New Troubles legislation will address ‘unfinished business’

RHIANNON JAMES, JONATHAN McCAMBRIDGE, ABBIE LLEWELYN and GEORGE THOMPSON, Irish News, November 19th, 2025

NEW legacy legislation will address “unfinished business” from the Troubles, Secretary of State Hilary Benn said, as he pledged to give grieving families answers.

A commission to investigate Troubles-related killings and a separate information recovery body will be established under the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill.

It comes as the Home Office revealed there are at least 77 people in England, almost half of which were members of the armed forces, whose deaths during the Troubles remain unsolved.

All UK police investigations into Troubles-related killings were shut down in May last year under the previous Conservative government’s Legacy Act, and a new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) was established.

Labour’s Bill, agreed as part of a framework with the Irish government, will put in place a reformed Legacy Commission with enhanced powers.

Advisory group to exclude paramil ex-combatants

A new statutory advisory group will also be established to ensure victims and survivors of the Troubles, including from a service background, are heard by the Commission.

Speaking at second reading, Mr Benn gave his assurance that “anyone who was previously involved in paramilitary activity will not be appointed to the victims and survivors group”.

He told the Commons he had heard the call from families and veterans, some of which looked on from Parliament’s galleries, to “get the answers that you seek”.

“We know that this unfinished business falls to us, all of us, because time is running out,” he added.

Mr Benn told MPs: “It seeks to put in place a means of dealing with legacy that can actually command broad public support in Northern Ireland, in particular, for those families who have been trying to find answers for so long.

“And it is needed because the previous government’s legislation, the Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy and Reconciliation Act 2023, whatever its intentions, fundamentally failed.”

Immunity from prosecution withdrawn

The British government is repealing an immunity scheme which formed part of the previous Legacy Act, but which was ruled unlawful in the courts.

“We know that one of the principal reasons for that lack of support was the Act’s attempt to offer immunity from prosecution, including to terrorists who had committed the most appalling murders,” he said.

Secretary of State Hilary Benn (right) and Tánaiste Simon Harris announced the new legacy framework earlier this year

“There was also anger on the part of many of those who served in Northern Ireland who saw immunity as an affront to the rule of law that they were seeking to protect, and as implying some sort of moral equivalence between those who served in our armed forces and terrorists.

“There is no moral equivalence whatsoever between those members of our armed forces who acted lawfully in carrying out their duties and paramilitaries who were responsible for barbaric acts of terrorism.”

The Home Office said in addition to the 77 unsolved deaths in England, the PSNI had shut down more than 1,000 investigations, including 225 investigations into deaths of soldiers and veterans.

Unsolved deaths and wrongful convictions

The unsolved attacks include:

The 1974 IRA bombing of a coach on the M62 carrying off-duty British Army personnel and their family members, which killed 12 people and injured 38.

The assassinations in 1979 and 1990 of MPs Airey Neave and Ian Gow, both in car bombings.

Dan Jarvis, security minister and former member of the Parachute Regiment who served in Northern Ireland, said: “The last government’s Legacy Act shut down police investigations and proposed immunity for terrorists.

“This left many families feeling they had nowhere to go to continue their search for justice, or simply for answers about what happened to their loved ones.

“This government’s legislation will put that right.”

However, shadow secretary of state Alex Burghart told MPs that the Bill will “reopen old wounds” and that it will “perpetuate disappointment for victims and despair for veterans”.

Drawing a line, but where?

Mr Burghart said: “The last government chose to draw a line under the litigation of The Troubles, and today that line is being erased.

“The Bill before us today strips out the conditional immunity introduced by the Legacy Act, and it reopens the door to vexatious litigation against veterans, whilst leaving it very unlikely that terrorists will be prosecuted.”

He argued that this will have an impact on recruitment and retention for the Armed Forces, and the UK’s national security.

SDLP MP for Foyle Colum Eastwood signalled he would try to amend the Bill regarding national security and sensitive information, but stressed “we have to give this a chance”.

He said: “If this legislation has any chance of giving people some trust, some truth and some justice, it should be allowed to proceed.

“We have issues around the national security parts of this (Bill), and the issues around sensitive information, and we put proposals and amendments to that regard in the process as we go on.”

Robin Swann questions how Br Govt Troubles approach can be squared with Good Friday Agreement

By Adam Kula, Belfast News Letter, November 19th, 2025

Robin Swann has questioned whether the Labour government’s approach to the Troubles can be squared with the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

The UUP MP for South Antrim was speaking as he set out four of the nine amendments he wants to make to the government’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which passed the hurdle of its second reading tonight.

Mr Swann was one of a number of unionist MPs opposing the bill, alongside Conservatives, but it will now go to committee stage.

Tonight, Mr Swann has said in the debate: “The Belfast Agreement has been mentioned a number of times in regards to this.

"Now, I do look in honour and respect at what my party delivered in bringing forward that peace process, but it was delivered in three strands: a Northern Ireland-only basis, a north-south basis and an east-west basis.

"And I have asked the Secretary of State this before: where now does legacy sit within those three strands?

“Because it seems now that he is abdicating and working in parallel with the Irish government in bringing forward what is happening.

No specific protections for Veterans

“He stood on September 19 beside the then-Tánaiste, Simon Harris TD, who told the media afterwards that there would be no specific protections for veterans.

"And as we have seen, there are no specific protections for veterans in this legislation.

"The example that has been used once again is that veterans will not have to go to Northern Ireland to give evidence.

"Tell that to a Northern Ireland veteran.

"What protection, what special coverage is this government actually giving those men and women who served over there?”

Mr Swann intends to table nine amendments to the bill.

