Claims Poppy day massacre orchestrated by local female PIRA leader stuns Enniskillen
WOMAN SAID TO BE LIVING AN ORDINARY LIFE IN FERMANAGH
EXCLUSIVE DAVID O'DORNAN, Sunday Life, January 11th, 2026
Enniskillen Remembrance Day bombing campaigners have told of how reports that a female IRA commander involved in the atrocity remains living in the area is “sickening to the core”.
It follows a claim by The Times that police in the Republic identified her as a leader in the unit responsible for the Provos' massacre that took the lives of 12 innocent people in 1987.
Sunday Life knows the identity of the woman, but cannot name her for legal reasons. What can be revealed is that she has been leading a secret double life as a seemingly upstanding member of society while nursing dark secrets from her terrorist past.
While victims, survivors and their families have been robbed of a lifetime of memories with loved ones, she fled to the US for many years before settling back in Fermanagh, raising a number of children with her husband and becoming a business owner.
One witness said she saw her in Erneside Shopping Centre, describing her as looking like “a very well-polished person” who gives the appearance that “butter wouldn't melt in her mouth”.
Meanwhile, a new development in the wake of the reports is that fresh legal action regarding Enniskillen is being prepared by KRW Law, which represents some of the victims' families.
KRW Law's Kevin Winters confirmed: “We are working on a renewed civil action against the State over allegations of an intelligence agenda in relation to the initial police investigation.
“The case is being taken in the name of Joe Holbeach, a survivor of the attack.
Information
“Any new information regarding the Enniskillen bomb atrocity is to be welcomed as we continue our fight for justice.”
Stephen Gault's father Samuel was killed in the attack, while Stephen was one of the 63 injured by the blast as a teenager.
He said: “Like other victims of terrorism, I feel they've lost that right to have cherished times with loved ones.
“They (the bombers) had countless years of watching their kids grow up and having grandkids and unfortunately the innocent victims have not had that right.
“I lost my dad when I had just turned 18 and that's going on 39 years now.
“It's a bitter pill to swallow and it's very difficult; to think that person is walking the streets of Enniskillen, it just sickens me to the core.
“It really is sickening. They have no conscience.”
Stephen also believes that former IRA commander turned Sinn Fein politician Martin McGuinness took secrets to his grave regarding the bombing and may have been protected as part of the peace process.
He said: “I live in hope, I definitely do, that one day the people will be held accountable; that they will face justice and will do jail, but I can't see it.
“I think under the peace agreement, the likes of the Enniskillen case is very sensitive.
“It's a bit strange how Enniskillen has never got answers, whether they're protecting a State agent or something.
“We thought when McGuinness died that the answers would come, because obviously he went to his grave knowing who, what, when and why Enniskillen was perpetrated.
“I had a good relationship with the HET (Historical Enquiries Team) guy and he told me in a conversation that he wanted to speak to and interview McGuinness, but was told by his bosses that it wouldn't happen under any circumstances.”
Former MP and MLA for the area, Tom Elliott, was a soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) from 1982 to 1992 and its successor the Royal Irish Regiment from 1992 to 1999.
He said: “I would have known her (the IRA commander) from my time in the UDR and Royal Irish Regiment, that she was obviously a significant individual suspected within the Provisional movement.
“I do think there needs to be further police intervention in this and investigations. I've always felt that where there were suspicions down the years that weren't followed up, and I know you can't follow up on every suspicion, but people did have reasonably good information that I felt just wasn't followed up, and whether the security forces were blocked from doing that remains a significant question.
Pressure
“Because of the process towards the talks that eventually brought about the Belfast Agreement, whether it was it was due to those issues I don't know.
“But I know that whenever I was part of the delegation that met with the HET, they seemed to know more than they were able to put on the public record.
“I just feel that in the wider sense, which may have included McGuinness and may not, that there was still significant information out there that wasn't followed up because of what I believe may have been pressure to keep other things on the road.”
Kenny Donaldson is the director of the victims' support group, the South East Fermanagh Foundation, which helps those in the area who have been through traumatic experiences caused by terrorism.
He said: “The key issue in the Enniskillen case and in many cases around the border is to what extent are the Irish Government going to come on board and come up to the mark.
“That's a huge issue of concern for Enniskillen, and for many others.
“We have done our work and we would suggest that there are between 540 and 560 deaths along our borderlands which have a cross-border element to them.”
Former DUP First Minister Arlene Foster, who's from Enniskillen, escaped death as a child when a school bus she was on was targeted by the IRA seven months after the Remembrance Day bombing and likely carried out by the same unit.
‘Atrocious’
She said: “Our clear-up rate in Fermanagh for murders during the Troubles is atrocious.
“The difficulty for us in Fermanagh, because we were living on the border, a bit like south Armagh, when atrocities happened people skipped across the border.
“The absolutely disgraceful thing is that our government tells us now that they've got a new understanding with the Irish Government, but I see no evidence of that.
“I was at school when it happened, I was in lower sixth, and I just remember the silence in school the next day, on the Monday the day after the bomb took place. Our former head girl was murdered, Marie Wilson. It was a horrific time.”
The Times reported that police in the Republic determined that the woman involved was believed to be the head of the IRA's south Fermanagh brigade at the time and close to leading IRA figures based in Co Monaghan.
An off-duty RUC officer previously claimed to have seen a suspected female terrorist wearing a green dress and carrying a brown bag outside the community centre where the bomb was planted, but that this was not followed up.
A PSNI spokesperson said: “The Enniskillen bomb was one of the most appalling and cowardly terrorist atrocities ever carried out in Northern Ireland.
“Our thoughts remain with the Enniskillen families for the pain and suffering they continue to feel.
“As this was a Troubles-related incident, victims, families and their representatives can contact the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.
“The Police Service of Northern Ireland will cooperate fully with the
Repeated warnings over crisis 'ignored’ by the Presbyterian Church'
EXCLUSIVE ANGELA DAVISON, Sunday Life, January 11th, 2026
'CULTURE OF SECRECY' AT HEART OF PROBLEMS SAFEGUARDING EXPERTS TOLD PCI CHIEFS OF LOOMING SCANDAL
Safeguarding experts have launched fresh criticism at the Presbyterian Church in Ireland's (PCI) response to its ongoing crisis, revealing that some still in place at the top ignored warnings that a major scandal was looming.
In 2023, former PCI Head of Safeguarding Dr Jacqui Montgomery-Devlin authored a damning report, highlighting failings in safeguarding practice and warned church leaders of catastrophic consequences if they didn't pay heed.
Among the 16-strong panel who received her report were Convenor and Secretary to the Council for Social Witness, Rev David Brice and Mr Dermot Parsons respectively, who had overall responsibility for safeguarding the church's congregations, care homes, addiction centres and ex-offenders hostel.
In what came to be a prophetic warning, the report detailed how the safeguarding department was under-resourced as well as highlighting the lack of previous record-keeping.
Speaking to Sunday Life, Dr Montgomery-Devlin said: “At December's General Assembly, the church sought to present the proposed future actions as new, yet I had been highlighting the need for structural reform since 2019.
