NI man charged with having explosives for terror attack in South by right wing group
ROBIN SCHILLER, Belfast Telegraph, November 8th, 2025
35-YEAR-OLD DENIED BAIL AFTER GARDAI RAISE CONCERNS OVER MORE TERROR ATTACKS
A Co Down man allegedly caught by gardai with an explosive substance was planning a terror attack on behalf of a violent right-wing extremist group, a court has heard.
A video of a “practice statement” was also recovered in which masked men took responsibility for an attack on a Galway mosque and threatened to carry out further attacks on migrant accommodation in Ireland, with gardai outlining concerns of further terror attacks being planned if Garrett Pollock (35) was given bail.
Pollock and a co-accused, Karolis Peckauskas (37), were brought before a special sitting of Portlaoise District Court yesterday after being arrested as part of a terrorism investigation involving the PSNI, the Special Detective Unit (SDU) and gardai in Laois.
Pollock, of Kilhorne Green in Annalong, is charged with possessing an explosive substance at his home address on November 5. The charge relates to possession of components for three pipe bomb-type improvised explosive devices (IED) and four incendiary-type IEDs with white dish cloth wicks.
He is also charged with possessing an explosive substance at O'Moore Place in Portlaoise on November 4, relating to four threaded pipe end caps and six litres of hydrogen peroxide.
Both charges are contrary to Section 4 of the Republic's Explosive Substances Act, 1883, as amended by Section 15(4) of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act, 1998.
Karolis Peckauskas (38), of Newfoundwell Road in Drogheda, Co Louth, is charged with possessing an explosive substance at O'Moore Place in Portlaoise.
Detective Garda Declan O'Connor of the SDU objected to bail being granted to Pollock, alleging he is involved in a violent right-wing extremist group.
He outlined how the accused was stopped by members of the Portlaoise Drugs Unit at 11.25pm on Tuesday night at O'Moore Place in a car being driven by Peckauskas.
Suspicious items, including four treaded pipe end caps and six litres of hydrogen peroxide, were allegedly recovered from the boot of the car.
Det Gda O'Connor said that an examination of mobile devices led gardai to believe that Pollock has knowledge of the manufacturing of IEDs.
He also said that examination of documents and a notebook recovered indicate that he was “planning a terror attack on behalf of a right-wing, violent extremist grouping”.
The detective said further examinations allegedly show plans to carry out a terror attack on behalf of this right-wing extremist group.
Video Recording seized
Det Gda O'Connor also alleged that a video recovered on a device seized from Pollock showed four masked men, including the accused, reading a statement and outlining their intention to “take violent action”.
The court heard this video was allegedly recorded in the Laois home outside which the men were stopped.
The defendant also made admissions in garda interviews to handling the explosive components as well as featuring in the video, it was alleged.
Judge Andrew Cody asked for the video to be shown in court, at which point a senior detective stepped forward and spoke with the prosecuting garda.
Det Gda O'Connor asked for the court to be cleared while the video was played as it would otherwise “jeopardise the investigation”.
After watching the video Judge Cody remarked that the men featured in it said that anyone who interferes with their programme will be a target.
The judge said the video showed men wearing balaclavas standing in front of a tricolour which he described as a “practice statement” following a successful terror attack.
The group mentioned taking responsibility for an attack on a mosque in Galway, adding that this “will not be their last attack”, and that they intend to target more mosques, IPAS centres and hotels housing migrants.
Defence barrister David Nugent BL said they were not accepting the video.
Under cross-examination, the detective said that there was no surveillance operation or intelligence in place at the time of the arrest, carried out by local gardai in Portlaoise, and that the SDU became involved the following morning.
PSNI recovered material in North
They requested the PSNI to search Pollock's family home where alleged IEDs were recovered at the back door and inside the property.
Det Gda O'Connor alleged that the accused created or produced a “manifesto” on behalf of the right-wing extremist group.
Asked by counsel if specific targets were mentioned, he replied: “Yes, judge.”
The detective outlined his concerns of Garrett Pollock failing to appear, saying he resides outside the state and has no ties to the jurisdiction.
He said the accused has “attachment to a violent right wing-extremism group” that may lead to the interference of witnesses, adding that there is an “obvious threat to the state”.
The detective said, given the type of attack discussed and the involvement of a violent right-wing extremist group, this grouping “would have no difficulty intimidating witness who may come forward”.
Det Gda O'Connor also raised concerns about further offences that could be committed by the defendant if granted bail, including participation in the violent right-wing movement, involvement in terror-related activity, planning of further terror attacks, and manufacturing IEDs. Judge Cody said he was rejecting the bail application and remanded Pollock in custody to appear again next week.
Co-accused Karolis Peckauskas made no application for bail and was remanded in custody. Gda Joe Fahey, of the Portlaoise Drugs Unit, gave evidence of arresting the accused early yesterday morning for the purpose of charging him.
Peckauskas listened to proceedings through an interpreter. The court heard he replied “I do not understand” when the single charge was put to him. He will appear in court again next Thursday.
Little-Pengelly won't be at new Irish President's inauguration
ABDULLAH SABRI, Belfast Telegraph, November 8th, 2025
DUP DEPUTY FIRST MINISTER CITES PRIOR ENGAGEMENTS ON REMEMBRANCE DAY
The Deputy First Minister has said she will not be attending the inauguration of Ireland's new president.
Emma Little-Pengelly said she had received an invitation for Tuesday's event but had other commitments as it was Remembrance Day.