He summarised four of them as follows:

"Provide a clear definition of a victim to ensure that those who planned or perpetrated terrorism can never be treated as victims”;

"Add sexual crimes to the list of serious offences, allowing victims of sexual violence to request an investigation";

"Ensure that the Director of Investigations who must be appointed from outside Northern Ireland has investigatory experience within the United Kingdom”;

And “disqualify anyone with terrorist associations from holding any director, commissioner, officer, panel or advisory group role created under the legislation”.

Impassioned speeches from MPs during debate on new legacy bill

SUZANNE BREEN POLITICAL EDITOR, Belfast Telegraph, November 19th, 2025

 ANALYSIS:

Westminster debates on Northern Ireland-related matters can be poorly attended, but legacy is an issue which captures the attention more than most.

There were impassioned speeches from MPs of all parties at the second reading in the House of Commons of the Government's new Troubles bill.

It seeks to replace the Tories' controversial Legacy Act, repealing an immunity scheme which was ruled unlawful in the courts.

A ban on inquests and civil actions related to Troubles attacks had been introduced.

The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery will be replaced with a new legacy commission.

The measures were agreed with the Irish government.

Victims were in the public gallery to hear the Secretary of State pledge that families would “get the answers you seek”.

“We know that this unfinished business falls to us, all of us, because time is running out,” Hilary Benn stated.

He said the Government's bill “seeks to put in place a means of dealing with legacy that can actually command broad public support in Northern Ireland. It is needed because the previous government's legislation, whatever its intentions, fundamentally failed”.

Mr Benn added: “One of the principal reasons for that lack of support was the Act's attempt to offer immunity from prosecution, including to terrorists who had committed the most appalling murders.”

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Northern Ireland had endured a “sorrowful, pitiful and painful history… founded on the corruption of justice”.

He claimed the Government's bill had “no specific protection for veterans — none”, and their name didn't even feature in it.

‘Shame runs through the Legacy of our past’

“Shame runs through the legacy of our past and Government's approach to it,” he added.

“Victims and veterans are sick of gaslighting, of the psychological torture of having their own beliefs, understanding and memory challenged and questioned. They defended us and so we too should defend them,” he said.

Mr Robinson said Mr Benn had “sullied himself and this parliament with engagement with the Irish Republic” on legacy.

For decades, Dublin had “harboured terrorists, refused extradition, supported and financed terrorists... Has the Secretary of State put them under any pressure? No he has not,” the East Belfast MP added.

SDLP MP Colum Eastwood said it was 50 years ago this month when the IRA abducted, murdered and then disappeared Columba McVeigh.

He cited the murders of Jean McConville and Captain Robert Nairac, and of Patsy Gillespie “chained to a van with a bomb in it and made to drive to an army base” killing himself and five soldiers.

Mr Eastwood said the IRA members “who carried out those murders, those despicable war crimes” would be free from prosecution if the Tories “had their way”.

He said he was disappointed in the behaviour of some politicians after Soldier F's acquittal of murder on Bloody Sunday. “I expected better. I didn't expect tweets with the Parachute Regiment insignia being put out. I didn't expect fulsome support for Soldier F,” he added.

SDLP to propose amendments

The SDLP MP said the Government's bill had to be given “a chance”. His party had issues around aspects concerning national security and sensitive information, but would propose amendments on those matters.

TUV leader Jim Allister said: “This bill is nothing more than appeasement disguised as justice.

“The very fact that the term 'terrorist' is only mentioned once shows the distorted focus of this legislation.

“Instead of focusing on those who perpetrated violence in Northern Ireland, the bill looks to hound those who sought to uphold the rule of law. It is of paramount necessity that (it) be rejected.”

UUP MP Robin Swann set out amendments he has tabled to provide a clear definition of a victim including “to ensure that those who planned or perpetrated terrorism can never be treated as victims”.

He also sought to ensure that the director of investigations of the new body, who must be appointed from outside Northern Ireland, has investigatory experience within the UK.

Shadow Secretary of State Alex Burghart said his party had chosen to draw a line under “the litigation of the Troubles”, but “today that line is being erased”.

He said: “The bill before us strips out conditional immunity, and it reopens the door to vexatious litigation against veterans.”

Mr Burghart asserted it was very unlikely that paramilitaries would be prosecuted. There had been only “five terrorist convictions in the past 13 years and, as time passes, successful prosecutions will reduce further and further”.

‘Heat and Dust’

Tory MP Tom Tughendhat said that “as somebody who has fought on the frontline, who knows what the heat, dust, confusion, fear can be like”, it was wrong to put veterans in a position of having to explain themselves in a courtroom decades later “when all you have is gossip and rumour because nobody else was witnessing the reality of the difficult decisions you were taking”.

The bill, which passed by 320 votes to 105, will likely be subject to amendments as it proceeds through parliament.

Troubles veterans 'angry and frustrated' with new legacy laws ahead of Westminster debate

By Iain Gray, Belfast News Letter, November 18th, 2025

Troubles veterans need “clarity, reassurance, and meaningful safeguards” from new government legislation on legacy cases, senior figures have said.

In a joint statement, veterans commissioners from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all said new laws have sparked “anger and frustration” among ex-services personnel who served in Ulster.

They were speaking ahead of the second reading of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill in Westminster today (18th), which is part of the legislation’s progression through parliament.

During that debate, Secretary of State Hilary Benn is expected to tell the House of Commons that veterans of Operation Banner, which saw the British army deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, are owed “an enormous debt of gratitude”.

"Their service and their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” he is to say, adding the Troubles Bill includes “new protections that are designed specifically to protect any veteran asked to engage with a legacy process”.

“That is also why the Ministry of Defence always provides legal and welfare support to any veteran asked to participate in a legacy process,” he is to state.

The trio of veterans’ representatives, including Northern Ireland veterans commissioner David Johnstone, say there are “real concerns around veteran protections, lawfare, historical narrative revision, and disparities between how ex-security force personnel and other parties are treated”.