“From the outset of my role, it was evident that the denomination was acutely vulnerable, with a single individual expected to manage safeguarding across PCI's extensive and complex portfolio.
“The issues now being publicly discussed through the media reflect concerns that were raised repeatedly during my tenure.”
Secrecy
“During my time in post, I delivered significant progress, yet none of this has been acknowledged by PCI. Despite the progress I made, my urgent requests for appropriate resourcing and a restructuring of safeguarding within PCI were repeatedly disregarded and, in practice, not afforded a hearing.”
In fact, the situation prompted one former member of the safeguarding panel to comment in a message: “(Dr Montgomery-Devlin) was striving to achieve effective safeguarding despite chronic underfunding and a culture that seemed to prefer secrecy to effective governance.”
Those comments echo the experience of safeguarding expert Ian Elliott who also sat on the panel set up by Dr Montgomery-Devlin.
A renowned specialist in his field with extensive experience, he has worked on major reviews in other large denominations.
Despite his expertise however, Mr Elliott says his cautioning that the church would be on the verge of a safeguarding crisis if they didn't act, was also largely ignored.
He explained: “I've had a long career and been in similar situations with other denominations. I know the ground but for some reason they (PCI) have no interest in listening to what I have to say.
“The reports that I wrote and contributed to PCI were ignored, including a briefing report to Rev Gribben which was submitted in October 2023 which spelt out clearly that there was a major problem and, if not addressed, could lead to significant crisis. I also sent it to Dermot Parsons and wrote to him again outlining my concerns the following month. Nothing came back and so I wrote again in April 2024 after the departure of Dr Montgomery-Devlin. I sent three separate emails and he replied in May. I said at the time if the situation continued I'd have to resign which some months later I did.
“Dermot Parsons knew of the absence of proper case records (prior to Dr Montgomery-Devlin's appointment) in October 2023.”
Mr Elliott was also involved in compiling the report submitted to the panel in 2023.
The 11-page document reveals that PCI lagged behind other church denominations in the number of people working in safeguarding, with only two people employed (one on a limited temporary contract) to look after safeguarding in PCI's 540 congregations and 14 residential homes and services.
In contrast, seven people were allocated for safeguarding for 450 Church of Ireland congregations.
In the report, Dr Montgomery-Devlin pointedly states: “At present, there are insufficient resources to achieve compliance.”
She also raises concerns about the lack of previous effective recording systems, adding: “They (records) may become the focus of future civil litigation.”
In the report's conclusion, she warns explicitly that: “What tends to occur to bring about change is often the emergence of a crisis, precipitated by a reported incidence of abuse that was handled poorly or inadequately.”
In the fullness of time, this appears to have played out as predicted.
Both she and Mr Elliott brought to the panel's attention issues regarding alleged historical abuse and outlined the need for concerns to be fully investigated, with Dr Montgomery-Devlin adding that, to do so, she needs more resources.
In a BBC Spotlight programme last month, it was revealed that credible reports of sexual abuse in a Presbyterian church in Donegal were not reported to police when first learned of 10 years ago.
Speaking on the programme, Mr Elliott confirmed that the then head of Council for Social Witness, Lindsay Conway, was aware of the cases but did not follow up on provision of therapeutic services to those who had come forward.
The programme also states that a document from the church's own internal investigation links Mr Conway to a general lack of safeguarding records in PCI, and also suggests he ignored or stalled on acting on safeguarding concerns brought to him by ministers.
For 19 years, Mr Conway was PCI director to the Council for Social Witness until he retired in 2021.
When Sunday Life approached him for comment, he said he had “been advised not to speak to anyone with the police case pending”.
A few weeks after presenting her exposé to the safeguarding panel, Dr Montgomery-Devlin was no longer in her post.
As well as writing an article for the Presbyterian magazine, determined to address safeguarding gaps within the wider church circle, she also released a safeguarding video and planned roadshows for every Presbytery in Ireland.
However, her plans never saw fruition as she left the organisation after a dispute with church authorities, resolved in a settlement and a non-disclosure agreement. No further details are known.
Being made aware of a letter sent out in August 2024 to panel members from David Brice and Dermot Parsons, disbanding the safeguarding panel, Dr Montgomery-Devlin was disparaging about this.
It acknowledges the work of the panel but Rev Brice and Mr Parsons claim that, by the panel not being able to meet in early 2024, the impact of its position paper had been undermined.
Crisis
Ian Elliott questions the narrative that meetings were requested by them, adding: “I remember asking for meetings. I don't remember any situation where they asked for one and I have no idea why the panel was disbanded. In my opinion, it was never more relevant.”
Dr Montgomery-Devlin agrees: “Why was the panel dissolved when the work it was set up to do was not achieved?
“The panel only met three times when I was there despite being aware that the church was at crisis point. How does a panel meet its terms of reference over three meetings? It's impossible.”
Just before the panel was stood down, Mr Elliott resigned, frustrated that even simple questions on safeguarding were not answered, such as how many case files there were and had statutory reporting taken place. He says he is yet to receive a response from Mr Parsons.
“Dermot Parsons eventually did return my correspondence, advising he had been off work ill and would come back with answers but never did. I offered professional advice and guidance but it was ignored,” the expert said.
Last month, the church held a special General Assembly in a bid to contain the crisis but Dr Montgomery-Devlin and Mr Elliott say leaders are merely implementing changes they'd already suggested.
Dr Montgomery-Devlin says: “Last month, the church said they are effecting change but that has been hard to hear. They didn't listen to us years ago — why?”
Points agreed at the December meeting included a new safeguarding department under the line management of the church's financial secretary with external oversight by a supervision panel.
Mr Elliott says caution must be exercised: “In overseeing practice, you need confidence in assessing if practice is good or not good. You can't have an accountant or someone who doesn't have knowledge of good safeguarding practice.
“You can't have someone from an organisation where people thought it acceptable practice to not keep safeguarding records.
“Until the history has been fully examined and it is understood how the systems that existed failed so miserably for so long, it would be unwise, in my opinion, to try to restructure the delivery of a safeguarding service in PCI.
“Do I have confidence the church is on the road to recovery? I don't.
“Because so little information has been shared on who knew what and when, it isn't possible to have confidence in the current practice of those in leadership in PCI.
“Simply saying sorry is not enough. You need to address the fundamental questions of what was known about the appalling safeguarding practice and why action was not taken sooner.
“They're trying to give an impression of moving forward but there are an awful lot of simple questions addressed to them directly and they chose not to answer. I think a statutory public inquiry is needed.”
A spokesperson for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland said: “Since a criminal investigation has been announced by the PSNI, and a separate inquiry by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, we are unable to make any comment in relation to the matters raised which may form part of either investigation.”
Mr Parsons had not replied to a request for comment by time of going to press, while Mr Brice said the “matter was being handled by PCI's communication department”.
'Ireland is a target' — calls for hard focus on security
NIAMH HORAN and MAEVE SHEEHAN, Sunday Independent, January 11th, 2026
Business chiefs say 'hostile state actors' are trying to infiltrate Irish firms, while former taoiseach Bertie Ahern believes the US president will not follow through on threats to 'own' Greenland, write Niamh Horan and Maeve Sheehan
A study published last month by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) has urged the Government here to speedily publish a National Security Strategy.