Catherine Connolly will become the 10th President of Ireland and the third woman to hold the office following her landslide victory last month.
Ms Little-Pengelly said she recognised the “significant personal honour” Ms Connolly achieved.
She said: “I have received an invitation for the inauguration events for the Irish President on Tuesday but it will not be possible for me to accept due to a number of other commitments in Belfast and Windsor.
“Tuesday marks Remembrance Day, an important day for so many.
“I am scheduled to attend a service and to participate in an Act of Remembrance in Parliament Buildings before travelling to Windsor Castle at the invitation of Their Majesties, The King and Queen for a special reception to commemorate VJ Day 80th Anniversary to honour veterans of the Second World War, and in particular of the Pacific on this day of remembrance. It is therefore not possible to also attend the inauguration.
“I wish Catherine Connolly well as she takes up office, recognising that this is undoubtedly a significant personal honour for her, and I hope to speak with her personally in the next number of days.”
In 2011 Peter Robinson, who was First Minister at the time, joined Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at the first presidential inauguration of Michael D Higgins.
Ms Connolly's inauguration has prompted a mixed reaction from unionists.
UUP MLA Steve Aiken said he will be attending the event on behalf of his party, and said he would be “strongly representing the unionist perspective”.
Meanwhile, TUV leader Jim Allister said unionists must not “legitimise” Ms Connolly's presidency.
Ms Connolly, a TD since 2016 for the Galway West constituency, has also served as the Dail's deputy speaker.
She served 17 years as councillor in Galway, including a one-year term as mayor of her native city.
In last month's election she defeated Fine Gael's Heather Humphreys after securing the support of Sinn Fein, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and Labour.
TUV Deputy Leader boycotts Remembrance Day in Belfast because of Michelle O’Neill’s presence
Meanwhile, a senior TUV figure has said he will not attend a Remembrance Sunday event at Belfast City Hall because of the presence of First Minister Michelle O'Neill.
It is the second successive year Ron McDowell, the party's deputy leader, has stayed away from the event.
Ms O'Neill will attend the official Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Belfast and lay a wreath at the Cenotaph.
Although the First Minister took part in the event last year, it did attract criticism from victims of state and loyalist violence, as well as victims of IRA violence.
There had been some speculation that she might not do the same in the wake of the DUP's behaviour following Soldier F's acquittal of murder and attempted murder on Bloody Sunday.
Party leader Gavin Robinson posted an image of the Parachute Regiment insignia online, causing widespread anger across nationalism.
Ms O'Neill became the first senior Sinn Fein member to attend the official event for fallen members of the UK's armed forces last November. The party said she would be doing so again on Sunday.
Now Mr McDowell, a TUV councillor in Belfast, has said: “I will be marking Remembrance Day this year with the Royal British Legion and will also lay a wreath at the Belfast Cenotaph on behalf of my constituents.
“However, I will not share a ceremony with Michelle O'Neill. As the First Minister continues to eulogise the IRA, her attendance on Sunday would be nothing more than political point-scoring. I cannot pretend this is acceptable to me.
“Therefore, after consultation with victims of the IRA, and to satisfy my own convictions, I have once again taken the difficult decision to mark the 11th hour in the company of those doing so sincerely.”
Health budget to be squeezed next year after staff pay award
PAUL AINSWORTH, Irish News, November 8th, 2025
QUESTIONS remain over how Stormont will balance the books after the executive stepped in to honour a pay award for health workers.
With the threat of winter strikes from nurses, last month the executive had initially come up with half of the £200m needed to achieve pay parity.
By Thursday, it was announced the remaining money had been found, with staff to receive their backdated pay by February.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, made it clear it was not a free pass and the health service would feel the effects next year.
“The executive has stepped in to ensure the amount needed for the pay parity pressure can be addressed this year,” she said.
“The Department of Health could not fund any of it out of this year’s budget. That was disappointing.”
“But our nurses deserve fair pay and pay parity – that’s why we have taken extraordinary steps today, working with the health minister and department to ensure this could happen.
“These steps will have implications, including for next year, particularly for the health department.
“We will continue to work with ministers and across the executive to try and deal with significant pressures.”
Yesterday, Justice Minister Naomi Long said she did not have the luxury of overspending to meet pay awards for the PSNI.
“This is part of the debate we’ve been having around the executive table. If we all behave in that manner, we will all end up next year in an absolute crisis with no money for any services,” she told the BBC.
“So we can’t be reckless with our spending, it isn’t legal. We’re bound by our budget, we sign up to that, that becomes legislation, that is the law.”
Despite this, she praised Health Minister Mike Nesbitt for his efforts to maximise savings within his budget.
“I think in that context and given the effort that has been put in by him and his officials, we shouldn’t see the health service staff punished, any more than we should see the PSNI punished,” she said.
Brenda Stevenson, lead officer for health with Unite the Union, welcomed the news from the executive and said she was hopeful it would take the threat of industrial action off the table.
Award will ‘leave difficulties’ with next year’s Budget
“So it is going to leave difficulties for next year, but that’s where the government now need to pull up their socks and be realistic about this, getting from A to B in Northern Ireland so that we’re not overspending every year.”
A joint statement from the health trade unions – Unison, the Royal College of Nursing, Nipsa and Unite – said detailed discussions were now required with the health minister on the next steps.
Noting that the funding commitment only came after pay parity was broken and several unions threatened to ballot members for industrial action, they said “unacceptable delays” for pay awards could not continue each year.
“We are also very mindful of the particularly difficult position faced by the lowest paid within our health service, with many paid the minimum wage,” they said.