Changes is legislation planned

“We have engaged constructively with ministers on the elements of the bill that directly affect veterans, and they have indicated that further planned engagements with ministers and senior officials should result in changes to the legislation that will provide an improvement for the veteran community.

“We therefore call upon the United Kingdom government to deliver on these promises and use the opportunity of the Bill’s second reading to provide unequivocal clarity, reassurance, and meaningful safeguards for those veterans affected.

“The government must not only listen to the concerns of veterans but also communicate directly, consistently, and transparently with them regarding the bill’s purpose, scope, and intent.

“We expect to see a clear, ongoing commitment to substantive engagement and tangible action as this legislation progresses. The trust of the veteran and serving community depends upon it.”

The new laws repeal the Legacy Act brought in by the last Conservative government, which included immunity from prosecution for both ex-soldiers and terrorists.

The Centre for Military Justice and Amnesty International issued a joint letter welcome steps to repeal and replace it, highlighting there are still more than 200 unsolved killings of armed forces personnel.

“All bereaved victims are entitled to justice and accountability. Hundreds of cases were shut down by the Legacy Act, including at least 225 serious criminal cases where the victim was a member of the armed forces,” they stated.

A member of the Victims and Survivors Forum, Paul Crawford, lost his father John to UVF violence in 1974. Calling for the legislation to be passed, he said: “Our experiences of loss, pain and trauma are very real. Many of us have been waiting for more than 50 years for truth and justice, and none of us are getting any younger.”

Former Alliance chief launches stinging attack on departing church leader

BRETT CAMPBELL, Belfast Telegraph, November 19th, 2025

ALDERDICE ACCUSES THE PCI OF BID TO COVER UP FAILURES ON SAFEGUARDING

One of the authors of a dossier alleging bullying and abuse within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has rubbished the outgoing moderator's claim that he was not directly responsible for safeguarding failures.

Former Alliance Party leader Lord John Alderdice accused the PCI of “an attempted cover-up” and said he hoped the criminal investigation launched by the PSNI on Monday would bring other “malfeasance” to light.

Dr Trevor Gribben announced his resignation as moderator last week after an internal investigation found “serious and significant” safeguarding shortcomings between 2009 and 2022.

He refused to take questions from the media in Assembly Buildings, the PCI's headquarters, after reading out a statement stressing he was “not directly responsible” for the delivery of safeguarding within the church.

But Lord Alderdice told this newspaper: “The idea that Dr Gribben, as effectively the chief executive over quite some period of time, bore no responsibility directly for overseeing something as serious as safeguarding just doesn't bear any weight at all.

“Like so many of the things that have been said in recent times, it simply isn't true. It's clear that he was responsible. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have resigned. There's no question about that.”

Speaking at Assembly Buildings, Dr Gribben said he had also been given permission to retire from his other roles in the church, including his position as clerk of the General Assembly, which he has held since 2014.

The key responsibilities of the post include providing advice and guidance on procedural and legislative matters.

The post holder is also required to lead and manage a small team of staff and to ensure the delivery of business,including providing clear and concise written and oral advice.

The clerk is further required to develop and maintain effective relationships in order to share and apply best practice.

Dr Gribben served as deputy clerk from 2008, overseeing the clerk's responsibilities and managing their office.

The senior clergyman also confirmed his retirement as general secretary, which the PCI describes as a crucial role in governance and administration.

This was no ‘mea culpa’

Lord Alderdice said: “It does seem to me very clear that this was no mea culpa. This was an attempt to cover up, to bring a close to the thing and not have people asking questions.”

The PSNI previously said it was engaged in discussions with the PCI which began after concerns were raised following the conviction of an individual for child sexual offences last year.

On Monday, however, Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said the force had not been aware of “the potential scale” of the failings until last Wednesday.

He added that by Sunday, it had become clear a criminal investigation was warranted, and that the probe will examine whether everything was shared with police at the earliest stage and if action was taken to protect victims.

Lord Alderdice expressed his frustration with the Charity Commission, three years after he submitted a 150-page report highlighting allegations of bullying, harassment and authoritarianism in the PCI.

He said: “The PSNI's announcement takes the thing to another level. We regard the kind of malfeasance identified in the dossier as only the tip of the iceberg.

“There's a whole series of issues, and the PSNI investigation gives me some degree of confidence that the concerns we raised will now properly be addressed.”

The ex-Alliance Party leader, who was a Presbyterian elder until he resigned in 2018 over the church's views on same-sex relationships, said the report only cited cases with sufficient evidence.

He added that the Charity Commission's failure to address concerns before the current scandal emerged raised serious questions about its effectiveness.

The former Stormont Speaker also said the PCI's “obvious” desire for ministers to refrain from expressing concerns in public suggested it had not learned important lessons.

Lord Alderdice continued: “Even when confronted with this enormous problem, there are institutional and cultural problems about the way the leadership of the PCI has dealt with things.

“The ordinary members, including elders and parish ministers, are good, decent, honourable people. Many are angry and frightened. They are having a terrible time because of the way the leadership has handled things.”

Lord Alderdice said he intended to provide the report he helped compile, and potentially other material, to the PSNI to help bring clarity and “clean up this horrible, horrible mess”.

He urged anyone affected by safeguarding failures to do the same.

The PCI welcomed the police probe and vowed to fully co-operate to ensure “a thorough, trusted and transparent outcome”.

A spokesperson said that in light of the investigation, the church would be making no further comment.

Thatcher’s disillusionment with Anglo-Irish Agreement.

Henry Patterson, Belfast News Letter, November 18th, 2025

It is well known that up to the last moment Mrs Thatcher had doubts about the political and security gains to be achieved by signing the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

She later complained that ‘Our concessions had alienated the unionists without gaining the level of security co-operation we had a right to expect.’ The depth and rapidity of her disillusion and frustration are clear from declassified files at the UK National Archives at Kew, which are available online at the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website.