The report, co-produced by Deloitte Ireland, drew on interviews and discussions with public and private sector leaders that took place last September. In its interviews, business groups called on the Department of Justice to expedite high-level security clearances for staff applying for sensitive posts in critical infrastructure and services, because of "elevated” attempts by foreign intelligence agencies to infiltrate their businesses.
Kieran O'Neill, a defence and security partner at Deloitte, said companies have real concerns over attempts by agencies in China and Russia to plant operatives.
"Ireland is a target,” he said. "Many organisations here are directly involved in countering Russian cyber threats in Ukraine, implementing sanctions on Russian officials, and involved in countering disinformation.
"We don't have the security architecture in place to expedite that security clearance process for people working in government and the private sector,” he added, saying more needed to be done to either "prevent that threat of espionage, or to detect it very quickly”.
The report tries to separate Ireland's neutrality from the issue of protecting the country's assets at a time when the security environment is at its most "challenging” in recent history.
"Of greatest concern is that the possibility of an armed attack on an EU member state — and its consequences for Ireland — are no longer outside the bounds of possibility,” the report warned.
Among the recommendations are that the Government should follow Sweden's example and issue fact-based pamphlets to citizens on the risks in times of crisis.
Ukraine ‘Pivot Point’
Mr O'Neill said the Russian attack on Ukraine was the "pivot point” for European security, and events since then have elevated instability and tension.
"Many of the organisations consulted highlight the rise in hybrid, cyber and espionage threats they face. They have had to do a lot of work to protect themselves,” he said. The report also urges the Government to develop a strategy to allow Ireland's technology sector engage with the EU's defence programme, which has allocated €150bn to boost investment in Europe's defence industry.
"Ireland has a strong technology sector with dual-use potential, and with the increased focus on security and defence spending across Europe, there is a significant economic opportunity for Ireland that can also support efforts to lift our own security and resilience posture,” Mr O'Neill said.
The threats have been acknowledged by Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, who said last year that "hostile state actors” posed a threat to national security.
Irish exposure to security risks was highlighted last month by the five unidentified drones that appeared during the visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. The drones hovered over an Irish naval vessel that was guarding the flight path of Zelensky's plane, before disappearing. They were later tracked to an unidentified ship.
In the aftermath of the US incursion into Venezuela, America seized an oil tanker 600km off the Irish coast. In the action, US naval aircraft deployed from UK bases supported the operation, but in so doing, they crossed into Irish airspace three times.
The US embassy in Dublin told the Government that it had complied with a long-standing legal agreement with Ireland on the use of foreign military aircraft, Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said last week. She has asked her officials to engage further and produce a full report. However, the incident has renewed debate about Ireland's ability to protect itself from foreign incursions.
Last month the Government announced plans to spend €1.7bn on new military equipment ahead of hosting the EU presidency this year. This would include buying counter-drone technology and sonar systems to monitor movement around undersea cables and pipes.
However, years after a National Security Strategy was promised, it is still being finalised. Work on developing a new National Security Authority to oversee high-level security clearances has only just begun.
Meanwhile, John Lahart, chairman of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, says he plans to place Ireland's international standing on the agenda in the coming Dáil term, saying "difficult conversations” must be had.
"We have to start wearing long trousers now,” said the Fianna Fáil TD. "There are serious conversations to be had, and we can't avoid it anymore.”
He said he will raise discussions at the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee on Ireland's "values and interests”.
"What happens if Nigel Farage becomes prime minister in the UK? What are the implications? These things are certainly not impossible, and are veering towards not being improbable.
"If Trump can regard Canada as his 51st state, what is to stop him looking at this island? What is to stop him looking on us in a similar way? What protections have we got against the Russian shadow fleet?”
Mr Lahart said he supports Irish neutrality, but believes "neutrality is nothing if you cannot protect it and ensure it continues”. He said Ireland needed to cooperate with others in order to protect Irish assets.
"That is not about joining Nato. But it is about ensuring that whatever we do on the security front is inter-operative at a very basic level,” he said.
The changing global climate has driven much of the debate about Ireland's neutrality, with one issue being the Government's plans to change the "triple lock”, which means the large-scale deployment of Irish troops abroad can only happen with Irish Government, Dáil and UN Security Council approval.
The Government wants to change the triple lock, arguing it gives Russia and China a veto over Irish peacekeeping missions. Sinn Féin and other opposition groups say the change is part of a move to abandon Ireland's long-standing policy of neutrality.
Meanwhile, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern believes Ireland needs to work with other countries to protect Irish undersea assets amid the growing geopolitical turbulence.
His warning came as the Government faces pressure from a wide-ranging group of commercial and political interests, all pushing to strengthen Ireland's security infrastructure in the wake of Donald Trump's threats to take over Greenland.
In the same week that the American president issued those threats, Mr Trump dispatched US troops to remove the president of Venezuela and seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker 600km off the Irish coast.
Asked about the security of our coastline, Mr Ahern said: "We need to step up all our cooperation in these areas. We need to ensure their security, and we can't do it on our own.”
Greenland is new Pivot Point
EU leaders and Greenland's parliament are on high alert after Mr Trump said the US must "own” Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark, to prevent Russia or China occupying the strategically located and mineral-rich territory.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent this weekend, Mr Ahern said he was doubtful that Trump would stage a military takeover of Greenland, as to do so would "wreck Nato”.
Nato, the military alliance whose charter vows that an attack on one member is an attack on all, now faces the prospect of one member attacking another, with the White House saying that use of force is not off the table.
The Danish prime minister said that if there is a military attack, it would end the security alliance which was established at the end of World War II.
"I don't think he'd try and take it over by military force,” said Mr Ahern. "I really don't. If he did try to do that, it would wreck Nato and destroy confidence between the European Union and America.
"I can't think of any good reason they should even try it. I know he threatens everything about everywhere, but I just don't see him trying that on Denmark and on Greenland.”
Mr Ahern, whom a British diplomat working on the Good Friday Agreement once described as a pragmatic dealmaker with a ruthless streak, offered the following advice to Denmark.
"If I was on the other side of the negotiation table, I would say to Trump: 'Well, what are you looking for here? Are you looking for rare earths? Are you looking for oil? Are you looking for US security?' And if it's US security that he really wants, then let's talk about putting back some military bases there.
"But if he wants it for rare minerals, then I think we're all into a very difficult position, because if he were to pursue that, I cannot see how you could get an agreement. I can't see Denmark or Europe agreeing to that position.
"If he really wants it, what he should be doing is compromising with Denmark and Greenland and with Europe to put back in his military bases.
"The US used to have more military bases there. They closed them up. But there's no reason why they can't go back and put more in.”
A meeting of Greenland's parliament is being brought forward to ensure that a debate takes place and that the people's rights are secured, regional leaders have said.
However, on Friday Mr Trump said he would "do something on Greenland whether they like it or not” and that the US military presence on the island (ensured under a 1951 agreement with fellow Nato member Denmark) is not enough to guarantee its defence.
