Plaque unveiled for victims of institutional abuse at Stormont

CONOR COYLE, Irish News, February 21st, 2026

A MEMORIAL plaque remembering the thousands of victims and survivors of Historical and Institutional Abuse was unveiled at Stormont yesterday.

The event went ahead after fears that it would be boycotted by a number of victim and survivor groups who were angered by a decision from the first and deputy first ministers over the wording of the plaque.

As reported in The Irish News last week, Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly later reinstated a reference to the responsibility of “the state” in the abuse of thousands of children in residential homes after a backlash from some groups.

Victims and survivors’ groups have also been critical of the nine years it has taken to install the plaque, the last recommendation from the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry.

The 2017 report also recommended a public apology and compensation scheme, which has now been implemented, but three of the six institutions involved in the scheme have yet to make any payments.

Around 5,500 people have made applications to the compensation scheme, with approximately 4,200 successful amounting to around £116million in payments to victims.

Gerry McCann, one of the thousands of victims of systemic abuse at children’s homes between 1922 and 1995, is chair of the Rosetta Trust.

Mr McCann said acknowledging the role of the state in sending many victims to the abusive homes must be recognised.

“I can only think of the survivors that are not here, that after long last they are recognised and that the state have taken responsibility for their failure ultimately, along with other organisations.

“It’s been a long journey for us. I’ve been involved since 2011, that’s 15 years on.

“Unfortunately politics was a big issue for us. But I give credence to both the first and deputy first minister in their delivery of their speech, that the state was mentioned emphatically.

Boycott of event

“The fact that we had to put an objection in that the state was removed initially and we did not get sight of the final copy until it was approved by the first and deputy first minister without consultation. “To me, that’s not being genuine. “We were boycotting this event, this event would probably have never taken place only for victims and survivors putting their voices out there.

“From that point of view, for me as a survivor not just as a leader, it is satisfactory that I can leave here today knowing all those no longer with us have been remembered.”

Both Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly addressed victims and survivors during the event at the Great Hall in Stormont yesterday.

“It was really important that we reflected what was the ask of the victims and that was to acknowledge that it goes right to the heart of the state that they were failed,” the first minister told media at the event.

“We listened very carefully in terms of what they had asked for and what they wanted to see on the wording.

“There’s no point in doing things like this and creating those huge junctures if we don’t fulfil on their ask.

“I think today hopefully that we have been able to find a wording that satisfies the vast majority of victims and survivors, because we don’t want to do anything that causes any more hurt or pain to anybody.

“This is their day, it’s a humbling experience for us.”

Ms Little-Pengelly said it was incorrect to suggest that the state was solely responsible for the abuse suffered at the institutions and that they had worked with victims and survivors to ensure the plaque represented the findings of the HIA inquiry.

“These people were let down by many, many people, criminal behaviour of some people both outside and inside the institutions.

“The Hart report was clear in terms of cover up and terrible practices that happened, but also the state as well.

“The desire at all times was to make sure that it was reflective of what the report has said.”

Catholic Church and Irish Government urged to apologise to 'forgotten children'

GARRETT HARGAN, Belfast Telegraph, February 21st, 2026

The Catholic Church and Irish Government have been urged to apologise for failings over hundreds of “forgotten children” being removed from the Republic and placed in abusive homes and institutions in Northern Ireland.

Jon McCourt, chairman of Survivors North West, said children were taken from the south and sent north to Londonderry “without any accountability”.

He explained: “Responsibility for that abuse rests not only with the religious institutions into whose 'care' these children were placed, but also with those who placed them in the 'care' to begin with — parish priests, lay religious organisations, social welfare officers and ultimately the Irish Government, whose duty it was to protect its citizens under the now-removed Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution.”

Mr McCourt said that from 1922 until the late 1960s, “hundreds of children” were sent to Derry mainly from Donegal, but also from Sligo.

Nazareth House in Bishop Street formally opened as a 'home' for the care of “old people and young children” on March 2, 1892, and “ceased to be a home for children in 1998”.

Termonbacca opened in November 1922 and closed in 1982.

Over 4,000 children affected

The congregation reported that, between both homes, Nazareth House had received 2,347 children and Termonbacca had received 1,834, during their periods of operation.

Mr McCourt said: “What isn't taken into account are the large number of what were referred to as 'voluntary placements' into the care of these institutions.

“The majority of these 'placements' were made on the recommendation of parish priests or on their advice, following intervention from other religious-affiliated non-statutory bodies, i.e. the Legion of Mary or the Society of St Vincent de Paul.

“Arbitrary decisions were made to remove some or all of the children, breaking up families that, in many cases, they deemed unsuitable, unworthy or undeserving of support.

“These are the 'forgotten children'. It is almost impossible to put an exact figure on how many children were removed from families, homes and the state and sent across the border to Derry.”

In January 1957, Eddie McAteer, the nationalist MP at Stormont in correspondence to the Co Londonderry County Borough Welfare Committee, pointed out that of the 87 boys in Termonbacca, 21 (24%) were born outside of NI, while of the 57 girls in Nazareth House, 35 (22%) were born in the Republic.

The 'Report of the Northern Ireland Welfare Council for 1956 to 1959' states that “of the 84 children in voluntary homes, 63 of them were concentrated in two Roman Catholic homes in Londonderry”.

Mr McCourt said this casts “significant doubt” on figures supplied previously by the Congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth to the 2017 Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Report.

“Even a low estimate would accrue that somewhere between 500 and 600 children were sent to Derry in the relevant period,” he said.

‘Deported wth less paperwork than sheep’

“These were Irish citizens transported across the border with less paperwork than cattle or sheep.

“Many would have been removed from schools and medical records and no one asked, or dared to ask: 'Where did they go?'”

