege but a safeguard for society as a whole. The unlawful surveillance of the press is therefore not a narrow technical breach but a democratic failure.

This latest disclosure should prompt urgent scrutiny of how surveillance powers are exercised and overseen. Calls for forensic reviews of practice and for stronger accountability mechanisms cannot be ignored.

MI5 and other agencies must not be allowed to operate in a space where oversight is nominal and breaches are revealed only years after the fact.

The lesson from this case is clear. Protecting national security and protecting press freedom are not competing priorities. One exists to safeguard the other. A democracy that cannot guarantee the independence of its journalists cannot claim to be secure.

Humphreys family has nothing to explain or apologise for

Edward Burke, Irish Times, September 16th, 2025

‘Gotcha’ claims about the presidential candidate’s husband have no place in a shared island

In 2021, Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys delivered an address at the annual commemoration of Michael Collins in west Cork. She remarked upon her own heritage – her paternal grandfather Robert Stewart, from the village of Drum in Co Monaghan, had signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912. She and Collins were both republicans, but they had started from very different places. The complex history of Ireland, she told the gathered Fine Gael party faithful, “challenges us, it provokes us, and it sometimes inspires us”.

Provocation through the medium of history reared its head during the presidential election campaign last week when the Irish Mail on Sundayran a front page exclusive where it claimed to have revealed Heather Humphreys’ husband Eric’s “secret Orange Order past”. Humphreys, the Mailsaid, “admitted” that she attended Orange parades in Monaghan as a child. This was the moment “the wheels came off” her media appearance in her native county, it added. The Fine Gael candidate then tried “to evade” questions about when precisely her husband may have been a member of the Orange Order. Eric Humphreys reportedly left the Monaghan Peace Campus press conference after refusing to answer theMail’s questions about his possible association with the Orange Order five decades ago.

The fact that Heather Humphreys comes from a background with strong connections to the Orange Order for much of the last century is not a surprise. Exceptionally within the 26 counties of the State, Monaghan also experienced intense loyalist resistance to the IRA during the early 1920s.

As a historian of loyalism, I learned that in June 1920 during the War of Independence, volunteers from the Ballybay Battalion of the IRA had raided the Stewart family in Drum looking for weapons. Thomas Humphreys, Eric’s grandfather, was raided two months later in nearby Aghabog, during the early morning of September 1st, 1920. In 1914, Thomas had served as a section leader of Newbliss in the 2nd Battalion of Monaghan’s Ulster Volunteer Force regiment. One of the leaders of the IRA attack on Humphreys’ home was First Lieut Thomas Gavan. As he tried to gain entry to the house, Gavan recalled that he was shot in the face by Thomas Humphreys, who opened fire at close range with a shotgun from a window.

Reluctant to give up arms

Humphreys lived with his elderly mother, his wife and his young son. Protestants in the area were often reluctant to give up arms, lest they be used to inflict violence on their neighbours. By 1920, they had been excluded by the Ulster Unionist movement to guarantee a larger Protestant majority (presumed to be unionist) in a new, six-county Northern Ireland. But Thomas Humphreys and many other Monaghan Protestants, still overwhelmingly loyalists, were determined to protect their property and, as sometimes proved necessary, their lives. Remarkably, Thomas Humphreys spent the rest of his life living within a mile or so of the man he had shot, Thomas Gavan. The latter claimed compensation from the State for his injuries sustained while on active service – he suffered increasing blindness in his right eye, and metal fragments remained lodged in his skull until his death in 1991.

So what? One may of course sympathise with Thomas Gavan and Thomas Humphreys. But what can associations a century or a half century ago tell us about a presidential candidate in 2025? Firstly, if we are to live in a “shared island” that respects “green”, “orange” and many other traditions and cultures, then so-called “gotcha” moments in a Border county over alleged membership of the Orange Order decades ago should be self-evidently inappropriate.

The Irish Government has provided funds to the Orange Order in recent years. And the location of Humphreys’ press conference was in a “peace campus” that offers a window into one of the State’s unique counties, a place that, for all its past experiences of political violence and intercommunal tensions, also has a strong vein of tolerance and resilience within, and towards, its Protestant minority.