Leaders' dishonesty on housing fanning flames of anti-immigrant hate
EOIN Ó BROIN, Sunday Independent, January 11th, 2026
Is a recent rise in inward migration contributing to month-on-month increases in homelessness? The straight answer is no. But it hasn't stopped Taoiseach Micheál Martin or Tánaiste Simon Harris making that assertion.
Last month, Martin, responding to Dáil questions on rising homelessness, said: "Migratory pressures factor into the homeless issue.”
His comments were based on information he received at the cabinet sub-committee on housing on December 15. At that meeting, the Local Government Management Agency presented a detailed 32-page presentation on trends in homelessness.
After the meeting, two newspapers were briefed on some of the data. The focus was on the rise in the number of people from outside the EU/EEA presenting as homeless since 2022.
The implication of these briefings and the subsequent coverage was that increases in inward migration since 2023 were now driving homelessness.
At the end of last month, Harris claimed in an Irish Times interview that a "lot of people who are in emergency homeless accommodation, or certainly some people in emergency homeless accommodation, don't have a housing right in Ireland”.
Of course, nobody has a right to housing. Presumably, what he was referring to was people not being eligible for social housing or emergency homeless accommodation.
The implication was not only to link rising homelessness with increased migration, but to suggest that many of those in emergency accommodation should not be there. In the same article, the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive rejected Harris's assertion.
While the presentation to the cabinet sub-committee is confidential, that citizenship data has been published by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive on its website. It tells us that in early 2022, about 60pc of adults in emergency accommodation were Irish. The remainder were evenly divided between those from the EU/EEA and those from outside it.
While some were surprised at the high level of non-Irish adults, it made complete sense to those working in homeless services. Non-Irish households make up 20pc of the population, but 40pc of the private rental sector. Given that the crisis in the rental market has been the primary driver of homeless presentations since 2014, it is no surprise that non-Irish households are over-represented.
Long Term residents
These are people who have been long-term residents in the State, in many cases with long employment records and children born in Ireland.
From summer 2023, a new pattern emerged. The rate of increase in homeless presentations by adults born outside the EU/EEA rose. These were not recent arrivals. They were people who had arrived pre-Covid seeking international protection and were granted refugee status, but were unable to exit Direct Provision because of the crisis in the private rental sector.
In response to the growing number of people effectively using IPAS accommodation as emergency homeless accommodation, the Department of Children started to press these people to leave, forcing some into precarious housing arrangements and eventually into homelessness.
It is important to stress that these people are not part of the post-2022 increase in asylum applications. Nor are they recent international protection applicants unable to access IPAS accommodation.
As a consequence of these trends, by last November, Irish people made up 50pc of adults in emergency homeless accommodation, with EU/EEA adults making up 20pc and non-EU/EEA adults the remaining 30pc.
The cause of homelessness is not population growth, but a government housing policy that over-relies on the private rental sector. And here lies the motivation for the Taoiseach and Tánaiste's remarks.
They are desperate to lay the blame for rising levels of homelessness on anyone but themselves. They are playing a dangerous game, fanning the flames of anti-migrant sentiment and legitimising the small but vocal far right. And all to distract from the fact that it is Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy that is driving increases in homelessness. This is dishonest politics at its very worst.
Leaders' dishonesty on housing is fanning flames of anti-immigrant hate
Eoin Ó Broin TD is Sinn Féin housing spokesman
'Irish proud pioneers of freemasonry'
EXCLUSIVE ANGELA DAVISON, Sunday Life, January 11th, 2026
GRAND MASTER DEBUNKS MYTHS AROUND WORLD'S OLDEST SECRET SOCIETY ORGANISATION EXPORTED BY EMIGRANTS TO PLACES LIKE SRI LANKA AND NEW ZEALAND NO REAL DEMAND TO OPEN MEMBERSHIP UP TO WOMEN ...'BUT WE'RE NOT AGAINST IT'
More than 300 years after officially organising in Ireland, the Freemasons remain to many people a mystery.
A shadowy society of secret handshakes, symbols and rituals whose strict adherence to privacy and conducting business behind closed doors has done little to dispel the myths and misunderstandings which have attached themselves down the centuries to the world's oldest secret society.
Yet in an exclusive sit-down with Sunday Life, Grand Master of Ireland Richard Ensor explains why the truth is much simpler, speaking candidly about the origins of the organisation, its popularity in Northern Ireland and what really happens during initiation ceremonies.
Last June marked the 300th anniversary of the first record of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, which originated in the UK when tradesmen and builders would meet at the pub and exchange stories.
Mr Ensor says that freemasonry has existed for longer in Ireland but was only officially formed in 1725. He says: “We're the second oldest grand lodge in the world. “Initially, we met in pubs and then it developed into more formal arrangements. We've tons of buildings all around the country.
“If you go into most little villages north and south, you'll see a masonic building. You probably don't know it's there.”
The grand master says that freemasonry has always been bigger in the North.
The Dublin man adds: “During the Troubles, an awful lot of policemen and prison officers were members of the freemasons as it was a safe place for them to come.
“They were with their friends. They weren't exposing themselves to any potential difficulty, so we'd an awful lot of policemen and prison officers during those times.”
Freemasonry membership remains controversial within the police, however, amid allegations of membership being misused to cover up wrongdoing of fellow brethren.
The Grand Lodge of England is currently attempting to halt a new policy by the Metropolitan police which requires officers to declare if they are members of the organisation, claiming the Met's policy amounts to “religious discrimination”.
Here, the PSNI requires that officers inform the chief constable of any “notifiable memberships” they have, including the Freemasons, but that policy is currently being updated, with a view to designating membership a potential conflict of interest.
AFFILIATION
In a statement to Sunday Life, the PSNI said: “The PSNI defines a conflict of interest as when an individual has personal or financial interests, relationships, memberships or affiliations that interfere, or may be seen to interfere with, their ability to discharge their duties effectively and impartially.”
In 2023, the Belfast Telegraph learned that 136 serving police officers declared affiliation with the freemasons, including one PSNI chief superintendent.
Freemasonry is one of the world's oldest and largest non-political, fraternal organisations.
There are 456 lodges in Ireland, 365 of them north of the border, with around 180 part of the Provincial Grand Lodge in Antrim. Membership across Northern Ireland is more than 10,000 men.
However, the Grand Lodge of Ireland has masons worldwide.
Richard continues: “We've masons and Irish lodges worldwide in Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
“What happened 300 years ago was that the Irish emigrated abroad and they brought freemasonry throughout the world. We were the pioneers of freemasonry.”
Numbers peaked during both world wars with around a quarter of a million members in Ireland alone.
Richard adds: “You find in times of difficulty, people join the freemasons. It doesn't cost a lot to join.
“We've great fun. We have our lodge meetings and have a glass of something before or after to wash it all down and we raise money.
“In 2008, we held a Grand Master's Festival and raised €660,000 with €220,000 going to the NI Children Hospice, €220,000 to the Samaritans and €220,000 went to LauraLynn Hospice.
“We had one during Covid and supported Médecins Sans Frontières and the Simon Community. We do a lot of fundraising and the brethren love it.”
The 69-year-old joined the masons when he was 25, making him a freemason for 44 years.
