Republican linked to at least 27 murders by previously classified Irish government document
Allison Morris, Belfast Telegraph September 8th and Irish Independent, September 9th, 2025
A previously classified Irish government document has linked Co Armagh republican turned gangland enforcer Dessie O’Hare to at least 27 murders. O’Hare, now 68, was nicknamed ‘The Border Fox’ because of his ability to avoid law enforcement on both sides of the border as a member of the IRA and later the INLA.
The briefing document dated March 1987 contains details about an INLA squad led by Dominic McGlinchey, and states that readers should “keep its contents strictly confidential”.
It states that on March 16, David Donoghue, a former Irish diplomat in the Department of Foreign Affairs, along with an unnamed journalist — believed to be the late Belfast Telegraph political editor Liam Clarke — met with republican Jimmy Brown to discuss an ongoing INLA feud.
Brown sided with the ‘army council’ faction in a feud with the so-called GHQ (General Headquarters) faction, and was a close associate of Gerard ‘Dr Death’ Steenson, who had been shot dead the day before the meeting took place.
It states that “while shocked” at Steenson’s murder, those in attendance “put on a brave face for the benefit of my contact, announcing that the ‘struggle’ will continue and the GHQ faction will be ‘wiped out’”.
“Behind the rhetoric, however, my contact sensed considerable uncertainty as to how to proceed without Steenson, who had been a prime mover in the faction.”
It is then claimed that Dessie O’Hare was responsible for the murder of Steenson.
It states that O’Hare gravitated towards the GHQ faction when released from prison in 1986.
“Brown contends that O’Hare has a record of involvement in no less than 27 murders over the past few years and that, prior to his term of imprisonment in Portlaoise, the RUC regarded him as their most wanted man.”
The document links O’Hare to the murder of Tony McCluskey.
Mr McCluskey (33) was shot through the head, his fingers were cut off, and his bound and hooded body was found on a rural road, close to the border in Co Armagh in February 1987.
He had been kidnapped days earlier from his Monaghan home.
McCluskey had been a close associate of the then-jailed former INLA leader Dominic 'Mad Dog' McGlinchey, whose wife, Mary, was shot dead just days previously.
The briefing paper states: “Brown also alleged that O’Hare killed Thomas Conor Maguire and Fergus Conlon.”
Mr Conlon’s body was discovered near the border not far from his Newry home, in March 1987.
Days earlier, the body of teenager Thomas Maguire (19) was found dumped on a roadside at Forkhill. He had also been shot.
It states O’Hare was robbing banks in Cavan and Monaghan and was operating “at will across the border like a kind of scarlet pimpernel”.
It states that on the other side of the feud, the most active members were O’Hare, operating alongside Bobby Tohill, Hugh Torney and Kevin ‘Bap’ McQuillan.
Torney was shot dead in Lurgan in September 1996 as part of further INLA infighting.
Belfast priests attempted mediation
“Brown confirmed to my contact that three west Belfast priests were endeavouring to mediate between the two factions prior to Steenson’s death,” the document states.
The priests are named as Fr Des Wilson, along with Clonard Monastery-based priests Fr Seamus Enright and Fr Alec Reid.
“However, these contacts never amounted to substantive negotiations between the two sides. Nothing which my contact heard to date would corroborate media reports that a ceasefire was in progress when Steenson was killed.”
It added: “The feud is likely to continue for quite some time yet, though there are rumours that the Provos are becoming restive and may try and put an end to it themselves.”
The feud claimed the lives of 12 people before finally coming to an end.
Jimmy Brown would later go on to form the IPLO and was himself shot dead in Belfast in 1992.
O'Hare was sentenced to 40 years for kidnapping the Dublin dentist John O'Grady in 1987 and cutting off parts of his fingers with a chisel when a ransom was not paid.
After a huge manhunt, gardaí eventually managed to free Mr O'Grady, but O'Hare escaped before eventually being recaptured after being injured in a shoot-out in Co Kilkenny.
Freed under BGFA agreement
He was freed in 2006 after the High Court ruled he qualified for release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Following his release, he lived in Newtownhamilton, but was acting as an enforcer for Dublin drug gangs, giving an oration at the funeral of slain gangster Eamon Kelly.
He was released from Portlaoise Prison last June, having served a 10-year sentence, with three years suspended for attempting to violently evict a man and his family from their home in Co Dublin in 2015.
His most recent conviction was linked to a gang he led that included fellow Armagh man Declan ‘Whacker’ Duffy, who attempted a forced takeover of a property owned by a businessman, the late Jim Mansfield Snr.
The businessman’s son, Jim Mansfield Jnr, was found not guilty in relation to the kidnap attempt, but was convicted and jailed for attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to the assault.
Real accountability on legacy requires deeds, not words
MARK THOMPSON, Irish News, September 9th, 2025
AFTER commissioning the Consultative Group on the Past (Eames/Bradley), the last Labour government refused to implement independent legacy proposals recommended by the group. The Tory government reneged on the independent legacy mechanisms reached with the Irish government and the executive parties in 2014, under the Stormont House Agreement (SHA).