Mr McCourt said that because they were placed in NI as children, they were excluded from giving evidence to the Ryan Inquiry, as they were considered outside its remit.

He continued: “To all intents and purposes, the Irish Government, the relevant county councils and the Catholic Church appear to have escaped scrutiny and accountability for these 'forgotten children'. Now is the time to make it right.”

In the Dail during the week, Donegal TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked Hildegarde Naughton, the Republic's Minister for Education and Youth, if she was aware of the deep hurt felt by the 'forgotten children' and their families.

He asked if she and Taoiseach Micheál Martin will consider that, with confirmation that the survivors of abuse in industrial and reformatory schools will be offered a state apology.

Mr Mac Lochlainn cited hundreds of children taken from the Republic and placed in NI homes and institutions “who endured abuse”.

In response, Ms Naughton gave an assurance that she is “acutely conscious of the enormous trauma felt by survivors of abuse, as is the government”.

She added: “While nothing that we do now can ever undo the hurt which has been caused, the government is committed to recognising that hurt and providing appropriate supports to survivors.”

She referenced an apology in May 1999 by then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to victims of childhood abuse, prompted by the “appalling revelations of abuse and mistreatment in industrial schools, reformatories and other institutions”, saying that was “to all such victims”.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland was contacted.

New law will give police power to take down paramilitary flags

ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, February 21st, 2026

PSNI'S 27-PAGE 'SERVICE INSTRUCTION' ON THORNY ISSUE SPARKED DEBATE RECENTLY, BUT AMENDMENT TO BILL CURRENTLY GOING THROUGH PARLIAMENT WILL SOLVE A FRUSTRATING PROBLEM FOR OFFICERS, SAYS LEGISLATION EXPERT

Police in Northern Ireland will soon no longer have the excuse that they don't have the power to remove paramilitary flags, the Government's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation has said.

Much has been made about the PSNI's latest 'service instruction' on paramilitary displays, with some contending it is a new dawn for policing that will see officers tearing down flags on lampposts, while others say it signifies no change whatsoever.

While the 27-page service instruction, which is essentially formal guidance for officers, does remind them that the PSNI has “an obligation to act” where the “continued display of the material is or will cause harm”, it is filled with so many caveats and enough ambiguity the interpretation is up to the reader.

Speaking last week, Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton cautioned those thinking the move represents a seismic shift in policing. “A lot of people are misunderstanding, or thinking this means the PSNI are going to go around taking down paramilitary flags, well, it's possible, but not likely,” he said.

Indeed, the document reiterates several times what has been the PSNI's stance for years — that the ultimate responsibility for paramilitary displays lies with the landowner.

SDLP councillor Carl Whyte sat on the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition, which was set up in 2016 to examine various contentious issues.

He is cautious about the PSNI's ostensibly new stance.

“Any commitment from the PSNI to take a more proactive approach to illegal flags is welcome, but it is action on the ground that will determine whether this marks a real change,” he said.

“The public will judge progress by whether the widespread presence of illegal flags across Northern Ireland is finally addressed.

“The new service instruction provides important clarity that, in many cases, responsibility for removal lies with public authorities, including the Department for Infrastructure and the Housing Executive. Both have consistently failed to tackle illegal flags and paramilitary displays.”

Independent Review

Aside from the PSNI service instruction, a much more significant change is on the horizon, one that has been somewhat overlooked among all the commentary of recent weeks.

The seeds of the change, which will actually be concrete, unambiguous and in the statute books in the coming months, were planted almost three years ago.

When Jonathan Hall KC, the Government's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, passed the PSNI training college in Belfast during one of his visits to the city in 2023, he couldn't hide his shock.

Directly across from the facility on the Garnerville Road in east Belfast, UDA flags hung on lampposts fluttered in the breeze. While paramilitary banners are nothing new in Northern Ireland, their brazen placement close to a police training facility caused an uproar. They were only removed by the UDA following a week of negotiating.

“I was shocked that they should be flying so prominently outside a police training college,” said Mr Hall, who has served as the Government's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation since May 2019.

“I began asking questions and I sort of followed the thread. I have this lovely role that allows me to ask awkward questions, and I pushed and pushed and eventually got to the point where I understood there actually is a problem with the law here.”

Mr Hall said while there has been much criticism of a “lack of will or desire” by police, they are actually at the mercy of legislation.

The lawyer studied the details and has recommended an amendment, which the Government has accepted, which will solve this problem.

So what is the problem?

Under the current legislation, the flag in itself is not the offence, it is “the act of possessing or using (displaying) the material”, as the PSNI service instruction explains.

As per Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, police can only seize paramilitary articles — such as flags — if they suspect it is evidence in an investigation, and it is “necessary to seize it in order to prevent the evidence being concealed, lost, altered or destroyed”. “The PSNI has, I think, been taking the correct approach according to the law — you can seize it if you're sincerely contemplating that it might be needed for evidence,” Mr Hall said.

“But you can't grab it if there's no circumstances in which it would form evidence. Unless you actually catch someone in the act of putting the flag up, then it's going to be difficult to say that you're really looking to prosecute or investigate someone.

“So the gap that's being filled is to allow the police to take down the flag, even if there's never going to be a prosecution. It takes away the requirement that the flag has to be evidence before you seize it.

“It gives the power to the police to destroy it as well. So, if I'm a police constable and I see the flag of a paramilitary organisation flying, I don't have to ask myself, 'Am I going to prosecute someone for this?' No — I can take it down, and I can destroy it.”

The amendment to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act has made its way into the Government's Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.

Mr Hall stressed that the new legislation will only give police the power to act, not a duty, and the discretion remains with the PSNI.

Discretion remains with PSNI

“I find it frustrating when people are accusing the authorities of not doing something, when they don't have the choice,” he said. “But obviously, once they have the power, then they can be criticised as much as people like, but at least they've got the power.”