During his fieldwork in the southern Border counties in the 1970s, the American political scientist Paul Martin Sacks observed the concerted pressure put on Protestants to testify to “the moral superiority of the Catholic majority in the Republic over the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland”. An example of this tendency occurred in Monaghan, where a republican councillor, Frank McCaughey, proposed that they should set about “placing the minority in front of the majority” in order to advocate for Irish unity.

McCaughey proposed the Protestant candidate James Mealiff (the future father-in-law of boxer Barry McGuigan), who served as the chair of Clones urban district council in the early 1970s.

When Mealiff refused to support a motion condemning the government of Northern Ireland, McCaughey rounded on him, “Those that are not with you are against you ... The Protestants here would still rather pay their taxes to the queen.” When Protestant councillors in Monaghan previously complained about sectarian discrimination with respect to local council employment, they were reminded by a Fine Gael councillor that “this is a Catholic country”. A Fianna Fáil representative said it would be inappropriate to employ Protestant hospital porters since they might be called upon to fetch a Catholic priest.

Malicious rumours about the loyalties of Monaghan families led to attacks during the Troubles, including the burning of the Coulson family home near Clones and the killing of Fine Gael senator Billy Fox, engaged to be married to Marjorie Coulson, on March 11th, 1974.

False allegation

The catalyst for the IRA raid on the Coulsons (and the death of Fox) was a false allegation that the Coulsons were collaborating with loyalist paramilitaries. Billy Fox had been repeatedly slandered in the Oireachtas, including being called a B-Special – a member of the Ulster Special Constabulary – by Fianna Fáil minister Brian Lenihan after he criticised the government for failing to prevent Border road closures by the British Army.Reconciliation in Ireland also requires deeper reflection south of the Border about our recent past, avoiding narratives that brush aside or simplify complex, painful periods in our history. We must stop pretending that the Protestant minority experience in the southern Border region has been one of seamless integration and contentment. Rather than assuming that the Humphreys family should be embarrassed about, or even apologise for, their historical connections with the Orange tradition, we should welcome it as an opportunity to have a long-overdue conversation about our past and future.

Edward Burke is a historian at UCD and author of Ulster’s Lost Counties (Cambridge, 2024).

Republicans recorded chanting INLA slogans as children watch parade

CONOR SHEILS, Irish News, September 16th, 2025

PRO-INLA chanting has been recorded at a parade in a Co Antrim village.

In the video clip of the Sons of Ireland march on Saturday in the Antrim village of Rasharkin, band members can be heard drumming alongside chants of “INLA”.

Some members of the band appear to be minors and other young people can also be seen lining the streets to watch.

The Irish National Libreration Army (INLA) is believed to be responsible for more than 120 murders during the Troubles.

Unionists have complained that no restrictions had been placed on the event by the Parades Commission.

Local DUP councillor Mervyn Storey called for answers from the organisers of the parade.

“Clearly there are answers needed from the organisers of this parade, as well as from the police and the Parades Commission,” he said.

He criticised what he called “double standards” when compared to a loyalist parade held in nearby Ballymaconnelly, where band members played the anti-Catholic song ‘No Pope in Rome’ over the weekend.

“It’s clear that double standards are at play when it comes to how republican parades are treated as compared to Ballymaconnelly’s annual parade,” he said.

“If what was on display on Saturday night had happened at the recent Ballymaconnelly Parade there would have been an outcry from those who agitate against the very existence of their parade.

“I will be in contact with the police and Parades Commission to have this unacceptable behaviour dealt with.”

In the aftermath of the event, organisers posted online to thank those who took part.

“Massive thank you to all the bands who attended our parade, the marshals, the girls for their help in the kitchen, and lastly to everyone who came along to show their support, without you all it wouldn’t be possible,” a message read on the organisers’ social media account.

The organisers of the parade declined to comment.

Revolution is in the air, like the Sixties... think carefully about consequences of tearing society apart

Malachi O’Doherty, Belfast Telegraph, September 16th, 2025

There is a revolutionary fervour around today, particularly in England and the US. We see it expressed in the large 'Unite the Kingdom' rally in London on Saturday.