“We will continue to press the case that low pay must be comprehensively dealt with through actions such as the health service moving towards the real Living Wage.”
AND…
Justice Minister Angela Long confident pay award for police will also be met
JONATHAN McCAMBRIDGE, Irish News, November 8th, 2025
STORMONT’S justice minister has said she is confident police officers in Northern Ireland will receive a pay award this year.
However, Naomi Long said she could not overspend on her budget, warning that such behaviour by ministers could lead to an “absolute crisis” next year.
Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole has said he fears executive ministers will find themselves in the same position next year dealing with public sector pay pressures.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt announced on Thursday that he has been given approval to award pay parity to healthcare workers in the region.
Ms Long said her ministerial colleague would be “spending money he currently doesn’t have” to make the awards.
The Justice Minister told the BBC she was working hard with PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher to prove that a pay deal is affordable.
She said: “I believe that with a few more weeks of work we may be in a position to do that, but we will have to wait until December monitoring, until we see what actually materialises in terms of funding and how we can close the PSNI’s funding gap to make that affordable.
“I think all of us around the executive table are clear, we have to fund our public sector workers, that is a priority, that is why when I was setting my budget I set aside around 3% for pay when I was doing the allocations, the difficulty of course is that not all ministers did set aside budget for pay and that has left us with this yawning gap in the middle of our gap.
“It is not good practice but it is right that the workers shouldn’t suffer in terms of bad practice in how people have budgeted.
“I am confident by the end of this year we will be able to manage our budget successfully but also make the pay awards that I believe the police deserve.
“Just because the police don’t take and can’t take industrial action doesn’t mean that they should be at the end of the queue when it comes to getting their funding.”
Kicking the can down the road
Ms Long said the health minister had been told by the executive to go ahead with his pay awards.
She said: “That means he is spending money he currently doesn’t have.
“But he is also very clear and is also very clear with the executive that he is trying to sweat every pound out of his budget to close that gap.
“That is what we all have, not just a moral responsibility to do, because this will come off our budgets next year and will have long term consequences next year, but we also have a legal duty to do this.
“It is not an option for us simply to overspend.”
She added: “I believe we can close the gap in justice and I guess that is the difference.
“I believe it is possible, given what we have already been told, we are going to get £7 million for recruitment this year, we are also in line for another £6.7 million towards pay, that will significantly reduce the projected overspend of PSNI.”
The justice minister said if all ministers overspent on their budget “we will end up next year in an absolute crisis with no money to pay for any services”.
She added: “We can’t be reckless with our spending, it isn’t legal, we are bound by our budget.”
SDLP MLA and Finance Committee chairman Mr O’Toole said ministers continued to “kick the can down the road then blame others”.
He added: “They need to take responsibility, grip this problem and sort it out.
“It cannot happen again, but I fear that it will.”
'He was bravest man I knew': Co Down woman's poetic tribute to her brother
AMY COCHRANE, Belfast Telegraph, November 8th, 2025
COLLECTION HONOURS THE MEMORY OF PART-TIME UDR SOLDIER WHO WAS KILLED INSTANTLY BY CAR BOMB OUTSIDE FAMILY HOME
A woman whose brother was murdered by the IRA in a booby-trap car bomb outside his home in 1986 has created a poignant book of poems in his memory.
Robert Hill (22) was a part-time UDR soldier. The book of six poems - entitled Robert Hill, Forever Young - made by his sister Elizabeth Woods will be for sale locally with proceeds donated to Ballynahinch British Legion.
Robert was the youngest of four children, born around a year apart.
“All of us were close in age and very close as friends,” said Elizabeth, who was 24 at the time of his death.
“Robert was a quiet boy and was well-liked; he worked hard and was a great saver. We had a very happy childhood and we have wonderful memories of Christmases together, of Robert riding his purple Chopper bicycle and playing with my horse Fanta.
“We played with both Protestant and Catholic neighbours, friendships that still exist to this day.”
On July 1, 1986, their lives changed forever when Robert was killed instantly after the IRA planted one of its largest car bombs used beneath his vehicle in Drumaness. He had just left the house to go to work at Pinewick furniture factory in Ballynahinch.
Wreckage from the Ford Fiesta was found scattered over a 100-metre radius.
A police report at the time said the car was “completely devastated” and “the driver would have had no chance”, adding it was “one of the worst booby-traps” they had ever seen.
Parents in house injured by bomb
Robert and Elizabeth's mother, who was in the house at the time, was injured and covered in debris. Their dog, Sam, terrified by the blast, swam across a nearby lake before being found and brought home later that day.
Elizabeth, then pregnant and living in Ballynahinch, remembers the knock at the door to receive the news.
“I'll always remember that morning, my heart just sank,” she said.
Nearly 40 years later, she has channelled her grief and love into words.
After being diagnosed with cancer in 2015, Elizabeth began writing during treatment.
Her poems capture both her brother's spirit and the lasting impact of terrorism on victims' families.
“People sometimes ask when Robert died, but he didn't just die, he was murdered. His life was stolen from us,” she said.
“A Greenfinch once said to me, 'Of all the people murdered, you couldn't have found anyone more innocent than Robert', and she was right.
“It's us, his family, who are serving the life sentence. Nobody comes out of murder untouched, each generation has been affected.
“When you lose a family member, you lose a part of yourself.
“We will always remember Robert as young, because we never got the chance to remember him any other way.”