He added: “At the very least, the excuse of 'we don't have the power' will have gone. I think that's a positive thing.”

The Department of Infrastructure said the problem of illegally erected flags is “totally unacceptable”. “The department welcomes this announcement from the PSNI and will continue to engage with them,” a spokesperson added.

This issue of paramilitary murals is a different story, given they can't be easily removed. There are thought to be 177 of these murals on Housing Executive (NIHE) property across Northern Ireland.

The NIHE said it is proactive in removing paramilitary displays where possible, working with other organisations and staff safety being a priority, and has delivered 57 “reimaging” projects in the last five years. “We have also been proactive in removing hate signage and graffiti from our buildings and estates,” a spokesperson said.

“We support local communities in the removal of sectional symbols including murals, memorials and territorial displays — this is core to our daily work and how we provide services. This approach is consistent across our communities — if we are asked to act by the community or their representatives, we will.”

The NIHE, once it receives formal notification of the service instruction, it will “engage proactively to understand the change of approach and how we might work together to deliver”.

“We will also continue to work with other partners as issues around expressions of cultural identity and sense of place, which manifest themselves in murals, monuments and flags, cannot be addressed by a single agency.”

PSNI Chief Superintendent Gillian Kearney said there has always been guidance available to officers “on the steps that can legally be taken in regard to complaints on public displays”.

“This has now been developed into a service instruction which outlines clearly when to act and how to respond,” she said. “The primary responsibility for removing material remains with the material's owner, or the owner of the street furniture or property where it's displayed.

“However, where any offences have been committed, the circumstances will be investigated within statutory functions, and in accordance with law and human rights obligations.”

UVF and UDA won't go away, says Bryson of paramilitaries

ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, February 21st, 2026

ACTIVIST INSISTS FOCUS SHOULD BE TRANSFORMATION TO PEACEFUL GROUPS

Loyalist paramilitary groups such as the UVF and UDA “aren't going anywhere” and will not be disbanding, it's been warned.

Instead, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson believes the organisations will undergo “transformation” into peaceful groups, with their “structures” remaining in place.

Mr Bryson, who regularly engages with the leaderships of the UVF and UDA on transition issues, stressed he is not speaking on behalf of any groups, and is merely putting forward his own analysis of the situation.

Ever since the first ceasefires in 1994, the issue of paramilitary “transition” has been debated.

From outright disbandment to transformation into peaceful groups, no solution has been agreed to date. To this day, many paramilitary groups are heavily involved in criminality, including extortion, drug-dealing and even murder.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Bryson said that “loyalist groups as a structure aren't going anywhere”.

“We need to move away from discussions of 'disbandment' and ill-defined concepts such as 'going away', and instead look at how the structures can be transformed into using whatever influence and cohesion exists for purely lawful purposes,” he said.

“The problem, in my mind, is that what is bandied about publicly is ill-defined concepts and superficially attractive buzz words like 'disbandment' and 'going away'.

“And I think, to some degree, the organisations then find themselves in a circular process, almost confusing themselves, because there is perhaps a reluctance by society generally to confront the reality, which, in my view, is that organisations aren't going to disband. But perhaps there is a capacity gap in terms of how that message is properly communicated without triggering a frenzy.”

Back in September last year, the UK and Irish governments appointed conflict resolution and negotiation practitioner Fleur Ravensbergen as an independent expert to examine the feasibility of engaging with NI paramilitary groups regarding moving towards disbandment.

The appointment was far from universally welcomed, with Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long warning the move “risks undermining the good work, which is already being done, to end paramilitarism and organised crime”. 

Transformation not disbandment

“Governments engaging directly with illegal organisations risks providing a veneer of legitimacy to paramilitary groups and criminal gangs, which persist based on a combination of threats, intimidation and organised crime,” she added.

Mr Bryson said: “Disbandment is entirely different [from] transformation, and I believe the leadership of every single loyalist organisation wants to, firstly, preserve the legacy of, as they would see it, their part in the conflict. And secondly, they want to ensure the structures and cohesion of the organisations are used for purely lawful and community/political-focused activity.

“And, if that happens, what is the practical difference between disbandment and transforming into engaging in purely lawful activity? In fact, transformation is the preferable outcome.

“If you have a vehicle which has no insurance, is being used for joyriding and a criminal jamboree, that's a problem. If the same vehicle is insured, taxed and being driven entirely lawfully, what's the problem? The focus needs to be less on the structure and more on what it does.”

Last year, one court case in particular brought the issue of paramilitary transition into the headlines.

High-profile loyalist Winston Irvine was jailed after being caught with firearms and ammunition in the boot of his car when it was stopped by police in Belfast.

On a follow-up search of his home, officers discovered UVF-related badges, plaques and a framed photograph.

He initially received a 30-month term, after the trial judge said there were “exceptional circumstances” relating to his “character and long-term commitment to peace-building in Northern Ireland”.

This sentence was doubled on appeal, with the court agreeing with prosecution submissions that his apparent community and peace-building work were wrongly treated as exceptional circumstances.

Mr Bryson said loyalist paramilitaries should not be treated differently than the IRA, which security assessments say still exists as a structure but is committed to political activity.

He added: “There is, of course, an important challenge for loyalism to put clear blue water between transformed organisations and criminal activity.”

Robinson says return to 50:50 PSNI recruitment would be a ‘mistake’

JONATHAN McCAMBRIDGE, Irish News, February 21st, 2026

ANY return to 50:50 recruitment to the police force in Northern Ireland would be a “mistake”, DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said.

In his weekly email to party members, Mr Robinson also said there had been an “absence of sustained and wholehearted leadership” from republicans to challenge barriers to Catholics joining the PSNI.