He says it's not unusual for men to have service of 60 or 70 years.
The married father-of-two, who is part of Unity Lodge Number 238 in Dublin, says: “My grandfather was a freemason. He died when he was 97 but he joined when he was 21 so he was over 70 years a freemason. My father was a freemason and my father-in-law was one too.
“My father chatted to me about joining when I was in my 20s and initially I said it was a bit early and eventually I decided to join. My own son joined about a year ago and he adores it. It's very much a family-oriented thing.”
With regards to women joining the ranks, he says there hasn't been much appetite in Ireland for female lodges.
He adds: “In the UK, there are ladies in lodges, in France there are women lodges and they also have unisex lodges. In Ireland, there are no lady lodges. There's no reason, if there's a movement afoot, why wouldn't we do it?
“Obviously, they would have to follow our rules and regulations but we're not averse to it.
“The only criteria (to becoming a member) is to believe in a supreme being, whatever that supreme being happens to be, that's up to you. That's the only criteria, other than that you must be (at least) 21 years old.”
However, there are a couple of things masons can't talk about at lodge events the world over — religion or politics.
He also confirms that initiation ceremonies are an important part of becoming a mason, though suggestions of anything controversial, he insists, is not the case.
“We have rituals and we have degrees. There's nothing sinister about anything we do.
“I hear about goats and sheep but I can assure you there's not anything like that. That's baloney.
“Everything we try to teach is all to do with obeying the government of the land we live in, living your life in an upright manner, be kind and courteous to your neighbour and friends, that's all we do.
“We have a particular way of imparting this, after all it's 300 years old, and we stick pretty rigidly to our rituals which is very important to us. People are blown away by the ceremonies we have.
“You are not harmed in any way and nothing is done to you that would upset you in any way.
“Nobody has ever on the first degree got up and said, 'I'm out of here'. There's nothing we do at variance of your own beliefs, your family beliefs and the land of which you live.”
Secret handshakes, Richard admits, are also part of freemasonry, used within the organisation for the sole purpose so that masons can identify fellow brethren.
“That's all it is,” he adds: “So when we meet our brethren and shake hands with them, we would give them a masonic handshake because that is a way of greeting. It's a recognition of each other, that's all.”
Death
He also says that the organisation is set against any misuse of membership.
“If any brother gets convicted of any offence, not a minor one, they are instantaneously removed.
“We have disciplinary rules and if something happens, it's brought before the disciplinary committee and I can assure you anybody who has done something wrong is no longer a freemason. Every year, we would probably expel around a dozen masons.”
The father-of-two was installed on June 5 last year after the death of Rodney McCurley.
Mr Ensor adds: “He was a great grand master. He was from Glengormley and was well respected in Ireland and abroad. He was going to lead us into our tercentenary in June but unfortunately he passed away suddenly at 78.”
Mr Ensor then took up the post and says that his aim is to recruit new members.
“We had a very successful celebration of our tercentenary. We'd over 1,000 people at St Patrick's Cathedral in June. It was just fantastic to see.
“We've been well congratulated by our sister constitutions and by grand lodges across the globe so now we're turning our attention to membership and membership retention.”
As part of last year's 300-year celebrations, a sold-out gala was held at Belfast City Hall in October, with donations of £100,000 going to seven charities across NI.
“It's a great organisation and it's a privilege. When I talk about the Grand Lodge of Ireland, I choke up as I'm so proud to be the grand master of this organisation. It's meaningful and worthwhile,” Mr Ensor added.
Fear of uniformed officers reaches a new level for Irish in America
MÁIRÍA CAHILL, Sunday Independent, January 11th, 2026
Perhaps it is because we witnessed the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good practically in real time on Wednesday in Minneapolis that made it so deeply unsettling.
The internet lens can sometimes blur reality, making it feel like we are watching a horror movie. This was no movie. The footage made clear the horrifying truth: the American state is in effect licensing its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to shoot people dead in the street.
The US president and his administration ask us not to trust our eyes, and to instead accept his word as gospel, gaslighting us by insisting the dead woman tried to run over an ICE agent. The evidence, from all angles, suggests otherwise. The FBI is investigating. County investigators complain they cannot access evidence.
The shooting is bad enough, but the propaganda that followed should provoke a deeper question: if their commander-in-chief will provide cover to what appears to be a total misuse of lethal force, what chance has anyone against other emboldened trigger-happy agents who will act first and seek shielding from accountability later?
And emboldened they are. In June, when Trump announced the expansion of ICE, he told troops: "You have my unwavering support. Now, go get the job done.”
The sight of boots on the streets — often in cities with Democratic majorities — sparked a wave of protests. In Portland, after months of violence, protesters changed tack and dressed in inflatable costumes, making eejits of heavily armed, camouflaged action-man figures, who used tear gas and pepper balls to face down big green frogs and unicorns dancing the Macarena. In Charlotte, North Carolina, more than 300 people attended events in a church last month to learn how to peacefully resist and protest against ICE agents.
Across the internet, videos capture ICE raids and the stories of people detained. Anyone who watches this unfold feels a knot in their stomach, for there is more than a hint of The Handmaid's Tale in the flexing of muscular state power.
America was already unpredictable when it came to law enforcement. I lived in LA a decade after the Rodney King riots. So, two years ago, when the police sirens wailed behind me to pull me over as soon as I turned on to a Floridian freeway, I panicked.
My daughter was in the front seat, my cousin in the back. "Stay quiet, and keep your hands where he can see them,” I muttered to them as the officer approached. Then I rolled the window down.
"Do you know what I've stopped you for?” he asked. I hadn't a clue — I knew I wasn't speeding. I told him I thought I had been driving carefully in the sunshine, barely cruising at 50kmh. "Ma'am, you drove through an intersection back there instead of stopping.”
In truth, I had slowed right down and braked, but there were no other cars, so I did what is commonly referred to as a "California roll” and continued. He asked for my licence and I complied, placing my hands on the dashboard afterwards. He ran my details, then returned to let me off "because the culture is different where you live”. I have never been so glad to be othered in my life.
The fear of uniformed officers is undoubtedly much worse now, and petrifying to those who have travelled to the US to make it their home.
A study from last October by UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs claimed Latinos accounted for nine out of 10 ICE arrests in the first six months of last year. Since Trump returned to power, ICE arrested 112,000 — double the figure in Biden's term — but arrests for those with no criminal record nearly tripled to 67,000.
Ireland should pay attention: last September, Irish citizen Donna Hughes-Brown was detained and faced deportation for two overdrawn cheques she had written years previously. She was eventually released last month after being held in an ICE facility in Kentucky for five months.
CBS estimates there are 10,000 undocumented Irish in the US. In July, Tánaiste Simon Harris told the Dáil that just 43 individuals at risk of deportation from the US had sought consular assistance.
A friend has been living in America for 30 years. She is married to an American with grown children. She has a Green Card, but, like many people, never applied for full citizenship. She is now scared to visit Ireland in case she is detained on her return flight, even though she has never broken the law. The precarity for those like her who have built their lives in America is palpable. All bets are off in a country whose laws seem to be on shifting sands.