In a report from the secretary of state for Northern Ireland to the prime minister on the 10 January 1986, he noted that unionist rejection of the agreement was ‘extremely vehement and almost unanimous.’ This was not helped by a resurgence of IRA activity.

At a recent meeting of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference the gap between the British and Irish perceptions of the basic realities of Northern Ireland was profound. There was a wide gulf between the chief constable of the RUC and Garda commissioner on the urgency of the need for improvements in cross-border security co-operation.

As for the government of Garret FitzGerald it appeared that they believed that the security situation would only improve when there were reforms of the Northern Ireland judiciary and the RUC. The response of the SDLP had been ‘disappointedly cautious. They are not encouraging new attitudes to the security forces or the machinery of government.’

The situation was aggravated by the high level of IRA activity against the security forces. The Provisionals had developed the tactic of destroying police stations and intimidating contractors from rebuilding them. The worsening security situation had led to the arrival of an added battalion of troops in January and on February 13 Tom King had to write to the defence secretary informing him that the GOC (general officer commanding) in Northern Ireland had told him he needed another additional battalion from the beginning of March.

Army had to protect RUC battacks

King noted that ‘The terrorist threat remains high; their skills have increased and so have their successes.’ Their focus was on the destruction of police stations and part of their aim was to drive the RUC out of certain parts of NI. At that point the army was having to give protection to over 100 police stations.

Earlier that month FitzGerald had sent a message to Thatcher expressing his horror at the attempted mass murder of a UDR patrol at Belcoo which had resulted in the death of a soldier – John Early, a 22 year old Catholic from Lisnaskea. He promised all possible co-operation from Irish security forces on the border to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Thatcher, who liked FitzGerald and had no doubt about his sincerity, was unimpressed with results on the ground. When FitzGerald visited her at Downing Street later in the month the depth of her frustration with the agreement was clear. She referred to a promise made during the negotiations to deploy a Garda task force to the border area to get on top of subversion. She claimed that in fact the deployment of police on the Irish side of the border remained inadequate and there was a particular weakness in surveillance and intelligence. FitzGerald admitted that the Garda were ‘less sophisticated’ in their methods than the RUC and were not conducting adequate surveillance of terrorists along the border.

Neither government was aware that the IRA was in the process of importing large quantities of Libyan weapons into the Republic- four large shipments between 1985 and 1987. One hundred and fifty tons were secreted in bunkers throughout the Republic with little problem from the Garda.

The political prize of ending nationalist ‘alienation’ in Northern Ireland seemed a long way off as well. Thatcher bemoaned John Hume going absent from NI to observe elections in the Philippines and complained ‘we might just as well have never signed the agreement for all the difference it had made to the SDLP’s behaviour.’

It was becoming clear that for Dublin and the SDLP the agreement was only the first stage in establishing an Irish presence in the governance of the Northern Ireland and that the solution to the terrorist problem was reform of the north’s judicial and policing structures. When FitzGerald complained that a promised code of conduct for the RUC had not been introduced and that a commitment that UDR patrols would be accompanied by the RUC was not being honoured, Thatcher exploded: ‘Listening to the Taoiseach, she could understand why the unionists were alarmed. The Irish government was altogether too demanding … As far as the majority in the North were concerned, the nationalists had got everything from the agreement and the unionists nothing. That was why it was vital to get improved security co-operation across the border and to get the SDLP to play a constructive role in the discussion of devolution’.

Neither of Thatcher’s wishes would be satisfied as the IRA’s campaign intensified over the next two years. Such was the deterioration of the security situation that in July 1987 Charles Powell, Thatcher’s private secretary, informed her that the defence secretary wanted a meeting to discuss the view of the chief of the general staff that the army might be losing the battle with the IRA.

If the promoters of the agreement in London had hoped it would help to marginalise and defeat the IRA they were to be sorely disappointed. No wonder that Charles (now Lord) Powell would later claim that Margaret Thatcher went to her grave with ‘Northern Ireland’ on her heart, in regret at the deal.

• Henry Patterson is emeritus professor of politics, University of Ulster and author of Ireland’s violent frontier: The border and Anglo-Irish relations during the Troubles.

How Labour put the ‘hokey cokey’ into Troubles legacy law

Austen Morgan, Belfast News Letter, November 18th, 2025

 Gerry – “I was not a member of the IRA” – Adams is a lucky man.

 Interned in the 1970s as an Irish republican, he escaped twice from prison (being criminally convicted and sentenced). In R v Adams, in May 2020, the Supreme Court held, in a very-late appeal, that his interim custody order of 21 July 1973 had been signed by the wrong Northern Ireland Office (‘NIO’) minister. Our eponymous hero, and many followers, became entitled to compensation for wrongful conviction and false imprisonment.

The late Lord Kerr, a former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, had made the wrong minister decision (I submit) perversely, but the other four members of the Supreme Court (including one still sitting) went along with it. It deserves to be overturned.

In March 2020, the Johnson government – recognising its duties to the ‘Operation Banner’ veterans and breaking from Dublin – had begun the legislative process which led to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.

Sections 46 and 47 of the 2023 statute – which had originated with Lords Faulks and Godson – effectively rewrote the law: there could not have been any wrong ministers in the NIO in 1973; Adams and others therefore had no claims for damages.

That was to reckon without a High Court judge in Northern Ireland, in a case called Dillon, Mr Justice Colton, judicially reviewing the 2023 statute. On 28 February 2024, he made a declaration of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act 1998. Parliament was denying Gerry Adams his right to compensation. (This decision was upheld by the Lady Chief Justice, Dame Siobhan Keegan, in the court of appeal in Belfast, on 20 September 2024.)