Memorials for Robert have been erected over the years in Ballynahinch Orange Hall, Cahard Orange Hall, Ballymaglave Orange Hall — of which he was a member of — and also Saintfield Hockey Club and Ballynahinch British Legion branch.
Robert was a member of the Orange Order, Royal Black Institution and Apprentice Boys of Derry.
He played for the UDR football team and was also an accordion player with the Sons of Ulster Accordion Band in Ballynahinch.
Tragically, his first football match was due to take place the day after his murder.
UDR member
In 1984, Robert joined the 3rd battalion Ulster Defence Regiment at Ballykinlar, following in the footsteps of his sister Pauline, who was a Greenfinch, and several of his close friends.
Elizabeth said she was “proud” of his years of service, albeit brief.
Her poetry collection reflects on her brother's childhood, family, faith, service, and innocence, while expressing the enduring pain of his loss.
“Robert couldn't tell his own story, so I'm doing the talking for him,” she said.
“He was the bravest man I knew, and these poems are my tribute to his life, his courage, his friends, and the happiness we had before his murder. Writing has helped me find peace. If I didn't speak for him, it would be an injustice, and he's already had enough of that.
“He was the baby of the family and we always looked out for him, but I couldn't protect him that morning. We felt helpless.
“I feel like most of us are just stuck in 1986 and we can't move on. It ruined all of our younger years.
“Every time I think of Robert and how he died, it retraumatises me all over again, but I want his memory to live on and for him to be remembered.”
No one has ever been convicted of Robert's murder.
Civil servants and MLAs gorging on taxpayer-subsidised food while rest economise
SAM MCBRIDE, NORTHERN IRELAND EDITOR, Belfast Telegraph, November 8th, 2025
In Laganside's court 13, a jury has been sitting intermittently since September. They're being trusted to hear a complex months-long fraud trial in which their verdict could send two men to jail - but aren't trusted to operate a toaster.
The jury in the Nama fraud trial this week inadvertently exposed an absurdity and an injustice at the heart of Northern Ireland's justice system.
Those who are being asked to give up months of their lives to rule on the guilt or innocence of defendants are being treated shabbily.
The jury are highly constrained in speaking up for themselves yet without these people the justice system could not function.
Three weeks ago, I got a tip-off from someone that the jury in this case had written to the judge. I knew this to be true because the judge, Madam Justice McBride, had referred in court to having received a note from the jury in relation to a practical matter.
The note, I was told, related to something incredibly simple: the jury aren't being fed.
The person who told me wasn't one of the jurors and wasn't anyone involved in the case, but was appalled at what was going on. I've never received a leak of this nature, something which indicates how this has annoyed people who wouldn't normally send something of this nature to a journalist.
In court on Monday morning after the half-term break, the judge addressed the jury at some length, bringing the issue into the open.
Chief Justice trying to ‘resolve the issue’
Madam Justice McBride said she had been trying to resolve the issue, telling them that hot food was stopped during Covid and never restarted.
The jury of nine men - many of whom appear to be no older than their 20s - and three women had made a reasonable request, asking for either hot food or the ability to heat food in the jury room as winter looms.
The trial, originally estimated to last three months, is now behind schedule and is likely to go into the new year - a huge commitment for anyone.
However, the judge told them that their request had been refused by the Courts Service, despite her corresponding with civil servants about the issue and meeting them several times.
Stressing her appreciation for what the jury are doing, she told them: “Without your role as jurors, the criminal justice system as we know it cannot operate.”
Yet even their request for a toastie-maker or a microwave was refused by civil servants on “health and safety” grounds.
It's clear that the judge took this seriously and appears to have fought to get the jury better facilities. She even went for herself to see the jury room, finding that it contained no more than a kettle, tea bags, instant coffee and UHT milk. You'd get more in prison.
£1.2 billion deal involved
After the judge's intervention, Courts Service eventually agreed to a fridge, a vending machine, and flasks of soup.
The Belfast Telegraph has spoken to a number of experienced lawyers, all of whom said they were dismayed at how the jury are being treated.
One of them said: “I've never seen a jury treated in such an austere way. I feel very sorry for them.”
The high-profile trial which has brought this to light involves an alleged multi-million pound fraud at the heart of the biggest property deal in Northern Ireland's history — the 2014 sale by Nama, the Republic's bad bank, of its Northern Ireland loans for £1.2 billion.
Frank Hugh Cushnahan (83), of Alexandra Gate in Holywood, is charged with fraud by failing to disclose information and fraud by false representation.
Former solicitor Ian George Coulter (54), of Templepatrick Road in Ballyclare, faces two charges of fraud by false representation, and charges of making or supplying articles for use in fraud, removing criminal property, and transferring criminal property.
Both men deny all the charges.
How the jury in this case is being treated is part of a far wider issue. Many people try to escape jury service, seeing it as an onerous burden rather than a social responsibility. To those who give their time to ensure justice is done, they should be treated well because the entire system rests on the public's willingness to cooperate.
Yet juries are being infantilised. They're trusted to operate a toaster or a microwave at home, yet not while in the jury room.
They are not allowed a toaster on health and safety grounds, yet are being trusted with a kettle — a device which heats water to boiling.
The judge said she'd been told by Courts Service that hot food couldn't be provided because there was no means for keeping it warm.
There are in fact many ways in which food can be kept warm, with which caterers are familiar. But even if that was so, this is the middle of Belfast city centre. It is teeming with cafes and restaurants from which an official could have obtained food for these people. Jurors are confined to the jury room when not in court; they're not even allowed to use their phones.