Then Irish government minister, Charlie Flanagan, was highly critical of the unilateral insertion of a ‘national security’ veto by the British after the agreement. He told The Irish News it was a ‘smothering blanket’ to conceal information. He also referenced the need for the British to provide information on the Dublin/Monaghan bombings, the largest loss of life in the conflict on any single day and described by an Oireachtas Committee as an act of state-sponsored terrorism.
Despite widespread support, the Tories binned the agreement and set about a series of unilateral steps centred on immunity and amnesty to shield multiple crimes committed by its forces, intelligence services, and their agents. This resulted in the legacy act.
Labour came to power on the promise to ‘repeal and replace’ the legacy act and its so-called independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). This has not happened. Instead, they are tinkering around the edges, dressing up an irreformable piece of legislation that provides powers of veto to a secretary of state who has the final say on information disclosed to families via the ICRIR. Local courts, at every level, have declared the legacy act unlawful.
Hilary Benn also promised to immediately table several remedial orders that included restoring all inquests shut down by the act. He also promised to table draft legislation. Neither has occurred.
Hilary Benn appears far more content in continuing legal challenges initiated by his predecessor to the UK Supreme Court (UKSC) to deny families access to information about the murders of their loved ones, despite multiple rulings by courts in Belfast declaring that information should be provided.
The lead case involves the sectarian murder of Paul Thompson in 1994. Lawyers for the PSNI chief constable argued before the UK Supreme Court in favour of disclosure. Paul’s last surviving relative, Eugene, passed away recently whilst awaiting judgment. By deed, intelligence and protecting state agents appear more important than truth for families.
Hilary Benn, like all British secretaries, is captive to the advice and control of Britain’s intelligence services. In effect, no matter what his initial intentions were, he has been nobbled. This was very evident in the appalling case of murdered GAA official Sean Brown, with Benn continuing the Tory challenge to the coroner’s call for a public inquiry, endorsed by the courts.
“The UK starting point has always been to protect its soldiers, intelligence services and their agents within paramilitaries. They are not neutral or honest brokers. Our experience tells us this, which is why independence is critical.
Consulted intelligence services
Legal papers revealed that in making the decision to challenge, Benn consulted with the MoD and MI5; the very agencies running agents within the organisation responsible for Mr Brown’s murder.
We have an absurd situation where some of those who would supposedly be under investigation effectively control the investigation process under the pretence of ‘national security’, which is currently playing out in court challenges and will continue through the powers of veto over disclosure.
In what other set of circumstances would those subject to investigation and inquiry set the agenda?
Families have relied on law and the ECHR (HRA 1998) and, in particular, their Article 2 rights for effective investigation and remedy. The British government’s response was to challenge and delay, then deny these rule of law norms that were delivering to families by imposing the legacy act’s ICRIR; a process that can also facilitate de facto impunity.
Had this investigative arm of the legacy act been operational in recent years there’d have been no disclosures of agents involved in the murder of Sean Brown or of similar patterns in the murder of Paul Thompson and others involving collusion; no referral of covert soldiers to the PPS in the Clonoe killings; no disclosures of collusive behaviours in significant reports by the police ombudsman; no inquest disclosures declaring unarmed civilians killed by British soldiers without justification, including in Ballymurphy. Ironically, the day of that verdict was the very day the legacy act was announced at the opening of parliament.
Flawed Process
Families are expected to trust the British government and get on with a legacy process that is so fundamentally flawed from its independence, composition, and powers, that families impacted by collusion, extrajudicial killings, and the use of lethal force are effectively being asked to participate in the cover-up.
The UK starting point has always been to protect its soldiers, intelligence services and their agents within paramilitaries. They are not neutral or honest brokers. Our experience tells us this, which is why independence and international involvement are critical.
We haven’t witnessed any change. Yet families are being asked to trust when the evidence base tells us the British are habitual bad faith actors. Their key objective is to have Irish government support. Once that’s complete, they’ll revert to type.
The only determining factor will be the actual legislation passed, not more promises.
Trust is built on actions. Hilary Benn could announce a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown, disclose the information in the murder of Paul Thompson, restore all – not some – inquests, and remove the power of veto in laying the ground for moving forward in creating a genuinely new independent international legacy body. This would be a positive start.
Deeds speak louder than words.
Mark Thompson is CEO of Relatives For Justice
Gran is escorted from Stormont for 'Lough Neagh smoothie' protest
Belfast Telegraph, September 9th, 2025
CO DOWN WOMAN BIDS TO MAKE POINT WITH 'BLUE-GREEN ALGAE FLAVOUR' DRINK
A grandmother was escorted from Stormont yesterday after attempting to show MLAs a 'smoothie' made from Lough Neagh water.
Donaghadee woman Bea Shrewsbury was asked to leave the building.
It came as Assembly Members returned following their summer recess.
Blue-green algae began growing in the lough in July for the third summer in a row, with some describing the current levels as the worst yet.