Brandon Lewis, the secretary of state, had appealed Colton J on the Adams’ compensation case, but, following the entry of Sir Keir Starmer into Downing Street, his successor, Hilary Benn, abandoned the human rights appeal on 29 July 2024.

It is most likely that this was on the advice of Lord Hermer, the new attorney general, and a Human Rights Act 1998 enthusiast. (The learned attorney had acted for Gerry Adams in a different (English high court) case, but sections 46 and 47 nowhere referred to the R v Adams supreme court case. Lord Hermer has maintained unconvincingly that there was no conflict of interest.)

The Labour government ineptly tried to get rid of sections 46 and 47 through, what is called, a remedial order (similar to delegated legislation) – all because the attorney general wanted to big up (non effective) judicial declarations of incompatibility in the face of parliamentary sovereignty.

This is in spite of Kemi Badenoch, at prime minister’s questions on 15 January 2025, having secured from Sir Keir Starmer the following: “We are working on a draft remedial order and replacement legislation, and we will look at every conceivable way to prevent these types of cases from claiming damages – it is important to that I say that on the record.”

On 14 October 2025, the government published its Northern Ireland Troubles bill, its so-called repeal and replace measure. The second reading of the bill takes place in the commons tomorrow.

Sections 46 and 47 were removed from the draft remedial order on the same date.  And are now replaced by clauses 89 and 90 in the bill, primary legislation again.

Lawyers, and those who wear anoraks, will be interested in how parliamentary counsel has seen to cut off Gerry Adams’ access to his compensation: again, it is retrospective legislation; but this time the quashing of his convictions is rewritten to not entitle him to statutory compensation.

So, we have here legislative hokey cokey: Hilary Benn (with Lord Hermer whispering the legal advice) wanted sections 46 and 47 removed by a remedial order; now, with the Starmer U-turn, we are having them put back with clauses 89 and 90 in the government’s repeal and replace bill.

There is one problem. Lord Hermer accepted Colton J’s view that the Conservatives had violated Gerry Adams’ human rights. Now, with Hilary Benn making a section 19 statement on the face of the bill, Labour has told parliament that it is not contrary to human rights.

That is why I have written to Lord Alton, the chair of the joint committee on human rights at Westminster, asking him and his colleagues to consider two new questions: first, how can the secretary of state possibly maintain that there is no human rights problem?; and second, what is to stop Colton J, or another Northern Ireland judge, judicially reviewing Labour’s legislation (after enactment) and making another declaration of incompatibility?

Austen Morgan is a barrister at 33 Bedford Row Chambers. He is the author of ‘Pretence: why the United Kingdom needs a written constitution’

€50m funding in place for 10 new Shared Island projects

JONATHAN McCAMBRIDGE, Irish News, November 19th, 2025

FUNDING for 10 new cross-border projects has been announced by the Irish government through its Shared Island programme.

More than €50 million will be committed for the schemes which include a new Dublin to Derry air service to start next year.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the projects would “improve people’s lives and strengthen connections across the island of Ireland”.

The projects announced following a meeting of the Irish Cabinet yesterday are: l €14 million for a new media initiative taken forward by Coimisiun na Mean. l €5.9 million to develop cross-border emergency management capacity on flood response and technical rescue operations. l €6 million for a new programme to engage with communities and the diaspora on the island’s heritage and culture. l €14.5 million for an expanded Creative Ireland-Shared Island programme and for arts projects. l €2 million to enable a new Dublin-Derry public service obligation air service to start in 2026. l €2 million for a new greenways development fund. l €6.4 million for a cross-border pilot regional cooperation programme on tackling Bovine TB. l €2.3 million for commercialising research. l €1.8 million to the All-Ireland pollinator plan. l €1 million for the cross-border Partnership for Employment Services.

Mr Martin said: “A new Shared Island media programme will be launched next year to support sustained cross-border journalism and more programming content so that we can all know and understand more of what is happening and why it matters, north and south, not just at times of crisis, but every day.

New Derry-Dublin air service

A new air service will be established between City of Derry Airport and Dublin Airport

“Fire and emergency services from north and south will deepen their co-operation to enhance capacity and training on management of flooding events and on technical search and rescue operations, building on our proud tradition of mutual support, and acting on the crucial need to plan for and respond to major emergencies together on this island.”

He added: “We are also establishing a new air link between Dublin and Derry, resourcing an expanded Creative Ireland-Shared Island programme and arts projects, supporting development of new cross-border greenways, and deepening co-operation in a number of areas with the Northern Ireland Executive.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, above, and Tánaiste Simon Harris made the Shared Island funding announcement yesterday

“The government has also today set out our Shared Island investment priorities across all sectors as part of the reviewed National Development Plan, backed by our total €2 billion commitment to the Shared Island Fund out to 2035.

“This is the Shared Island Initiative in action – working with ambition to establish greater connectivity, deepen co-operation and strengthen island-wide community understanding – to create a shared future together.”

Tánaiste Simon Harris said: “This investment further demonstrates our commitment to building a prosperous and more equal shared island for all.

“The funding announced today will ensure better outcomes for people in their daily lives, connecting people and places, co-ordinating emergency responses, protecting people’s livelihoods, enhancing people’s health and well-being, protecting our nature habitats and environment, and more.”

Speaker Poots tells ministers who fail to give answers: 'Do your job'

MARK BAIN, Belfast Telegraph, November 19th, 2025

PUSHING QUERIES TO ARM'S-LENGTH BODIES 'SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH'

Stormont's Speaker has scolded Executive ministers for a continuing refusal to answer questions posed by MLAs — telling them: “You take on the job, you take on the responsibility.”