New PSNI recruitment figures this week showed that the percentage of new Catholic applicants to join the force was at its lowest in more than a decade.

Police said more than 4,000 people had applied for their latest student officer recruitment campaign, with 65.6% from a Protestant background, 26.7% from a Catholic background and 7.7% undetermined.

That prompted fresh concerns about representation within the force.

Between 2001 and 2011, there was a 50:50 recruitment initiative which meant there was one Catholic recruit for every one person from a Protestant or other background.

Emma Little-Pengelly and Michelle O’Neill at a PSNI graduation ceremony with Chief Constable Jon Boutcher and Justice Minister Naomi Long

Mr Robinson said there had been a “predictable” call for the return of 50:50 since the latest recruitment figures were released.

Strengthening legitimacy of PSNI

He said: “That would be a mistake. It would reintroduce discrimination and undermine merit. Representation cannot be built by excluding capable applicants from other backgrounds.” Mr Robinson said Catholic applicants should be praised.

He added: “They strengthen policing, and they strengthen our society. Those republicans who wish to see more Catholics join the police must also be prepared to face the legacy of decades spent distancing themselves from policing.

“You cannot question the legitimacy of the police for a generation and then express surprise when recruitment reflects that history.

“Until that contradiction is confronted, claims of support will continue to be met with scepticism.”

Mr Robinson said “chill factors still existed for Catholic applicants to the police in Northern Ireland”.

He added: “Pretending otherwise helps no-one. But acknowledging that reality cannot be where the discussion stops.

“For too long, there has been an absence of sustained and wholehearted leadership within republicanism to challenge those barriers directly.

“It was an appalling abdication of leadership that it was 20 years after the PSNI was formed before Sinn Féin’s leadership attended a passing-out parade or a recruitment event.

“The time for tokenism is over. Leadership on policing requires consistency and visibility.”

Sinn Féin MLA and Policing Board member Linda Dillon denied her party has more to do to encourage people from a nationalist background to join the PSNI in an interview with the BBC this week.

She said: “If any political party went out and called for people to join the PSNI in the morning, to think there would be any significant increase in the number of applicants from any community is naive in the extreme.”

She said that “legacy issue is a massive issue for the PSNI”.

Saoradh-linked Easter Monday parade planned for Derry again

CONNLA YOUNG, Irish News, February 21st, 2026

HARDLINE republicans are planning to hold an annual Easter Rising commemoration parade in Derry that has previously ended in violence.

The planned Easter Monday parade is being organised by the National Republican Commemoration Committee (NRCC), which arranges events on behalf of anti-agreement party Saoradh.

Petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown at police by a group of young people at Derry’s historic walls after masked men and women dressed in combat-style clothing took part in a similar event in the city last year.

A number of arrests were made and clothing was seized after last year’s parade, while more than a dozen people have since been charged.

Several hundred people took part in the parade, which was marked “sensitive” by the Parades Commission, to a republican monument close to Free Derry Corner where a commemoration was held.

To date, no application has been made to the parading body for this year’s proposed event, which is expected to make its way directly from Creggan shops to the City Cemetery.

This year’s NRCC organised parade, which is branded “unfinished revolution”, is expected to be held on the same day as a separate march by the Derry 1916 Commemoration Committee normally takes place.

That parade is never notified to the Parades Commission and has also seen trouble in recent years.

NRCC spokesman Paddy Gallagher invited those “committed to the continuing fight for Irish freedom” to take part in the parade “to commemorate our martyred dead in a dignified, honourable and appropriate way”.

Sinn Féin White House boycott ‘premature’ says US ambassador

Party ‘has not been invited’ to St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington

PAUL AINSWORTH, Irish News, February 21st. 2026

THE US Ambassador to Ireland has said Sinn Féin’s announcement it was boycotting St Patrick’s Day events at the White House was “premature” as the party had not been invited.

The statement has led to the DUP dubbing Sinn Féin’s announcement from earlier this week “embarrassing”, but the ambassador has also said it is “regrettable” that Sinn Féin has “chosen to step back” from attending.

Stormont First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said that in previous years, no invite is issued to the party until “very close to the event”, so not having an invite was “no surprise”.

It is the second year in a row that Sinn Féin is boycotting the events in Washington DC, to be attended by President Donald Trump, with the party citing the situation in Gaza, and America’s stance on supporting Israel, as the reason for their decision.

Leader Mary Lou McDonald said it was important her party “uses its voice to demand that international law is upheld and peace and justice prevail”.

However, yesterday US Ambassador to Ireland, Edward Walsh, said: “I want to be clear that no members of Sinn Féin have been invited to the White House, and none are expected to be invited.”

He continued: “Announcing a boycott of an event for which invitations have neither been extended nor finalised is premature. St Patrick’s Day in Washington celebrates the enduring strength of the modern U.S–Ireland relationship. It is more than a tradition. It is a uniquely powerful opportunity to engage directly with the President and senior leadership of the United States.”

Mr Walsh said demand to participate in this year’s events is “the strongest we have ever seen”.

“Many leaders, business figures, and community representatives are eager to be part of that engagement and to strengthen the bonds between our nations, and those are the people who will be there,” he added.

‘Regrettable’

“It is therefore regrettable that Sinn Féin has chosen to step back from that opportunity.”

The DUP confirmed earlier this month that Stormont Ddeputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly and Economy Minister Gordon Lyons would attend the White House events.

The DUP said the situation was “embarrassing stuff from Sinn Féin”.

“Northern Ireland needs leaders who will turn up, stand up and speak up,” a spokesperson said.

“The USA is the biggest source of business and economic foreign investment to Northern Ireland.”

Michelle O’Neill has said there is ‘no surprise’ in Sinn Féin having not yet received an invite to St Patrick’s Day events in the White House

They added: “For some, political posturing and point scoring is prioritised over engaging with the democratically elected administration of the world’s biggest global power.”