Renee Good has been posthumously labelled a "domestic terrorist” by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Many will find that statement ironic, given the terror her department is instilling in anyone existing in its shadow. We all have a duty to dispute their alternative facts.
Why don't Sinn Féin leaders want to tax the rich?
Sam McBride, Sunday Life, January 11th, 2026
Why don't Sinn Féin want to tax the rich? The party have often been described as Marxist — but many in Sinn Féin understandably bristle at the term, as it's almost always used pejoratively.
However, while that word simplified the complex patchwork of interests which made up the party in the Troubles, it isn't an entirely unfair summary of its economic outlook. As recently as 2003, Sinn Féin policy was that companies shouldn't be let own property. And to this day they sit with communists in the EU Parliament.
Yet, just a few days ago, Sinn Féin's Finance Minister John O'Dowd published his first draft three-year budget. It should have been a key moment, signifying an end to one-year budgets, opening up the possibility of the long-term planning necessary to reform crumbling public services.
Ideology
Instead, it confirmed that the Executive remains hopelessly divided. O'Dowd hadn't agreed the document with colleagues, who immediately denounced it. But far more interesting than that routine squabbling is what's in it.
It's an insight into their economic ideology. O'Dowd says there is nowhere near enough money, but claims that's all the fault of the dastardly Brits who won't send even more money.
Far from the picture of poverty he presents, Stormont is rolling in a record £32bn a year. Still, if his claim was correct, then the obvious way a socialist would find the necessary money would be to tax the rich. Squeeze the wealthy until they squealed.
But the Porsche-driving bourgeoisie of the Malone Road, Helen's Bay, Holywood and a host of other plush neighbourhoods aren't squealing. Instead, Sinn Féin are protecting them.
Announcing his proposals, O'Dowd said that “any spending increase in one area will inevitably mean a reduction in another”.
That's the essence of right-wing fiscal policy: he isn't even prepared to countenance finding the money he says public services need from those who could pay.
Stormont can tax almost anything, except income and imports, and to target these taxes to almost any part of society — but it has consistently refused to use these powers.
O'Dowd has also chosen in this proposed budget to increase household property taxes (rates) 5% across the board, rather than targeting those in mansions.
This is exacerbated by a decision made by his Sinn Féin predecessor to keep the poorest homeowners subsidising the rates of the wealthiest.
Alongside that, O'Dowd is choosing to raise corporate property taxes by a paltry 3%, meaning the increase for businesses will be less than for ordinary people. None of this makes much sense for a party of the left, and none of it was explained.
Sinn Féin often blames power-sharing for messy compromises. But every other Executive party has disowned this document. It's wholly a Sinn Féin creation.
Opponents
The fact Sinn Féin have no interest in heavily taxing the rich is fascinating. Some of their opponents will point to the emergence of a cadre of party supporters who are now major business figures, or to Sinn Féin's own extensive property ownership.
While that no doubt influences thinking, it's hardly an adequate explanation for such a fundamental shift.
A more plausible explanation is that this is an electoral calculation by a party which are brilliant at understanding voters and giving them what they want. Outside of Irish unity, almost every Sinn Féin policy will be sacrificed if it placates the electoral gods.
Sinn Féin know their voter base has swollen to take in many middle-class nationalists and some very wealthy people. If core working-class voters are voting (as most voters in Northern Ireland do) on tribal rather than policy grounds, they can get away with this.
Arguably, this makes the Executive more viable than it might otherwise be. If Sinn Féin and the DUP incessantly clashed on economic questions as well as cultural and constitutional policies, the weight of incoherence might be overwhelming.
If left-wing parties help Sinn Féin into power in Dublin, they'll be very disappointed. But they won't be able to blame Sinn Féin. Their governance is on public display.
If they aren't paying attention, that's their fault. Not something they can later blame on Mary Lou.
NI's religious parties can't find anything to say about slaying of Christian mum
SUZANNE BREEN, Sunday Life, January 11th, 2026
They behave like modern-day Brownshirts or Black and Tans. They're even more cowardly in some ways. Those thugs at least showed their faces.
ICE agents hide behind masks, hoods and shades. They raid homes and snatch people off the streets. They can detain them in small, secretive holding facilities for days or even weeks.
Many have minimal training. They sow fear and confusion in the most vulnerable communities. There is a lack of independent oversight of their activities.
And now it seems they're not even accountable when they kill. US vice president JD Vance says the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot dead Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis is “protected by absolute immunity”.
The Trump administration has robustly defended her killing. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Good of “an act of domestic terrorism”, claiming she'd “weaponised her vehicle”.
The president said “it is hard to believe” the officer was still alive. He described Good as being “very disorderly, obstructing and resisting”.
She “violently, wilfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer” who shot her “in self-defence”.
Vance branded the 37-year-old mother-of-three as “a deranged leftist” responsible for her own death.
The White House's problem is that it isn't Good who looks like the insane, aggressive ideologue in video footage.
She's calm, smiling and pleasant. “That's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you,” she says through the open driver's window as the agent filming her walks around her car. A dog sits in the back seat and her glove compartment is stuffed with toys.
A masked ICE officer approaches the driver's side of the vehicle saying: “Get out of the car. Out of the car. Get out of the f***ing car.”
I've watched videos from bystanders, as well as the one filmed by the officer who fired the fatal shots, and saw nothing to suggest that his life was in danger.
Good was clearly not a threat to the public when she tried to drive off. The ICE agents had already recorded her number plate. If they felt the need to follow up the incident, they could easily have done so later that day.
She wasn't the one hiding her identity. Had the officer been determined to stop her leaving, he could have shot at her tyres.
Instead, he fires at her three times: once through the windscreen and twice through a side window.
The car crashes into a telegraph pole. The airbag that goes off is drenched in Good's blood. An officer can be heard calling her a “f***ing bitch” after she is mortally wounded.
Even attempting to argue that Good refusing to get out of the car, “disobeying a law enforcement officer”, and trying to drive off justifies what happened is beyond sick.
None of those behaviours merits a bullet in the head. Opposing ICE doesn't carry a death sentence. The agents had guns, while the women protesters had whistles.
Shocking
What is equally as shocking as Good's killing is the denial of medical assistance. A man asks, “Can I check her pulse?”
“No,” says an ICE officer. “I'm a physician,” he protests. “I don't care,” is the curt, cruel reply.
“How do you show up to work every day? How do you do this every day?” people shout at the agents.
Good was the polar opposite of these shabby, soulless men.
She was a devoted Christian who had travelled to Northern Ireland on youth missions 20 years ago.
She spent time in counties Down and Derry, in the summer outreach teams at Ballysally Presbyterian Church and First Saintfield Presbyterian Church.
Some of those who knew her from that visit paid tribute to her “caring, soft and beautiful spirit”.
Yet those political parties here that usually wear their religion on their sleeve have so far remained silent, despite the local link.
No words of sympathy have so far been uttered on the execution of this young Christian mother.
Northern Bank raid money man gets damages from State
ALI BRACKEN, Sunday Independent, January 11th, 2026
Ted Cunningham receives 'significant' five-figure sum over 'medieval, barbaric' conditions endured in prison, writes Ali Bracken
The only man jailed over the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery has received a five-figure sum in compensation for the alleged "inhumane” jail conditions he endured.