Edwin Poots took aim at ministers after a point of order was raised by an irate SDLP MLA Justin McNulty, who told the Assembly he had been consistently referred to 'arm's-length bodies' when seeking answers for constituents.

“According to standing order 19, sub section 1A a member may ask written questions of any minister on matters relating to the minister's official responsibilities,” Mr McNulty said.

“It is clear some ministers are in breach of that rule by answering questions with comments that certain issues that fall under their official remit are 'operational matters' or that questions should be redirected to statutory government bodies within their department to 'make the best use of limited public resources'.

“Can I ask the Speaker for a ruling to stop ministers from trying to deflect and exonerate themselves from their responsibilities as ministers in answering questions to members who are seeking only to represent our constituents.”

Speaker Edwin Poots said a ruling already exists and ministers are expected to answer questions.

Answer the Question

“I'll say this as a former health minister who at that stage I think had six or seven times more questions to answer than any other minister. We got through them,” he said.

“I don't give any truck to ministers who are busy and all of that there. You take on the job, you take on the responsibility, you answer the questions.

“It's very clear to me that the ministers are accountable to this house and this house is accountable to the people of Northern Ireland. Get on with the job and answer the questions.

“Let's be very clear. ministers should not be farming it out to various arm's-length bodies to answer questions.”

Mr McNulty's intervention came at the end of questions to the Education Minister, which saw Paul Givan return to the Assembly for the first time since being quizzed over his recent trip to Israel.

The minister went on the offensive as he tackled the Alliance Party, asking them if they would rather support a new canteen for prisoners in Magilligan or back his plans to improve school buildings which would benefit thousands of children. Mr Givan had been asked for an update on plans for a new school building at Fort Hill Integrated School in Lisburn by Alliance MLA David Honeyford, who challenged him over the removal of funding from the Fresh Start programme in 2024, which stalled 10 integrated build schemes, laying the blame at the minister's door.

“I didn't take funding away from schools under Fresh Start,” Mr Givan said.

“The UK Government identified the integrated sector for those cuts. My response when Fort Hill and other schools were left high and dry? I brought them in to my department programme. I stepped in to protect schools like Fort Hill.

“What I'd like to say to the Alliance Party is: are you going to prioritise prisoners in Magilligan by providing a new canteen or will you prioritise pupils in our schools?”

The minister's response was backed by Lagan Valley MLA Jonathan Buckley MLA who told Mr Givan: “You've destroyed his social media clip!”

A cap on school uniforms

The minister also confirmed he is continuing to consult on the potential for a cap on the cost of school uniforms.

The Assembly's School Uniform Bill is due to come into effect at the start of the 2026/27 school year and new guidelines were issued to schools last week.

“Either we set a financial limit or a limit on the number of items,” he told MLAs. “It could be a hybrid model. We will carry out due diligence. Schools were aware of what they should be doing, Now they are aware they have to do.”

But he also had a warning for schools ahead of winter adding: “Priority seems to be given to having school emblems on display rather than keeping children warm. If schools are insisting they should be wearing a school blazer and it is not protected from the elements, then that is wrong.”

The minister also gave an update on his pilot scheme, involving nine schools, to address mobile phone use, with pupils placing them in sealed magnetic pouches at the start of he school day.

“In St Ronan's in Lurgan, a school with 1,600 pupils, the feedback is one of appreciation for the opportunity to use the magnetic pouches to keep mobile phones during the day .

“They have told me it is the single most transformative act they have used to address issues on behaviour, concentration and the wellbeing of young people. The benefits from reducing mobile phone use in schools will be transformative.”

Open letter to President Connolly

Irish News, Letters, November 19th, 2025

Dear President Connolly

First, a warm welcome to you as Uachtarán na hÉireann. I wrote to you during the campaign to tell you that, as an Irish citizen living outside Ireland, I didn’t have the vote. (And also, if I had, I wouldn’t have voted for you… see below).

My reasons for not casting my vote in your direction are manifold. I disagree with the groups who backed you, Sinn Féin, Greens, PBP et al. Not that I disagree with everything they stand for, but the narrowness of their vision for Ireland concerns me.

At a time when Europe is on the brink of major conflict – a conflict that already engulfs Ukraine – Ireland should be stepping up to join Nato, to ending the withering fig leaf that is neutrality, to massively increasing defence spending and offering thanks and compensating Britain and Nato for policing Irish waters and skies and for keeping Ireland shielded. (To joining the Commonwealth? National policy on the Middle East should be much more balanced.) And by the way, for the President of Ireland to refer to Northern Ireland as ‘the North’, is unacceptable.

“ The truth is, the ‘revival’ of the Irish language, from day one, has been a dismal shambles

The above matters are, to me, deeply patriotic, but so steeped in an inwardly-looking mindset is Ireland, that those advocating the things I believe in are considered heretics, renegades, even traitors. The blinkered nature of the Irish world view is seen by most modern democracies, certainly Europeans, as perverse and unsustainable, and the electing to the presidency of someone who believes in an old ‘Sinn Féin/isolationist’ mentality is considered eccentric to say the least.

But it was a phrase you used in your inaugural speech about the Irish language that caught my attention. You said you would make the restoration of the Irish language a priority – to bring it in from the margins, or words to that effect. It is 2025. Ireland has been independent for more than 100 years. The question you, and people in high places, should be asking is: Why, after a century, is the Irish language still ‘on the margins’? Why, after all that time, has Irish been so neglected as to belong on the margins of Irish life? Why hasn’t bilingualism been achieved in that time? Has sufficient investment not been forthcoming to enshrine the language to its rightful place of pre-eminence in the culture? Have the schools not played their part in fostering a love of an teanga náisiúnta? Have enlightened policies to promote the language, either not been in place, or been a hopeless failure?