However, Ms O’Neill said: “We never receive the invite right up until very close to the event itself, so it’s no surprise that we haven’t received an invite yet.

“I have made my position very clear in terms of my intention, if I had been receiving such an invite.

“It’s for the administration to set out whenever they would extend the invite, but in my experience in the past, we’ve never received these invites right up until the day or the week perhaps even before the event itself.”

Councillor brands planned ‘local homes for local people’ protest as ‘racist’

CONNLA YOUNG, Irish News, February 21st, 2026

A PLANNED loyalist protest to demand ‘local homes for local people’ has been branded “racist”.

East Belfast Green Party councillor Brian Smyth hit out after it emerged that loyalists are planning to hold a protest against Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) outside a council building next month.

While it is not clear who is organising the planned protest, which is due to take place outside the council’s Cecil Ward Building on Friday, March 27, it has been promoted on social media pages linked to extreme loyalist groups.

Promotional material includes the words “protect our neighbourhoods” and “local homes for local people, say no to HMOs”.

An accompanying image shows an urban street scene with numerous Ulster flags and bunting flying from lampposts.

A loyalist protest demanding ‘local homes for local people’ has been scheduled for March 27

Houses in Multiple Occupancy are often used to accommodate asylum seekers, migrant workers and other vulnerable people in the community.

Properties used to provide shelter for asylum seekers have been targeted by anti immigration protesters.

Mr Smyth said: “The issue of HMOs has become, with these people, has become one of racism.

“It’s not about housing quality, it’s not about housing stock, it is about racism.”

Mr Smyth explained that while his party has issues with HMOs, others use the issue to promote intolerant views.

“We have issues with them in terms of landlordism, HMOs have become a byword for racism,” he said.

“We have always had issues with HMOs, we need other housing solutions.

“In terms of some elements within far-right political unionism have picked this up because they simply think that we don’t want brown people living in our areas.”

Last year, a series of race hate riots erupted across the north after two Romanian teenagers, appeared in court on sexual assault charges, which were later withdrawn.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said they are aware of the planned protest.

“An appropriate and proportionate policing operation will be in place,” she added.

Celebrating departure of a unionist is a profoundly illogical approach to saving the Union

SAM McBRIDE, Northern Editor, Belfast Telegraph, February 21st, 2026

SOMEONE WHO UNTIL RECENTLY WAS A UNIONIST COUNCILLOR SAYING THAT IRISH UNITY IS 'INEVITABLE' OUGHT TO HAVE PROMPTED UNIONIST INTROSPECTION. INSTEAD, IT LED TO WIDESPREAD SNEERING AND JEERING

Imagine a bank celebrating losing a customer. Imagine a newspaper delighting in losing a reader. Both of these are preposterous, yet within Northern Irish politics that is exactly what is happening now - and has been going on for decades.

There is an argument that this once worked after a fashion, but in today's world it is most decidedly stupid.

Last weekend, the Sunday Life published an interview with former North Down councillor Linzi McLaren, a former PSNI officer who recently resigned from the Ulster Unionist Party and left politics.

She's not a big beast of the political jungle.

Being a councillor is the lowest rung of the elected ladder, and so the story wasn't on the front page but on page 27.

Yet it was unquestionably a story, and an interesting one because what she said was completely contrary to what she would have said while in the UUP.

When someone is elected but then repudiates their past beliefs, that's always going to be more interesting than someone who sticks to the script because it is far more unusual.

McLaren described Irish unity as “inevitable but not immediate”.

She said that “when unionism continues to focus on the loudest voices — usually loyalist commentators — and fails to take into account moderate and liberal unionism, it will never be attractive enough for that middle ground to vote for”.

“Disillusioned” with unionism

McLaren went on to say that she is “disillusioned” with unionism and added: “Before, the idea of a united Ireland wasn't something I would ever have considered. Now, I am looking to the future for my children, and I want to live in a country which offers them the best health, wealth, education, job prospects and political direction.

“I do not want them growing up in a Britain led by Nigel Farage and a far-right party.”

These comments ought to have prompted a degree of introspection within unionism.

Instead, they prompted widespread sneering and jeering.

The online world is awash with bots, with spammers, and with the hyper-partisan activists who hide behind anonymity.

Yet it also sometimes reveals what individuals really think but fear to say in public - and for that reason it can be revelatory.

Among the printable responses to the interview were “good riddance”, “probably the worst unionist rep ever”, “then f**k off to Dublin, what's stopping ya?”, “clearly not very intelligent”, “utter clown”, “well away you go”, “f**k off then”, “attention seeking nonsense”, “a traitor”, “another plastic unionist”, and the like.

Not all the derision came from the anonymous. Loyalist Moore Holmes said her comments could only be explained by “a desire for attention” and that “after being spurned by most of the party due to her regular ranting, she left”.

Fellow loyalist Jamie Bryson said she had engaged in “just erratic attention seeking rants”.

DUP member Matthew Shanks said: “If her unionism was this weak, it can only be a good thing that she's not in elected politics any more.”

If an ideology which needs to retain support in order to achieve its goal actually cheers when someone leaves, that involves a self-defeating illogicality.

I happen to think it's profoundly mistaken to say a united Ireland is inevitable. It makes the mistake of assuming that any far off possibility in life is inevitable beyond death or taxes.

Even in the last decade, we've seen Donald Trump elected not once but twice, a global pandemic, Brexit, a Sinn Fein first minister, and war in Europe - none of which were widely foreseen. There may be events which bring about Irish unity or mean it never comes about; anyone claiming otherwise with certainty hasn't studied history.