I don't think this was much to do with preserving the Union, more with uniting people in a wariness of migrants.

I saw this sort of enthusiasm in my youth, though the issues were different.

It started with the civil rights protests which, after early violence to suppress them, developed into mass protest and then armed violent campaigns on different sides of the core issues.

One of the theories of revolution is that it comes when rising expectations are flouted.

Here there was an expectation in the 1960s sectarian division was waning and a fairer state might emerge with a little more coaxing.

The Education Act of 1947 was producing a generation of university-educated people from families that had little or no previous formal education. But Catholics were still discriminated against in the Civil Service and some of the big manufacturing industries.

Many of the boys I went to school with left at 16 and got jobs as clerical officers and assistants in the Civil Service, or delivering telegrams on little motorbikes.

But top layers in those institutions remained predominantly Protestant.

Many of the first wave of protesters for civil rights were those Catholics disadvantaged within a northern state which they were amenable to supporting.

When they failed, traditional republicans argued the state could not be reformed and had to be overthrown. From that we got a 30-year IRA campaign and murder campaigns by loyalists.

It's clear where rising expectations have been frustrated in the UK and Ireland today.

Wages are low, often subsidised by welfare benefits. My generation could buy a house on a mortgage for the equivalent of three years' salary.

Now you would often need a mortgage of 10 years' salary, with poor job security, so you are likely to be renting or living with your parents.

From Civil Rights to Civil War

But the frustration here gathered around the wrong issue.

The answer to discrimination, sectarian division and disadvantage was not a united Ireland, but equality guaranteed by agreement and treaty: that is the Good Friday Agreement.

It took 30 years to arrive at that insight. Naturally, the dispute over whether or not Ireland should be united continues, with strong feelings on both sides, but the long war was the wrong war.

Sane leaders saw as early as 1973 what the solution was, but it took a whole generation to pass before others could recognise it.

Similarly, in the English protests we see deep felt grievance expressing itself unproductively, grounded more on fear and fantasy than on rational assessment.

I remember times in Belfast pubs, sitting with other ardent young lefties assessing the problems we faced, and it is embarrassing to recall some of the ideas that were in play.

Ireland could be the Cuba of Europe, we said.

That was why the Brits would never allow us to be united.

We could take over the governing of the country and ignore the unionists.

The revolution had begun.

The Protestant and Catholic working classes could unite and overthrow capitalism, we said.

Protestants would wake up and realise that they are Irish too, we said.

It is only their false consciousness that is getting in the way of unity and the revolution. We need to explain this to them, we said.

Migration is another chimera

Today protest which has grown out of the reversal of rising expectations has found its own mythology. The problem is the migrant, they say.

The first expression of this grievance, say 10 years ago, was often articulated as: “They are coming over here and taking our jobs.”

You hear less of that now and more of: “They are raping our women.” Or: “They are destroying our culture.”

Britain and Ireland, they say, are not what they used to be.

Well, that's for sure. But the past cannot be recovered.

In Britain, attempts to assuage the migration fears and get the numbers down have landed on absurdities, like cutting down on the needed care workers who come from abroad.

The government is cutting back on student visas and thereby threatening universities with bankruptcy.

These measures get the migration figures down but actually detract from the quality of life, which is the actual problem.

The other thing about revolutionary ardour is that it is exciting. It brings people together in fellowship in large numbers. It also helps people imagine, in helpless situations, that they are doing something useful.

It brings out the best in some and the worst in others. “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,” said Wordsworth of the French Revolution, not knowing at the time how it would end.

If you are going to risk tearing a country apart, it would be as well to have the right cause and a vision of how things might be better afterwards.

Third legal challenge to get Irish language strategy from Stormont

STAFF REPORTER, Irish News, September 16th, 2025

A CAMPAIGN group has secured a date for their third High Court challenge against the Stormont administration’s ongoing failure to deliver an Irish language strategy.

Conradh na Gaeilge is seeking to judicially review the Executive and Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, claiming violations of a legal duty which came into force nearly 20 years ago.