Romeo and Juliette - in Welsh

I heard an item on BBC4 recently about a production of Romeo and Juliet in a Welsh school, in Welsh. The girl who was playing Juliet was interviewed and spoke so confidently, in English, of how proud she was to be part of this production, how she loved the Welsh tongue. I wondered how many Shakespearean plays have been translated into Irish, and performed in Irish schools.

I expect you will know the answers to the questions I pose. The truth is, the ‘revival’ of the Irish language, from day one, has been a dismal shambles. Like religion, it was rammed down our throats (certainly in the old days), beaten into unreceptive bodies, who, when they got the chance, jettisoned both.

It breaks my heart how the nurturing of the Irish language has been so mishandled. I am all for bi/multilingualism, (look at Iceland), but I have known many teachers of Gaelscoileanna in Northern Ireland and often wondered about the culturally confined ‘hidden curriculum’ that is being transmitted in such places. Even as a small boy in Tipperary in the 1950s, I felt, even back then, that the Christian Brothers were ‘weaponising’ the language (even though I didn’t know that word back then), and I feel that to be even more true nowadays when I hear some advocates of ‘restoration’, and the motivations behind the programme.

On the matter of a united Ireland, which Sinn Féin will keep your feet to the fire to promote, be wary. Please do not champion a simplistic binary referendum on Irish unity. A majoritarian ‘solution’ to Ireland’s unique predicament would give comfort to all the wrong people. If you, as president, were to push for the Irish equivalent of a Royal Commission to look into why the restoration of the Irish language has been such an embarrassing disaster, I would fully support you.

PADDY McEVOY Cambridgeshire, England

Andy Tyrie asked British army for return of gun used to kill Catholic man

Anthony Davidson was shot dead by loyalists on the same day as the IRA’s Bloody Friday

By Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent, Irish News, November 17th, 2023

Anthony Davidson was shot dead by loyalists on the same day as the IRA’s Bloody Friday

Former UDA commander Andy Tyrie once asked the British army to return a gun used by loyalist paramilitaries to kill a Catholic man.

Tyrie, who died earlier this year, was the most senior figure in the UDA for much of the 1970s and 1980s.

It has now emerged that the prominent loyalist commander requested the return of a .45 pistol used to kill Anthony Davidson at his Clovelly Street home, in west Belfast.

Catholic Ex-Serviceman shot

A member of the Catholic Ex-Service’s Association, Mr Davidson was shot shortly after midnight on July 21, 1972, and died two hours later in the Royal Victoria Hospital.

The 21-year-old, who had been granted a personal protection weapon the previous day, attempted to fight off his attackers, and is believed to have shot one, who dropped the .45 pistol he was carrying as he fled.

It was later recovered at the scene by members of the Catholic Ex-Servicemen’s Association.

It is believed the injured loyalist was taken to the same hospital as Mr Davidson, where he provided a cover story to account for his injuries.

It has now emerged that the murder of Mr Davison was carried out by the UDA’s A Company in west Belfast.

At the time, it is believed to have been led by Tyrie, a former member of the Territorial Army.

He assumed control of the UDA, which wasn’t banned by the British government until 1992, after the 1973 murder of his predecessor Tommy Herron and remained in charge until 1988.

During his time as ‘supreme commander, ’ dozens of people were killed by the loyalist group under its UFF cover name.

The murder of Mr Davidson took place in the deadliest year of the Troubles, with 90 people killed that July.

On the same day Mr Davidon died, nine other people were killed when 22 IRA bomb exploded across Belfast in what became known as Bloody Friday.

A British army Military Intelligence Summary (INTSUM), uncovered by the research charity Paper Trail, reveals that in May 1972, just two months before the Davidson murder, Tyrie was identified as the leader of A Company, which included the Highfield and Springmartin areas..

The document also named his second in command, known as the ‘2IC’, along with other UDA figures across Belfast.

British Army documented Tyrie request

Incredibly, a “confidential” British army document records that Tyrie asked for the return of the .45 pistol used in the deadly attack that claimed Mr Davidson’s life.

It is also documented that he confirmed his second in command, whose identity is known to the Irish News, owned a car used by the killers.

The details are contained in a section of an intelligence document headed “Protestant Activities”.

“The UDA, and in particular A and B Coys (companies) seem to have been temporarily appeased by the positive approach adopted by the Security Forces following Friday’s bombing,” it states.

“However, one or two incidents underline their increasing preparedness to use weapons to kill Catholics.

“After the death of Anthony Davidson, (redacted) and one of a number of (redacted) brothers involved in the IRA, Andy Tyrie made no secret of the fact that his company had been responsible.

“His 2IC (redacted) owned the car which was used.”

British army document reveals former UDA leader Andy Tyrie asked for the return of a gun used in an attack on an innocent Catholic man in 1972

British army document reveals former UDA leader Andy Tyrie asked for the return of a gun used in an attack on an innocent Catholic man in 1972

The military intelligence document also says: “Tyrie asked for the .45 revolver back which had been lost during the incident and a member of A Company (redacted) was admitted to hospital shortly after the incident.

“Tyrie stated that Davidson was going to be detained for interrogation but that something had gone wrong and shots had been exchanged.”

It is not stated if the gun used in the attack on Mr Davidson was returned to the UDA.

British army documents also reveal that after the attack on Mr Davidson, the Royal Military Police logged reports of a shooting at Forthriver Road.

Oddly, Clovelly Street, where Mr Davidson lived, is marked in brackets on the same document and crossed out.

The admission of a 39-year-old Protestant man to the Royal Victoria Hospital with a gunshot wound to the shoulder is also recorded on the file.

The shooting is claimed to have taken place at Forthriver Drive, which is around one mile from where Mr Davidson was shot and returned fire.

A later insert describes the Forthriver Drive shooting as a “drive-by”.