Stormont meals cost a quarter of restaurant prices
Yet while jurors are treated in this way, Stormont is groaning under the weight of more money than ever before in the history of Northern Ireland, spending £32bn a year.
It is the devolved justice system which has decided not to feed juries — while MLAs feed themselves at public expense.
The Assembly's impressive catering facilities have always been heavily subsidised by taxpayers.
In Stormont's excellent main restaurant a main course of braised beef brisket with root vegetables costs just £5.15. At Hope Street restaurant in Belfast a slow-cooked beef brisket meal costs £23.97.
In Parliament Buildings, a side of chips is just £1.33. At John Dory's down the road, a portion of chips is £4.50; even in McDonald's, chips would cost £2.19.
In Harlem cafe, an omelette with toast costs £14.50; in Stormont, an omelette costs just £3.93.
Three months ago, the Belfast Telegraph revealed that the taxpayer has subsidised the Stormont catering facilities with more than £1.5m since 2020.
That means that taxpayers on the jury are subsidising already well-paid MLAs and civil servants, while being told they can't get so much as a toaster.
The Juries (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 states: “Jurors, after having been sworn, may, in the discretion of the judge, be provided, free of charge, with reasonable refreshment (including meals) at any time before giving their verdict.”
But if the judge has no budget — as Madam Justice McBride told the jury on Monday — then this provision put in place by Parliament cannot be enforced by the judiciary. A comparison with other jurisdictions shows that Northern Ireland is the worst part of the UK or Ireland in which to be a juror.
In the Republic, juries are served a hot lunch. An article in the Irish Law Society Gazette by an anonymous juror two months ago described the food as “very good”. Likening it to a carvery, they said the options on the first day were cottage pie, chicken with black pudding or vegetable satay.
In England, Scotland and Wales, jurors get a flat daily allowance for food, which is paid to them without the need for any receipts. Here, that's made far harder by requiring every receipt.
Time sheets for jurors
To get paid as a juror in Northern Ireland you have to fill in a detailed time sheet every day. They must set out the date, where they left from to travel to court, the time they left, the time they left court, whether they returned to work, their mode of transport, details of public transport receipts or mileage, the amount claimed for food, the amount claimed for loss of earnings, the reason they didn't go back to work each day, along with details of and reasoning for additional expenses.
The five-page form is strewn with boxes to be completed and then must be accompanied by a host of receipts. If that's not done, they won't be paid. If it's not submitted within 14 days of the trial ending, they won't be paid.
By contrast, the Assembly allows its officials a month to submit expense claims and the civil service allows travel claims to be made up to three months after the expense was incurred.
In England, juries are allowed 12 months from when their jury service started to submit their claims.
Food isn't the only area in which jurors are disadvantaged. If their employer doesn't keep paying their salary — which by law they don't have to — they can only claim up to £64.95 a day for the first 10 days and up to £129.91 a day from then on.
Northern Ireland's average weekly earnings are now £713. That means that for a juror on the average wage, even if they were getting the highest rate allowed, they would be losing money.
At the top of the jury expense form, jurors are told it is to be filled in by “jurors who have completed their jury service”. That implies not getting paid for months - potentially a major cash flow issue for young or poorer members of a jury.
Lord Denning
Yet when I asked the Department of Justice (DoJ) about this, it said expenses “can be paid at an earlier date upon submission of an expenses claim”, something not made clear on the form.
Mileage rates for juries are also drastically lower than for the civil service. When asked to set out the mileage rates for officials in the Courts Service, initially DoJ gave me the “excess fares” mileage rate which is 25.7p. Only when pressed did it admit that the standard mileage rate for civil servants is 45p for the first 10,000 miles. Jurors get just 25.7p a mile.
Civil servants get an extra 5p a mile if they give someone a lift; there's no mention in the form for jurors that they can get this.
Initially, the DoJ said questions about the issue weren't a matter for it, batting them over to the Courts Service — for which it is responsible.
Eventually, DoJ said that “in line with NICS health and safety policy, Courts Service are unable to facilitate a request from jurors in the Nama trial for a microwave or a toastie-making machine for the jury room”.
It said that “cooking appliances should only be operated within a designated kitchen area”, defined as “being constructed of fire resisting material and fitted with a self-closing door”.
It said that no juries in Northern Ireland are now fed but there is “little evidence” these arrangements “are not working for jurors or that there are significant issues”, with only three complaints in the last three years.
It said the Laganside jury facilities “have been recently refurbished”.
The department steadfastly refused to say if the wider issue of juries not being fed was brought to Naomi Long's attention as Justice Minister, saying she “would not routinely” be notified of “operational matters” unless “they are of concern”.
When asked again if she was told of this issue, there was no response.
More than half a century ago, Lord Denning famously said that the jury system “has been the bulwark of our liberties too long for any of us to seek to alter it. Whenever a man is on trial for serious crime, or when in a civil case a man's honour or integrity is at stake — then trial by jury has no equal.”
We need these people, but they're being treated disrespectfully by an entitled bureaucracy which is dealing with itself far more favourably than those it is supposedly serving. And Stormont — as in so many areas — has presided over this being made worse rather than better.
‘Young people are out there looking for truth’
Pat McArt speaks to Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown, who has reached the retirement age of 75, about his priestly life and optimism for the future of the Church. Pat McArt speaks to Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown, who has reached the retirement age of 75, about his priestly life and optimism for the future of the Church
HAVING reached the Church’s retirement age of 75, Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown has submitted his resignation letter to the Pope and is now awaiting news.