When McLaren appeared on Talkback this week, she didn't sound terribly convincing, and offered no coherent explanation for why she said a united Ireland is inevitable. But in a free society we're all entitled to be wrong - and we are all wrong about something or other. There is a difference between responding to McLaren by politely countering her argument or challenging her to explain it and shrilly goading her for having supposedly betrayed unionism.

Unionism is not unique in this regard. Both tribes in Northern Ireland struggle to accept that any of their members can leave.

‘West Brits’

This isn't even confined to north of the border, as the continued use of the epithet 'west Brit' in the Republic demonstrates - often in relation to people who are firmly in favour of Irish unity but don't wholly agree with every element of the case being made by the individual hurling abuse.

This week Jim McVeigh, the former IRA man who until a few years ago was Sinn Fein's boss in Belfast City Council, described the Taoiseach as “a complete waste of space”, asking: “How to fook did FF fall into the hands of this west Brit.”

The prompt for this outburst was that Micheál Martin said we aren't ready for a border poll in 2030 - and if one was held, nationalists would likely lose.

Malachi O'Doherty receives vicious abuse from republicans for the 'crime' of being someone who grew up as a Catholic in west Belfast but decided he didn't agree with much of his upbringing. He's degraded as an “uncle Tom”, a “token Taig”, a “Castle Catholic”, “a souper”, a “turncoat” and a series of far cruder descriptions.

As O'Doherty wrote in this newspaper in 2022: “All of these terms are sectarian. They arise from a presumption someone who was born into an Irish Catholic family, as I was, lives under an onus to represent the Irish case for unification of the island.

“No such onus exists. The republican, democratic ideal is that individuals have freedom of conscience to inform themselves and evaluate the political circumstances around them, and to decide for themselves which outcomes they would prefer to support.

“This should not need explained to people who regard themselves as republican. And yet, to some, the unlikelihood of a person like me raising sincere and genuine questions about the validity of the Irish republican tradition is so implausible that they have to speculate on whether I am being paid by the British state or whether I am by nature a perverse contrarian.

“They are incapable of considering that I might be expressing a considered opinion.”

A fortnight ago, SDLP leader Claire Hanna's Bel Tel podcast interview led to her similarly being attacked by republicans.

Her 'crime' wasn't to say that she's erecting a Union Flag at her house, or singing God Save The King to her children, but to say that a united Ireland is not inevitable, even if she thinks it's very likely.

Even that nuanced position from someone who agrees with republicans on the central constitutional question on this island was too much, and she was denounced over what they saw as Hanna's weakness.

Far viler abuse has been visited upon Máiría Cahill, a rape victim and former Sinn Fein member who had the courage to stand up to the most powerful forces in her community.

But there is a particular problem in this area for unionism.

Those who leave unionism, or who even express doubts about keeping Northern Ireland within the UK, are regularly shunned and lampooned for reasons which go back centuries.

Such people are viewed by an outspoken section of unionism as politically apostate; they are heretics beyond redemption who must instead be burnt at metaphorical stakes.

This is partly explained by the inherently defensive mindset of unionism. It exists to defend the status quo and is incessantly alive to the myriad threats to Northern Ireland's continued place within the Union.

This was most starkly and colourfully articulated by Ian Paisley, but he was drawing on centuries-old concepts.

‘Lundies’

In 1993, Paisley told the DUP conference: “In their dark hour of trial it as their own unionist leaders who like Brutus of old struck the fatal blow. Lundy is the Ulster synonym for Judas and the Lundy brats have been plentiful in Ulster's history. The names of these Iscariots have been buried in the ignominy of their own self-dug graves of shame but Ulster men and women true to their pledge have survived and today they ride again against their ancient foes.”

The supreme irony of Paisley's widespread use of the Lundy description for his opponents was that it was ultimately applied to himself when he decided to enter powersharing with Martin McGuinness.

A decade and a half before that Paisley speech, the unionist historian ATQ Stewart noted the dubious historicism associated with unionism's view of Robert Lundy during the Siege of Derry.

He recalled: “The unfortunate Governor of Derry whose notoriety is so preserved in Protestant mythology was in no sense a traitor, but simply a prudent soldier acting in the interests of the preservation of the people under his care.

“He has become the archetype of those who would have truck with the enemy; therefore each crisis inevitably produces a new Lundy. It is not an archaic survival but a new nightmare. If Lundy had never existed, it would have been necessary to invent him.”

But while scaring unionists into not deserting might once have been efficacious when unionism dominated public life, it's a dubious tactic at a time when most people don't vote for unionist parties and in an individualistic age where it is widely accepted that each individual should be able to form their own view.

Indeed the concept of civil and religious liberty is at the heart of Orangeism.

Writing in a different context - at a time of growing Paisleyism - the former Orange Order Grand Master Sir George Clark said from a Twelfth of July platform: “We find there is a growing tendency for people to regard the words 'civil and religious liberty' as something which applies only to a section of the community, who feel that for some reason liberty is to be enjoyed only by themselves and that those who may be opposed to their particular ideals must be stopped from expressing their views no matter what the cost.”

Those who denounce McLaren are free to do so.

But the consequences are likely to rebound on the ideology they cherish.

The Canary in the coalmine?

McLaren is someone who not only publicly identified as a unionist but who paid money to join a unionist party, who put herself forward for election, who tramped streets in the hunt for votes, and who spent several years doing the oft dreary work of a local councillor for the Ulster Unionist Party.

If someone like that is leaving unionism dismayed, then the ideology has a problem because if an individual with that level of commitment is changing her stance, it's fair to assume that others who were less committed are similarly shifting.

Other formerly committed unionists such as DUP founding member Wallace Thompson have expressed similar sentiments and been similarly lampooned.

Many unionists, of course, do not react with sneering condescension when a unionist questions what they hitherto believed.

UUP deputy leader Diana Armstrong did not attack McLaren but told Talkback said she was “disappointed” by what had been said and that despite having supported McLaren when in the party, she'd never come to express these views to her.