Paper Trail has carried out a review of British army logs and intelligence summaries from the night, with searches confirming that no shootings were heard or reported in the area by military units.

Ciarán MacAirt, of Paper Trail, believes the alleged Forthriver Drive shooting did not take place at that location.

An intelligence insert from July 21, 1972, refers to a redacted name and confirms that seven .45 rounds were recovered and were in the possession of a hospital guard and “Tennants (sic) Street RUC were due to remove them”.

Mr MacAirt believes the information contained in serial 46 “connects the bullets to the other person and the suspect to the same shooting incident as Anthony’s wounding”.

Retrospective military logs later refer to a person, whose details are redacted, being shot from a passing car at the junction of Forthriver Road and Forthriver Way.

“(Redacted) was taken to the RVH with GSW (gunshot wounds) to the shoulder.”

The log confirms the man had in his possession seven .45 rounds.

The name of the suspect is redacted in British army logs.

However, he is named in a newspaper report from the time, which provides details of several incidents, including the alleged attack on him and the murder of Mr Davidson.

A check of Public Record Office papers reveal there is no account of anyone of that name being charged or convicted in relation to murder or possession of illegal ammunition.

In 1983, a man of the same name and similar age was arrested and charged, arising out of the John Gibson supergrass case.

Gibson had alleged he was with the man in a loyalist club in 1972 when weapons were produced, including a .45.

The man was given bail after an RUC detective told a court he was satisfied he “had not been involved in crime since 1972”.

The charges were dropped in 1985 when Gibson retracted his statement.

Mr Davidson’s family have been made aware of the new evidence.

His daughter Christine spoke warmly of her father and mother.

“Our mother is the strongest person we know,” she said.

“She brought us up not to hate but to get on and live our lives.

“We were robbed of getting to our dad, but mum never stopped telling us everything about him and, with the help from other family members, we got to know him a little.”

Mr MacAirt has spent around a decade fighting for access to information about the Davidson case and related murders.

“These historic files prove that knowledge of Tyrie’s involvement in terrible murders, including Anthony’s, went to the top of the British military, government and RUC,” he said.

“During the most violent month of the conflict, when all sides murdered scores and injured hundreds, Tyrie’s UDA gang was guilty of some of the most gruesome killings of the conflict, including kidnapping and torture.

“He was in constant contact with the British armed forces in the secret British army logs I discovered.”

Mr MacAirt highlighted that the UDA remained a legal organisation during the period Tyrie was in charge.

“During Tyrie’s tenure as ‘supreme commander’, his UDA murdered hundreds of Irish Catholics, but Britain did not proscribe it,” he said.

“Tyrie even helped to cripple Northern Ireland during the Ulster Worker’s Council Strike and bring down the power-sharing Assembly at Stormont.

“We know that most of the UDA’s arms came from the British army or intelligence services, but these files give us a better understanding of the anatomy of British state collusion and murder on the streets of Belfast from the start of the conflict.”

The Legacy Bill has been drafted as a nationalist and Irish government wish-list

Belfast News Letter, November 18th, 2025

A letter from Jamie Bryson:

The government’s new legacy bill is back before Parliament today.

It is essentially a bill drafted as a nationalist and Irish government wish-list. Whilst all this is going on, the government – not content with the appeasement of nationalism and the Irish government within the proposed new legacy framework – continue to oversee public inquiries, such as Finucane, and pseudo-inquires such as ‘Operation Denton’.

Operation Denton, in how they describe themselves, were set up to probe ‘collusion’ and what was labelled by the Pat Finucane Centre and nationalist campaigners as the ‘Glenanne Gang’. It is trite to point out, as Operation Denton have themselves had to acknowledge on their own website, no group of that name ever in fact existed, and instead was a label created by nationalist legacy campaigners.

It has been reported that on October 8 2025 the Operation Denton team travelled to Dublin to meet campaign groups. In this ‘briefing’, Operation Denton disclosed their ‘findings’ that was, on their own analysis, information gleaned from ‘top secret’ UK intelligence material from the security service, Ministry of Defence and PSNI. This reportedly included naming ‘suspects’ in relation to alleged loyalist killings, by virtue of detailing the identify of those referred to by ciphers.

It is an extraordinary situation if we have a body set up under the statutory framework of the PSNI, who are going to a foreign jurisdiction and disclosing UK intelligence material to persons who are not security cleared, and in many cases not even UK citizens. This at a time when Dublin continue to refuse to hand over material regarding legacy, including in respect of the Omagh bombing.

There are yet further questions around Operation Denton. They are not a criminal investigation and operate under the PSNI. That being so, it is difficult to see what the lawful basis for their existence is at all, given PSNI have no statutory powers to conduct non-criminal investigations. This is further confused by the fact that Operation Denton on one hand emphatically are not a criminal investigation, but simultaneously if they discover any material which could assist a criminal investigation, would have a statutory duty to provide it to the PSNI for that purpose, given they have the same statutory duties as the PSNI to “bring offenders to justice”. That being the case, what is the lawful statutory basis for any ‘information recovery’ Operation Denton has engaged in?

In regards the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recover (ICRIR), there is a full statutory framework to govern information recovery and the publication of reports. Operation Denton has no such framework, raising serious questions about safeguards and lawfulness.

The concern at Operation Denton is compounded by the fact that the new Legacy Bill proposes at Clause 5 two new heads of investigation, with one being required merely to have “policing experience in Northern Ireland”. This could mean someone who served in Stevens, Kenova or Denton – all inquiries set up to investigate the state. This would be patently absurd, and cleanse the RUC from legacy work via the backdoor.

In trying to placate nationalists, the government has lost unionists and the veterans. The ICRIR is a workable framework, it should be left as it is, not scorched on the altar of yet more appeasement of nationalism and the ever-hostile Irish government.

Jamie Bryson, Donaghadee