Ted Cunningham was convicted and jailed for 10 years in 2009 for money- laundering offences linked to the 2004 bank raid in Belfast.
The equivalent of about €30m was stolen in the robbery, for which the Provisional IRA was blamed.
Two months after the theft, gardaí found more than £3m in sterling in Cunningham's home in Cork.
The financier spent six months in Cork Prison before being transferred to Limerick jail for the next two years. He was released by the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2012.
A retrial was ordered and he pleaded guilty to lesser offences, receiving a suspended sentence and giving an undertaking to resign from a finance company.
Despite his guilty plea during his second trial, which he said he made on medical grounds to avoid jail, Cunningham insists he is innocent and is now focused on clearing his name.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, the 77-year-old said his legal win against the Irish Prison Service (IPS) is the first step in having his criminal conviction overturned.
Last week, Cunningham received a five-figure sum after settling a long-running legal action.
The exact figure cannot be published, and the High Court case was settled with no admission of liability and no apology from the IPS.
When contacted, a spokesperson for the service declined to comment.
While he was in Cork Prison for six months in 2009, Cunningham was taken to hospital on 16 occasions due to complications from hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), a rare blood condition.
Cunningham said he was found unconscious on several occasions in the cell he shared with other inmates, following considerable blood losses.
"Because of overcrowding, there were no toilets or wash-hand basins in my cell. There were two plastic buckets to urinate and defecate in. I could lose one or two pints of blood in an hour and I have 11.7 pints of blood in my body,” he said.
"On one occasion I lost seven pints of blood. It is a life-threatening condition.
"Some of my family have died from it, and I could have easily died in prison. I really did think I would die in there.”
Cunningham said there were no issues with access to medical treatment and medication after he was transferred to Limerick. The legal action he took was against the governor of Cork Prison, the justice minister and attorney general.
"We are satisfied that the State acknowledged wrongdoing was done to me,” he said. "This is a stepping stone to other legal actions.”
Arrested at home
Cunningham was arrested along with his wife Cathy in February 2005 in a garda raid at their home. The arrests took place two months after the robbery.
During the search of their home, gardaí seized £3m in sterling and €200,000 in euro.
"It was reported at the time that this money was found in wheelbarrows and hidden in compost in my garden. None of that was true. The money seized was in a locker in the basement,” Cunningham said.
"It belonged to Bulgarian businesspeople I was working with who wanted to purchase property here. I've tried to get the money back, unsuccessfully so far.”
After he was arrested and questioned, Cunningham and his wife were released from custody and a file was subsequently sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Three years later, a direction was issued to charge him. He said the move shocked him.
In 2008, he appeared before Cork District Court charged with 10 money-laundering offences. He was found guilty in 2009 and sentenced to 10 years following a 47-day trial.
Cunningham said he had no links to the robbery or the IRA.
"I believe they needed someone to blame and I was the scapegoat. Because of the nature of my finance company at the time, Chesterton Finance, I would often be dealing with large sums of cash,” he said.
"I tell you, I was in bits after I was convicted. You think there is justice out there. Then when you have to go through it, you realise the whole system is corrupt.”
Cunningham had his conviction quashed and was released by the Court of Criminal Appeal in May, 2012. A retrial was ordered after the Supreme Court ruled the Section 29 warrant used during his arrest was "unconstitutional”.
The retrial began in February, 2015, with Cunningham facing nine charges that involved sums totalling about £600,000.
After four days, he changed his plea to guilty to laundering £275,400. The charges stated that he was reckless as to whether the money represented the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely a robbery at the Northern Bank Cash Centre, Donegall Square West, Belfast, on December 20, 2004.
He said this weekend: "What I actually pleaded guilty to was two charges of reckless trading. I did so because they told me if I didn't, I could go back to prison for 10 years. I knew if I had to go back inside, I would not come out alive.”
Cunningham said that, through his work as a financier, he did have business dealings with a person with links to Sinn Féin, which he said potentially could have led to him falling under garda suspicion.
In the years before the robbery, he also worked with an organisation helping farmers who were facing eviction to fight the banks, which "rubbed some people in authority up the wrong way. I've never had any dealings with the IRA, but I do come from a republican background”.
Cunningham was represented in his legal action by Kevin Winters of KRW Law in Belfast, who said he is due to lodge an application for a certificate of a miscarriage of justice to the Court of Appeal over his client's 2015 conviction.
One legal source pointed out that, given Cunningham pleaded guilty to those offences, it "might prove difficult, if not impossible” for a certificate to be secured.
However, Cunningham would then have the option of lodging a case at the European Court of Human Rights.
Mr Winters said: "I welcome the resolution of Mr Cunningham's case, coming as it does after a decade-long battle for justice against the governor of Cork prison, the minister for justice and the attorney general.
"We can now confirm his case settled for a significant five-figure sum. The inhumane prison regime endured by our client wouldn't have been out of place in the medieval era. At times it was bordering on the barbaric, especially when it came to conditions for prisoners doing their ablutions.”
The human rights lawyer said that "although there was no admission of liability nor any apology” from the prison authorities, Cunningham's case "couldn't be any more timely, as a potent reminder to all prison and justice authorities that radical overhaul of the system is urgently needed before it's too late”.
He added: "Secondly, the settlement goes a long way to endorsing Ted's credibility on his assertions about the reasons why he ended up pleading guilty. He has always made the case that the conditions of his detention were so bad that he would have done anything to get out of prison.
"That included him pleading guilty. We hope the settlement will provide much needed leverage for our pending application to set aside his plea of guilty.”
MP condemns BBC's description of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands as 'activist'
By David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, January 10th, 29025
The BBC’s description of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands as an “activist” rather than a convicted criminal is misleading and sanitises terrorism, an MP has said.
Jim Allister has accused the corporation of adopting language “more fitting to propaganda than public service broadcasting” during a flagship news programme on Radio 4.
On Thursday, introducing an item about pro-Palestine hunger strikes in England, The World at One programme stated that “The IRA activist Bobby Sands died after 66 days on hunger strike”.
The programme, presented by Sarah Montague, went on to discuss Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed, who had by that stage reportedly been on hunger strike for 67 and 60 days respectively.
They are in prison awaiting trial on charges of relating to criminal damage in the name of Palestine Action – charges they deny.
The group was not a proscribed terror organisation at the time of the alleged offences.
The TUV leader has criticised the comparison with Bobby Sands – who was jailed in 1977 after being convicted for possession of a revolver after a terrorist bomb and gun attack, and led IRA prisoners in the Maze. He died on hunger strike in 1981, after having been elected as an MP.
Mr Allister said the BBC’s language is “not merely imprecise; it is misleading” – saying he was a convicted criminal and a member of a proscribed terrorist organisation responsible for murder and intimidation.
“The BBC’s own editorial guidelines require accuracy, context and care in language, particularly when dealing with terrorism. Those standards were plainly not met.
“From a legal point of view, I am concerned by the way Sands was juxtaposed with current defendants who are awaiting trial and deny the charges against them. Sands was not on remand. He was not awaiting trial. He was serving a substantial prison sentence following conviction. Blurring these distinctions creates a false moral and legal equivalence.