Politics is about the art of persuasion and contempt isn't terribly persuasive. The winning side in a border poll will be those who can persuade the greatest number of people to back their side.

There will be those in a border poll who come from a Protestant background or once were publicly identified as unionists who speak out in favour of Irish unity.

If unionism can only haughtily denounce those who have gone astray, it's not only going to fail in convincing them to change their minds but might also push others to disassociate from such an insular worldview.

There is a deep-seated belief within a section of unionism that someone is born a Protestant then they should remain a unionist for life, even if they come to believe their life would be better in a united Ireland.

Logically, that makes no sense in a democracy where everyone agrees that each voter should be able to cast their ballot howsoever they see fit.

Rather than attacking these people disillusioned by unionism, unionists should be questioning why there is a growing - if still modest - number of these individuals who are not convinced by the case for the future of the Union.

‘South Armagh has given me everything I ever wanted’

TOM KELLY, Irish News, February 21st, 2026

Historian Úna Walsh – the seanchaí less ordinary,

From a long line of storytellers and historians, Úna Walsh is also a community activist and champion of south Armagh. She spoke to Tom Kelly about being a voice for the generations that have gone before

‘MISE Séumus ‘a’ Mhurchaigh is deise ‘bhuil i Eirinn’ (I am Seamus MacMurphy, the handsomest man in Ireland).

Who would not want to be related to a man with the swagger of such a statement just before he dispossessed his unfortunate victims of their money?

Seamus MacMurphy was a rapparee… a kind of cross between Rabbie Burns, Rob Roy and Dick Turpin.

Poet, Jacobite supporter, soldier, hedge school teacher, part-time highwayman, and by all accounts a great lover too.

Now, normally starting a feature on a notable individual of today, this writer does not get the opportunity to delve back as far as 1720, but this is no ordinary narrative, as I discovered when I met the historian, storyteller, protector of townlands, community activist, and Mullaghbane mother-of-seven, Úna Walsh.

I have met Úna on several occasions, most memorably as she gave me a tour at the Creggan Church of Ireland church and graveyard, near Crossmaglen.

Here, Úna informed me, is where the whole history of Ulster and its conflicts could be told.

Planter and Gael buried side by side at peace – enmities ended for eternity.

The hanged rapparee MacMurphy and the author of his demise – Johnston of the Fews – lie in the same graveyard. (As an aside, so do the Crossmaglen parents of the founder of the Chinese postal service, who was eventually knighted, but you can find out more, dear readers, by visiting.)

The American 19th century black civil rights campaigner, author, and academic WEB Dubois once said: “There is nothing more powerful than a woman determined to rise.” Úna Walsh is one such woman.

She is a cultural champion and a whirlwind of information, like an overflowing fountain of knowledge.

Enthusiastic, infectious, passionate, energetic, and perhaps sometimes angry, which she channels into a quest for social justice and equality.

And here’s the craic… Úna is a descendant of the legendary Seamus Mór.

‘In her DNA’

Journalist and south Armagh native Eamonn Maille says history “is in her DNA”.

“She leans heavily towards the ‘béaloideas’ – the oral tradition. She does more than just make history come alive, she’s selfless in preserving our unique spirit and character through idiom, language and the vernacular of our antecedents.”

Like this description of Queen Maeve in the Cattle Raid of Cooley, Úna is “fierce and strong… and knows no law but her own will”. A will which Úna says her children possess, and even her three-year-old granddaughter too.

People like Úna are custodians of Irish oral tradition. Stories which were unwritten but passed on by bardic poets and later by seanchaís. Then codified, tweaked and written down by early Irish monks.

Úna says: “The landscape, language, lyrics, and literature are all entwined.”

The tradition of handing down local histories and narratives in her family passed through the male line.

From the legendary Seamus Mac-Murphy right through to her grandfather and father, these men were the keepers of the past, folklore, legends, histories, fables, and faeries, through to the yarns and wisdom.

Úna was born in 1954 into the family of Jem and Annie Murphy. She had three brothers and two sisters.

Coming after her older two brothers, she knew she would have to fight for her voice.

By her own admission at the Tí Chulainn centre in Mullaghbane when we met, she said: “I did not like or want to conform to the duties Úna’s activist life kicked off when there was a request in a local newspaper for a community representative in south Armagh to talk about public transport needs.

She did not drive, and still does not. Undeterred, and with children in tow, she made her way to the meeting in Newry by bus. Unfortunately, she missed most of it and a south Armagh school principal had been approached and was made the representative. She spoke up. “I use public transport… the man did not. He drove a Mercedes. And whilst he undoubtedly would have spoken up for south Armagh, he would not have known the constraints/challenges for those using public transport. Graciously, the man nominated stood aside.” expected of being a daughter… especially not when it came to chores expected of girls in the 1950s and ’60s.”

Her voice was encouraged by her mother, even if she felt her daughter was at times a “bit opinionated”.

“I still am, and age has not dimmed that,” Úna jokes. “I honed my skills for substantiating my arguments in our family of six. If you did not have at least three back-up supporting facts before you started… you would be caught out.”

By her own definition, Úna is a voracious reader – her entire attic has been turned over to books. Thankfully, too, she reads The Irish News daily front to back because she loves sport as much as news and commentary.

“My children soon discovered that the best time to suss support (or neutrality) to do something was to ask me when I was reading the paper, as I may only have half heard what they said!”

Úna recalls how life was hard for rural communities while growing up, and money was often tight.

In a podcast, she described how her father used to direct his children to look out on the majesty of Slieve Gullion – which cast its long shadow across south Armagh – and say: “You don’t realise how lucky you are to grow up in a place as beautiful as this.”