It’s a sort of limbo period, in that he doesn’t yet know if Pope Leo will ask him to stay on or will accept his resignation and begin the process of appointing a successor.
But he’s content either way.
“I’ll do what I’m asked to do. I have dedicated my life to this. I don’t have a wife and children or grandchildren to worry about,” he says.
“But, having said that, it would be nice to return to being a priest in some little village somewhere with no decisions to make.”
Whatever the uncertainty about his own future, he is remarkably upbeat about the future of the Catholic Church.
After decades of taking a battering on many fronts, he feels a turning point has been reached.
“I think there’s a real crisis for secularism at the present time. I find increasing numbers of young people who are showing signs of dissatisfaction in terms of mental illness, in terms of addiction, in terms of just not being very hopeful about the future,” he says.
“My own experience tells me they are out there looking for truth and beauty, and longing for something better.
“They have gone beyond the rejection of faith their parents’ generation went through, and some of them are discovering the whole notion of God, of learning about the beauty of liturgy, of architecture, of faith.
“They are looking for something more than to eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. There are way too many people dying for want of reason for living.”
Resurgence of Faith
He sees a resurgence in faith in the grassroots in Derry.
“There is a lot of energy here,” he says.
“In places like Galliagh there are prayer groups. There are bible study groups springing up in all sorts of arts and parts. There are young men’s groups. There are youth Masses on Sunday evenings. And we have eight seminarians at present in this diocese.”
A friendly and engaging man, the bishop makes a point of walking the streets of Derry at least once a week.
And, he says, during his 14 years wearing the bishop’s mitre, he has never encountered a single negative comment from a member of the public.
“I want to communicate with people, to say hello to them, to smile at them,” he says.
“I call into the ex-prisoners’ shop in William Street. I know the street drinkers, I know the shopkeepers, I talk to the tour guides. I try to be out and be accessible, not hiding behind my role as bishop.”
Born in Randalstown in Co Antrim, Donal McKeown was raised by a watchmaker father and a mother who was a primary school teacher.
As his dad was one of 13 children and his mother one of eight, he grew up with a huge family network.
At primary school, he was one of four who passed the 11-plus and progressed to the then St MacNissi’s College, Garron Tower in the Glens of Antrim.
It would seem he was one of their star pupils.
“My granny was a Delargy from Glenariff so that was probably the real reason I went there,” he says.
“Garron Tower was only founded about nine years before I started, and it was staffed by brilliant teachers, mostly young priests. I got a great education.
“Three of my four A-Level teachers were priests. They were the best teachers, loved their subjects. I did Latin, German, Irish and English, and the priest who taught us Irish wanted us to do Irish in one year. We were up for it.
“So, Fr Brendan McGarry, who taught Latin, asked us if we were up for doing that in one year as well, so we did. And we all got our A-Levels in the one academic year.”
Today Donal McKeown is fluent in Irish, English, Latin, French, German, Italian and has also studied Portuguese and Arabic.
He has a MBA in Business Education and impressive qualifications also in theology and counselling.
When asked, he rejects the description of himself as an academic.
And then we come to the biggest question of all – why the priesthood?
“If you are asking did the skies open or something like that, no. It wasn’t like that at all. It was a gradual thing,” he says.
“ I had a bit of a crisis as a student in ’75/’76. I was tired, exhausted. I didn’t know if God was saying ‘McKeown get out’ or the devil was saying ‘I have lovely things to show you’, but when crunch time came to decide, the clouds sort of opened. I was struggling, but I got the right word at the right time
‘He asked did I ever think of becoming a priest.’
“Towards the end of my time at Garron Tower, one of the career guidance teachers asked me what I wanted to do and I responded that maybe I would like to follow Mammy and become a teacher.
“He asked did I ever think of becoming a priest. For some reason I said I would give it a try. And that was that.”
As the Diocese of Down and Connor had a tradition of sending those studying for degrees to Queen’s University in Belfast, the young McKeown found himself as a seminarian living in a specially designated wing at the city’s St Malachy’s College.
Over the next few years of his life there, he regularly travelled abroad during holidays.
One occasion he recalls was when Star of the Sea basketball club were going to Germany on an exchange programme and they wanted someone who could speak the language, and he was called upon. It was only years later he discovered one of the young lads on the team was Bobby Sands.
Later that same year he went from Germany to Italy to work for six weeks in a factory outside Florence. He became great friends with a young couple, Sergio and Maria, and in 1976 was invited back to be best man at their wedding.
Over the coming years he was to have a career he loved in teaching.
If that wasn’t a busy enough life, he was asked by Bishop Cahal Daly to take on a couple of other fairly demanding roles.
He laughs when recalling that conversation: “He said, ‘Donal, I want you to teach in St Malachy’s, to run all diocesan pilgrimages, but make running the seminary your main job.”
And if Fr McKeown thought that becoming principal of St Malachy’s, which he did in 1995, would become his chief role, he was soon disabused of that idea.
“Bishop Paddy Walsh was looking for an auxiliary bishop and for some reason the lot fell on yours truly.”
How did that come about?
“The choice is made in Rome, but when it comes to an auxiliary I think a bishop can say I need someone, for example, who can cover the educational base or who’ll handle the media, someone who’ll fit in a particular role. But if you want to know why me in this particular instance, you had better ask someone else.”
And that triggers the story of his mother’s reaction: “The night before it was announced, I got the press release so I travelled home to show it to my mother. She said ‘Could they not find someone else?’ I think she thought she would lose me.