“The BBC should acknowledge the error, clarify its editorial standards on the use of language in relation to terrorism and ensure greater care in future coverage”, the North Antrim MP said.
The BBC has declined to comment.
UDA heavies bomb threat to pub after loyalist given Boxing Day hiding
STAFF REPORTER, Sunday Life, January 11th, 2026
ASSOCIATE OF ALLEGED LOAN SHARK MURRAY GIVEN HIDING FESTIVE REVELLERS FORCED TO FLEE BOOZER IN WAKE OF BAR BRAWL THAT SAW ASSOCIATE OF LARNE LOYALIST GANG BOSS BATTERED BY RIVAL
Masked South East Antrim UDA members threatened customers in a popular bar after a close associate of a paramilitary boss was involved in a fight on the premises.
Revellers were also warned not to contact police in the wake of the Boxing Day clash in an east Antrim pub.
Earlier that evening an associate of Larne UDA chief and suspected loan shark David Murray — who denies involvement in criminality — got into a punch-up with a relative of another prominent loyalist.
Within an hour a gang of UDA heavies arrived at the bar looking for the young man.
“On Boxing Night a number of men appeared in balaclavas saying they were from the UDA and a bomb had been planted on the premises. This caused people to panic and they ran out of the pub,” a source told Sunday Life. “It was all to do with a close associate of David Murray being assaulted earlier that night. People in the bar were warned not to ring the police or record anything on their phones.”
Drunken
This account was backed by a second source, who added: “Murray's associate got into a drunken fight in the pub with the son of another loyalist paramilitary.
“He got his b***s kicked in so the UDA was sent down to help him and find the guy who had beaten him up. But instead of doing that a bunch of masked men went into the bar, said they were UDA and a bomb had been left, which cleared everyone out of the place.”
The incident, which the PSNI is aware of but confirmed has no formal report of, has been the talk of UDA circles over the new year.
It has also thrust Larne UDA chief Murray back into the spotlight, something he has been trying to avoid since Sunday Life revealed details of his money-spinning window cleaning business and how its accounts showed it made a total of £250,000 over a two-year period between 2021 and 2022.
The latest accounts for MG Cleaning Services, which also does power-washing and of which Murray is the sole director, are even more profitable.
Companies House records show it raked in £355,473 during 2024, a considerable increase on the £273,358 the business pulled in during 2023.
Murray's MG Cleaning Services is now well on course to pass the £1m takings mark when it files its latest set of accounts at the end of 2026.
As well as being a UDA boss and businessman, Murray, who drives a £150,000 McLaren super-car, also revels in the self-styled role of 'master bonfire builder'.
For years he has been the brains behind the huge Craigyhill Eleventh night bonfire which dominates the Larne skyline every July.
The 53-year-old featured prominently in a Netflix documentary on the bonfire last summer and claimed its opponents offered a £10,000 reward to anyone who set fire to it early.
Murder
In 2013, Murray was named in court by police as the “new commander of the UDA in Larne”. Two decades ago he was charged with the UDA feud-related murder of UVF man Andrew Cairns, who was beaten and shot in the head at a Larne bonfire.
The murder charge against Murray was eventually withdrawn and he pleaded guilty to assault, receiving a suspended prison sentence.
In 2021 security sources named the Larne loyalist as one of the UDA bosses targeted by a government taskforce launched to crack down on loan sharking.
He later took to social media to clear his name, writing he had been “fully investigated by the NCA (National Crime Agency) for four years, and they found no wrongdoing at all. Case closed”.
Murray also denied involvement in criminality, writing: “I've had my business 24 years. Ask the ones in my town. I have five vans on the road, employing 10 men.
“It's not a window-cleaning firm. We have contracts all over Northern Ireland doing power- washing, UPVC cleaning, factory and commercial cleaning. I don't smoke. I only drink on very rare occasions and rarely go on holiday, so if I spend my earnings on a sports car, what's the problem?”
EX-TERRORISTS I kept under lock and key my biggest fans now
IVAN LITTLE, Sunday Life, January 11th, 2026
FORMER MAZE GOVERNOR SET TO RELEASE THIRD BOOK
Former Maze governor turned thriller writer William McKee has revealed terrorists he kept under lock and key are among his most avid readers.
The Downpatrick man, who was in charge on the day Billy Wright was murdered, publishes his second novel — about Irish unity — next month.
He said: “I see a lot of familiar faces at my book launches.
“I know that there have been people there who were members of loyalist and republican organisations.
“I have also been asked to write dedications on the books to ex-paramilitaries who haven't attended in person.
Feedback
“One of the last ones I was asked to sign was to 'Johnny in Scotland', and I was told it was for Johnny Adair.”
McKee said he receives feedback for his books from a wide range of people, not just his old captive audience.
He explained: “I'd say there are roughly 100 men and women who are keen followers of my stories and make comment on them — largely positive, I'm glad to say.”
McKee's first book was an autobiography, Governor Inside The Maze, much of it dealing with the official version of Wright's killing.
The second was a thriller, Collusion Inside The Maze, which looked at the murder through what he said was a “fictional lens”, and raised the spectre of State collusion in the INLA shooting.
But McKee, who was in the Prison Service for 27 years, enigmatically added: “Parts of the story are probably true.”
And he revealed ex-paramilitary leaders who saw his early drafts backed up his assertions and his doubts about the official story.
He is convinced the authorities knew of an INLA meeting outside the jail at which 'King Rat's' murder was discussed.
The transfer of Wright's killers, John Kennaway and Christopher McWilliams, from Maghaberry to the Maze was also questioned by McKee, and by the LVF leader's father David, who campaigned for years for an inquiry into the murder, and later claimed its findings were a whitewash.
McKee, who was medically retired in 2004 due to post-traumatic stress disorder, says his new book Operation Unification (below)is a fictional follow-up to Collusion Inside The Maze and focuses on the road towards a united Ireland.
Skulduggery
From start to finish, it is a cocktail of skulduggery, intrigue, deception, an international axis of Russia, North Korea, China and Iran, loyalist anger, and secret deals being done in the background.
He said: “The story is set two months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
“Nationalist politicians believe they are on a roll and tell the prime minister that if he goes for unification they have the numbers to carry a referendum vote.”
The storyline sees the security services going all out to thwart any referendum, which has gained the support of America and the EU.
A loyalist backlash, plus the re-arming of the paramilitaries and the reappearance of the Army on the streets of Northern Ireland, are among the other elements of the book, which features the return of a character called James Madison from the previous novel.
He is “allowed” by MI5 to steal files from its HQ in London about 10 State-linked atrocities during the Troubles in the hope disclosure will topple the government.
McKee is now writing a third book in the James Madison series — Personal Reckoning — and he hopes some of his stories will be turned into a play, movie or TV series.
Away from his writing, he is heavily involved in peace and reconciliation work with the Playhouse Performing Arts Theatre in Derry/Londonderry, giving talks and presenting videos alongside former loyalist and republican paramilitaries to community groups and schools.
For more on Operation Unification, contact info@williammckeebooks.com