She adds: “South Armagh has given me everything I ever wanted in this life.” To this writer, that is quite a statement.

She remembers that her mother, grandmother and aunts were equally good storytellers as the men in the Murphy household, but in their day, society did not allow women “the space for them to be heard”.

That is until Úna decided that she would use her voice. It ignited a passion and something which will never be extinguished.

Úna is not easily distracted. As our interview went on, the alarm in the building went off. Lesser people would have lost their train of thought, but she continued unperturbed.

She says women were the economic workhorses of most families, especially those with small holdings. Men often took regular jobs to provide a weekly income and it was the women who tended to the livestock.

Úna recalls old men saying things like women have the backs for sowing seed potatoes because they were smaller and closer to the ground. Or that they were great for pig rearing as they would feed them a wee bit extra.

‘Every hole in the ditch carries with it a story…’

Women were, in fact, the unsung heroines of Irish farming, especially tending pigs, cattle, sickly calves, or feeding chickens.

Recalling her mother, Úna says for her time she was quite progressive, and when Úna gave birth to her first child, she remarked: “He’s beautiful, and at least you don’t have to be churched” (I had to look this up… it was a ceremony of purification for a woman after having a baby, sometimes in front of a congregation but always a priest… to my ears, very humiliating for women, and a practice ended in the mid-1960s in Ireland).

Úna disliked the practise of rules for the sake of rules. So when she attended Our Lady’s Grammar School in Newry, there was an inevitable clash of cultures.

The free-thinking just met the formal. They departed company.

At 17 years of age, her mother said: “You can leave school, but you can’t lie at home.”

Úna is a woman of few regrets, but one can’t help but think this sparky lady would have thrived at university.

As it was, she went to a customs clearance office at the border, and there she worked until the birth of her first child.

Úna is a woman who breathes in south Armagh’s rich cultural heritage, song, music, and mysticism.

“Every hole in the ditch carries with it a story, and that is why townland names are so important and need to be preserved.”

As much as Úna can talk, she is also a doer. She has thrown herself into community activism and volunteered her children to help too. “Not that they knew at the time that they were volunteering.”

‘Bandit country’

She can get very animated and indeed angry when she feels her community is unfairly labelled. The term ‘bandit country’ she finds insulting, pointing out that south Armagh has a history stretching back nearly 5,000 years and should not be defined by the Troubles.

The passage tomb on top of Slieve Gullion is older than the Pyramids and is the highest surviving such tomb anywhere in Ireland or Britain.

Slieve Gullion, she points out, is one of the most mystical mountains in Ireland, saying: “The passage tomb has been known through the centuries as ‘Callaigh Berra’s House’.

“Cailleach Béara was a witch who tricked Finn McCool into jumping into the lake atop the mountain, from which he emerged an old, withered man. The Fianna captured the cailleach and forced her to turn Finn back, which she did, but leaving his hair white for the rest of his life.”

Locally at Halloween, it is the Cailleach Béara that the children expect. There are striking similarities with the fabled good witch of Italy, Befana. Just as the Doña de Fuera in Sicily are very much like our Banshees.

Úna recounts that she and her late father were asked once to give a talk on heritage to a group of Estonians visiting south Armagh, and to their astonishment, one got up and sang Úirchill an Chreagáin (The Churchyard of Creggan). Úna smiled: “I hoped they did not want us to return the compliment as I knew nothing of Estonian folklore.”

Mullaghbane, Forkhill, Killeavy and Creggan are at the heart of Oriel and were host to famous 18th-century poets such as Art Mac Cumhaigh, Peadar Ó Doirnín, Seamus MacMurphy, and Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna. In fact, Úna does tours on what is known as the Poets Trail. Mac Cumhaigh, MacMurphy and Pádraig Mac Aliondain now rest in Creggan graveyard.

THIS writer was spellbound when listening to Úna talk about the old road from Tara via the Gap of the North on which Brian Boru’s funeral cortège passed after defeat at Clontarf. It is almost touching history. The O’Neills, O’Hanlons, Jacksons, and even Mountjoy left a footprint.

“If the stones of south Armagh could talk, all you have to do is lift one and listen.”

Oral tradition

Oral tradition is alive and thriving in south Armagh, and as Úna points out, it is not just for older people.

“There’s little point in only sharing these histories and folklore with older people or visitors – the young must learn them too because this is what shapes and forms the people of south Armagh. Those who lived before live on through the passing on of their knowledge, skills, and past.”

To that end, Úna collaborated in the production of several educational podcasts with animation, all locally based and stitched into the primary school curriculum.

“The school children lap it up – they love storytelling, and this way, they get a sense of place and understand it,” she says, adding that “too many historical societies, worth-while as they are, don’t do enough to teach, share, and engage with younger people, and it’s important they do, or it will all be lost”.

Towards the end of our meeting, Úna reflects that borderland communities always felt slightly apart; people in the region always knew this was the Gap of the North.

“This sense of being on your own built a community resilience and mutual dependency – and it was exacerbated after partition by both a feeling of abandonment from the south and not quite fitting in to the north.”

I asked how a woman with seven children, a household and a husband fits in all these community activities, and she laughed.

“I suppose I just got on with it and did what all women do – get up, put on your clothes, brush yourself down, feed the children, and do it day by day and day after day.”

A highlight in recent years was when President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabrina visited social enterprise An Tobair in south Armagh at her request.

I will leave the final words about this tour de force and seanchaí to a poem Úna chose for a south Armagh compilation called ‘Room to Rhyme’ by one of her favourite writers, Michael J Murphy. It is simply called Slieve Gullion: “Mountain of mystery / Of Fionn the brave / Of saint-scholared Gael / Of legend and tale, I am our slave”.

As I watched this ‘lady of the foot’ walk back up the hill to her home, after refusing a lift, I was in awe of one of life’s givers.