“Randalstown wasn’t that far away. Daddy was dead. She was on her own. She depended on us coming about the house. I can only presume she thought then she might not see too much of me when I became bishop.”
As an aside, he mentions that eight days after his installation, he ran the Belfast marathon and thinks he might still be the only bishop to have ever run one.
In a way, running has been a bit of a metaphor for a life in that has always been on the go.
Indeed, he was only getting truly into the auxiliary role when, totally unexpectedly, he got the call in 2014 to be Bishop in Derry.
How did he react to that?
‘Derry is a high-profile diocese’
“To be honest, I thought it a privilege to be asked. Derry is a high-profile diocese. To have it thought that I could make a contribution was an honour,” he says.
“Edward Daly had been here. It was the second largest diocese in Northern Ireland. It was a cultural, historical centre. It was a major diocese.
“I don’t know if there was any consensus about my appointment, but I was asked to take it on and I said I would with the grace of God.”
And he has enjoyed it immensely, despite the workload.
“Someone once said to me that Derry was a good fit for me. I asked him what did he mean. He said it’s big enough to have tourists, to have a large urban population, to have culture, a radio station, to have local papers.
“It’s not like a small diocese in the west of Ireland where the cathedral is in a village somewhere. It’s big enough to have variety and tourism, but small enough to be homely.”
Having Radio Foyle is also a great personal blessing, in that he can be in the studio in five minutes.
“I have been doing Thought for the Day since the early ’80s. They keep asking me, and I enjoy it. There is the teacher in me in that I like communicating. I like learning. I like wrestling with ideas. I like sharing.
“Chesterton’s quote always come to my mind: ‘It always better
to be unhappy with the right questions than happy with the wrong answers’.”
He likes Derry too.
“I find Derry is great in that in that bishops like Edward Daly and (Church of Ireland Bishop) James Mehaffey worked so well together. Bishop Ken Good and myself also work well.
“Before Covid, we walked together from St Colmcille’s birthplace in Gartan to Derry. We also did a number of other walks. We went to Iona.
“We were in Rome together and met all sorts of significant people including the Pope.
“We have tried to provide a leadership role in encouraging an example that is helpful for community relationships.”
Reflecting on his life, he says we all have to make choices.
“I would love to have been married. I much prefer female company,” he said.
“I had a bit of a crisis as a student in ’75/’76. I was tired, exhausted. I didn’t know if God was saying ‘McKeown get out’ or the devil was saying ‘I have lovely things to show you’, but when crunch time came to decide, the clouds sort of opened. I was struggling, but I got the right word at the right time.”
So, if he does retire, has he any big ambitions left?
“I have done the Via Francigena. It’s the Canterbury to Rome walk. I have done about 600k of that over the past few years. If I retire I would love to do more. It’s a wonderful walk, and having Italian, I don’t feel ill-equipped to walk out into the Italian countryside.”
Any final thoughts?
“I am happy if I have been of any use in helping people to find the love and forgiveness of God.
“In St Luke’s Gospel it says we are only servants, and we have done nothing but our duty.
“It is not my job to achieve anything. Sometimes things can go wrong. All the Lord asks us of us is to be faithful. The fruit may not be borne until further down the line but that doesn’t matter.
“That gives you freedom to do your best, and if you make mistakes God can work through that. So, it’s not about me.
“This priestly life was my vocation. I am content with that.”
Bishop Donal McKeown has submitted a letter of resignation to Pope Leo, having reached the retirement age of 75
ANDRÉE MURPHY: Integrity and trust defeated the post-partition duopoly
Andrée Murphy, Belfast Media, November 08th, 2025
ALL CHANGE: Catherine Connolly making her victory speech at Dublin
IDENTIFIED as firmly a voice for the dispossessed and marginalised, Uachtarán Catherine Connolly has caught a mood that has been simmering but lacking confidence for too long. Its day has come and Ireland will potentially, if we can continue to be brave, have its traumatic past changed to a healing and united future.
Catherine Connolly engages with the legacies of colonisation and partition through her relationships with ordinary people and their lives. It is a powerful example of the best of Irishness, which has now an unprecedented mandate.
During the course of a curious campaign her quiet determination to be true to herself and her politics created a momentum in an electorate desperately seeking honesty and integrity. It was clear from the get-go that her campaign was not going to flip-flop in order to please everyone. It was a campaign that acknowledged difference and asked for respect. And gave respect back. But her principles were for all to see.
At the beginning of the campaign her pleas for pensions for survivors of institutional abuse spoke to the dignity of the lived lives of women who had been abandoned by the state. When she asked for support for the 'Women of Honour', her track record gave us assurance that this was not for optics. When she played football in the courtyards of flats, you knew it was not the first time she had laughed with a kid from the working classes. She was real. She explained herself. And we believed her.
It meant that smearing the bejaysus out of her would never work. She stood by her office worker with a past conviction, not paying any attention to the faux outrage, let alone rise to it. She let the people decide whether her work as a barrister should be interpreted as compromising. She was on the record on Irish neutrality and stood by her thoughtful approach to foreign policy. Apparently, integrity is smearing’s Teflon.
The electorate liked being trusted. And in return they liked trusting the women in front of them. That augurs well for the future.
The far right is seen as an influencer in Irish politics. If Catherine Connolly’s example is followed they will melt like snow off a ditch. You can’t play the “all politicians are cynical” card when politicians are not cynical. You can’t discredit the democratic process as being incapable of delivering for the marginalised and dispossessed when the politician in front of you is amplifying your dispossessed voice and creating space that makes margins disappear.