A hearing to establish if the activists have established an arguable case will be held next month, a judge confirmed yesterday.

Conradh na Gaeilge has been involved in a long-running legal battle over promises to progress an initiative for the Irish language which dates back to the 2006 St Andrews Agreement.

The High Court has already ruled previously, in 2017 and again in 2022, that the power-sharing government is in breach of an obligation to adopt a blueprint.

The continued failure contravenes the 1998 Northern Ireland Act, successive judges held.

Lawyers representing the language campaigners have now returned to court to seek a further declaration aimed at securing a strategy.

No progress in over 20 years

They contend that the ongoing failure violates a legal duty imposed in May 2007.

Mr Lyons, as minister with responsibility for developing an Irish language strategy, has allegedly failed in his duty to bring it to the Executive Committee, according to their case.

In court yesterday it was not conceded that Conradh na Gaeilge has established an arguable case.

But Tony McGleenan KC, for the Communities Minister, acknowledged: “There is a statutory duty at play here.”

Karen Quinlivan KC, representing the activists, indicated surprise that the preliminary application for leave to seek a judicial review may be resisted.

“Given the history I thought there might have been (a concession),” she said.

“The applicant has been successful twice in relation to this particular issue.”

Adjourning the case, Mr Justice McAlinden confirmed he will hear further arguments on October 24.

Outside court, Dr Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh, from Conradh na Gaeilge, highlighted the length of time since the statutory duty was imposed in law.

“Almost 20 years on, we should now be preparing our second Irish language strategy. Unfortunately, we haven’t even seen a draft of our first,” he said.

“To have to return to the courts for a third time is simply unacceptable.

“It is our opinion that both the executive and the minister for communities have failed to uphold their legal duties in bringing forward this strategy, and we have seen nothing to convince us that this is in any way a priority for the minister in charge of its development.”

Boycotting Trump banquet ‘doesn’t change anything’ – Little-Pengelly

By Rebecca Black, PA, Belfast News Letter, September 16th, 2025

Published 16th Sep 2025, 09:43 BST

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly meets with President Trump at Capitol Hill, Washington DC. She is set to attend a banquet at Windsor Castle during Presidents Trump’s visit  Photo by Press Eye.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly meets with President Trump at Capitol Hill, Washington DC. She is set to attend a banquet at Windsor Castle during Presidents Trump’s visit Photo by Press Eye.

Boycotting a banquet being thrown for the visit of US President Donald Trump "doesn't change anything", Northern Ireland's deputy First Minister has said.

Emma Little-Pengelly is set to attend a banquet at Windsor Castle during Mr Trump's visit. However, First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said she will not go.

Last week, Ms O'Neill insisted she is "very comfortable" with her decision, adding that she had plenty of engagement with the US administration, but said people should be more concerned about the "biggest humanitarian crisis of our time" in Gaza .

Ms Little-Pengelly said she feels "hugely honoured" to be part of the UK delegation for the State visit, noting that the King had been "very keen" to ensure all the regions are involved in State visits.

She described such occasions as "really important opportunities for important conversations".

"It's a way that the UK engages, not just with the president or a prime minister but of course all of those people who come with the Prime Minister or president," she told BBC Radio Ulster.

"In this case, there will be many people across a number of key areas that will accompany the president, the two key ones at the moment around defence and the situation globally in terms of conflict, and tariffs and international trade.

"This is an opportunity to engage with people on both of those important issues. We all want to see peace, we want to see peace break out in the Middle East , but quite frankly everyone can see that world leaders are engaging with President Trump.

"He's the democratically elected president of the US, they have a hugely important role internationally in terms of trying to bring about that peace, so of course we should engage."

The Stormont deputy First Minister added: "I think the key thing is to ask yourself is: what does Michelle O'Neill not attending achieve?

"It doesn't change anything, but in fact, engaging, talking to people, being part of that very strong UK delegation during the State visit where inevitably and of course defence will be talked about, everyone as part of that delegation will be urging peaceful resolution.

"The US has a huge part to play in that, they're hugely influential and of course we should take the opportunity to talk, to discuss and to try and influence that."