That the opposition parties united behind her in the first place was welcome, but that there was clear coherence, good form and lasting partnership in the campaign was unprecedented, remarkable and seriously encouraging for those who hope that an end can be brought to the post-partition duopoly of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. What began as a united front, led by Mary Lou McDonald, which challenged the Oireachtas voting rights carve-up, has now delivered a President with an unprecedented mandate.
The question of Irish unity framed the entire campaign. All of the opposition parties are now in that frame. Preparation for Irish unity will be a part of the alternative government’s mandate. What began as a lacklustre and uninspiring Presidential campaign has changed the course of our island’s history. If we can stay the course and maintain that integrity.
New Falls Troubles exhibition 'a powerful reminder of how far we have come'
Anthony Neeson, Belfast Media, November 7th, 2025
POWERFUL: ‘The Falls - Where the Troubles Began’ opened this week at St Comgall\'s on Divis StreetPOWERFUL: ‘The Falls - Where the Troubles Began’ opened this week at St Comgall's on Divis Street
WEST Belfast MP Paul Maskey has welcomed the opening of a new exhibition which tells the story of the outbreak of the conflict in Belfast from 1969 to 1970.
Located in St Comgall’s - Ionad Eileen Howell on Divis Street, ‘The Falls - Where the Troubles Began’ tells the story of Divis and the Falls through voices from the past – voices of people who were there and who bore witness to the historic events.
“This is a powerful new exhibition and a reminder of how far we as a society have come," said Mr Maskey. "I want to pay tribute to Falls Community Council and everyone involved in delivering this remarkable historical project.
“The centre gives voice to the local community who experienced the burning of their homes by loyalist mobs as well as the Falls Curfew, among other events.
“It adds to the rich tourist offering the west of the city now enjoys, helping to create jobs, drive investment and attract more visitors to our neighbourhoods.
“Our community has undergone significant transformation over the past few decades and I’ll continue working to build on that progress and create a more modern, prosperous West Belfast.”
Legacy of the Troubles deserves more candour
Financial Times, October 25th, 2025
LETTER:
Soldier F ruling turns spotlight on Troubles legacy, leans on an anonymous official’s briefing that the new Troubles Bill “should reduce the risk of veterans being dragged through the courts for years”. That is a reassuring line, but not an honest one. The bill may marginally reduce the likelihood of fresh criminal prosecutions that were always unlikely to reach conviction, because there never was any new evidence to justify new criminal proceedings.
But it does nothing to end the lawyers’ conveyor-belt of inquiries, inquests and civil actions. Those avenues — costly, prolonged and asymmetrical — will continue. Call it what it is: lawfare by other means.
More than 200,000 people have signed a Westminster e-petition (725716) — debated on July 14 — calling on the government to protect Northern Ireland veterans from prosecution.
Your report treats ‘truth and justice’ as the shared horizon. For too many campaigners targeting soldiers, police and security services, the real impulse is retribution and narrative control.
Sinn Féin and its fellow travellers are still working to recast the Provisional IRA as freedom fighters, rather than ruthless terrorists and organised criminals who inflicted decades of murder, torture and intimidation on the people of Northern Ireland. Any good faith reckoning must start there.
On Bloody Sunday specifically, your framing overlooks inconvenient testimony. Multiple civilian witnesses — including a wounded teenager — told various inquiries that a group of youths in the area were carrying nail bombs shortly before the shooting. Martin McGuinness, who later became Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, according to evidence from an IRA informer cited during the Bloody Sunday Tribunal (The Saville Inquiry), admitted he had a Thompson submachine gun on the day of Bloody Sunday. That context neither excuses unlawful killing nor dilutes the agony of the bereaved, but it does challenge the tidy morality play that is so often presented to the public.
Likewise, absent is any serious treatment of the climate of fear around witness co-operation. The IRA’s Derry Brigade did not merely exert ‘community pressure’, it ran a crude campaign to deter and silence prospective witnesses ahead of the Saville Inquiry. People understood that giving information about IRA activity could result in abduction and extrajudicial execution. The courage required to come forward in those circumstances is routinely ignored because it complicates the preferred script.
If your anonymous ‘senior official’ wishes to brief that veterans face less of coroner inquiries and prevent re-litigation by stealth. There are none. Instead, current proposals will go on feeding a system that grants disproportionate leverage to those most adept at weaponising [the] process, while the great majority of Troubles deaths — caused by paramilitaries — are airbrushed into the background.
A paper of record has a vital role in accurately representing all aspects of the issue. Reporting the grief and frustration of families who have waited for decades is important and deserves respect. At the same time, balanced coverage also requires candour about paramilitary culpability, witness intimidation and the way “legacy” has become an industry that keeps wounds open while rewriting history.
Ultimately, the impact of the evolving legacy framework in Northern Ireland does nothing to move peace forward -- quite the opposite.
Aldwin Wight, Welsh Guards, CO 22 SAS (Lt Col)
Richard Williams, Parachute Regiment, CO 22 SAS (Lt Col)
Nick Kitson, The Rifles, Sqn Cmdr 22 SAS (Maj)
Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Irish Guards, Sqn Cmdr 22 SAS (Maj)
David Maddan, Grenadier Guards, Sqn Cmdr 22 SAS (Maj)
Prof. Bob Parr, Royal Marines, wol 22 SAS
George Simm, Coldstream Guards, RSM22 SAS