Last month footage emerged on social media of dead eels on top of a thick blanket of the algae.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Ms Shrewsbury said: “I'm here today as a voter, a member of the public, someone who drinks water in Northern Ireland and as a grandmother of two small children who also drink water from Lough Neagh.
“And I'm here because I am so, so concerned now about what is happening to Lough Neagh.
“I actually came here with my Lough Neagh smoothie, which is Lough Neagh water.
Smoothie for Smooth talking MLAs
“The reason I came to Stormont in particular is because I believe that smooth-talking MLAs who are doing consultation after consultation are not actually doing any action to solve the problems of Lough Neagh.”
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said the algae had been detected more than 100 times across the region since the start of the year. But most attention has focused on the lough.
Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertiliser running off fields and from wastewater treatment are a contributory factor.
The spread of the invasive zebra mussel has also played a role, along with warmer water temperatures due to climate change.
Ms Shrewsbury added: “MLAs have all the consultations, they have all the statistics, and with all these statistics and these consultations, then they should have the answers themselves —surely they don't want their families to be drinking this water.
“I'm a voter, I'm a member of the public, I have to drink this stuff.
“I don't understand. What are the MLAs doing?”
Stormont last year launched an action plan to deal with the environmental crisis.
Earlier this month Daera said it was working to tackle the issue, including the establishment of a task force.
It added: “The minister (Andrew Muir) has been very clear in interviews in recent days about the actions that need to be taken to address the blue-green algae problems in Lough Neagh and other waterways.
“The minister has also been clear that political support will be required in the coming months for those actions to proceed.”
O'Neill to snub Trump as Little-Pengelly accepts state banquet invite
MARK BAIN, Belfast Telegraph, September 9th, 2025
DEPUTY FIRST MINISTER WILL BE AT EVENT IN WINDSOR CASTLE INSTEAD
First Minister Michelle O'Neill will not be attending a banquet at Windsor Castle for US President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK this month.
But MLAs were told Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly will be at the event on September 17.
Ms O'Neill boycotted St Patrick's Day celebrations in Washington, DC earlier this year in protest at Trump's stance on Gaza.
Ms Little-Pengelly told MLAs yesterday: “President Trump's unprecedented second state visit to the United Kingdom is an opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland's strengths and build relationships with the president and his team and boost trade and investment.
“Using the visit to build personal ties is particularly important given the UK-US economic prosperity deal and ongoing uncertainty around tariffs.
“As with all engagements, I will use this event to promote Northern Ireland as a great place to work, invest and visit and remind the president about our unique connection to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
“At this stage, the First Minister will not be attending the state banquet with President Trump.
“I engage with people, politicians, leaders, from all different political opinion. I do believe that is what leadership is all about.”
SDLP opposition leader Matthew O'Toole told her: “Donald Trump was found liable in a New York court by a jury of sexually assaulting a woman and there have been numerous other allegations against him.”
The Deputy First Minister replied: “I will engage with the President of the United States because of the role that he holds.”
In a busy day at the reconvened Assembly, Education Minister Paul Givan defended his decision to order the Education Authority to withdraw guidance around gender for schools.
The guidance covers uniforms, naming, use of toilets and changing rooms, access to sports and admissions to single-sex schools, and advises that transgender people “have a gender identity which differs from that of their (assigned) birth sex”.
Trans guidance ‘unlawful’
Mr Givan told MLAs the guidance was “unlawful and flawed” following a ruling by the Supreme Court in April that the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex. He added: “I do not believe that a boy who identifies as a girl should be participating in girls' competitive sports, or that they should be using girls' changing and toilet facilities.
“So, this was an issue that when we had the UK Supreme Court ruling back in April, it was clear that the equality legislation of 2010, the interpretation of male and female, had to be based upon biological reality.
“When we look at the 1973 regulations when it comes to school premises, it says that schools have to provide toilet facilities for those above the age of six based upon being a boy and a girl, and the ordinary and natural meaning of that is around their biological reality.
“So the position is one that I believe is common sense.
“Yes, it absolutely requires sensitivity in navigating these issues, but the position that I have outlined back in May has now been affirmed in the legal opinion that I received.
“That underpinned the decisions taken for the Education Authority to immediately withdraw its unlawful and flawed guidance in this area.”
The Northern Ireland Teachers' Council has called on Mr Givan to reconsider the decision.
Mr Givan also told MLAs he will be asking for £1.7bn in funding over the next 10 years to address issues in special educational needs.
“This is a real challenge, but I will be putting forward a paper to the Executive to establish a flagship capital programme,” he said.
SEN campaigners gathered at Stormont to protest at the ongoing crisis in the sector yesterday.
The Education Authority has said no SEN children are now waiting to hear what school they will be attending, although 80 pupils are currently unable to attend full-time education as work is completed on new classrooms to accommodate them in a mainstream setting.
The day's proceedings began with an intervention from Speaker Edwin Poots who, following Mr Givan's announcement on transgender guidelines, warned ministers against making “significant” policy alterations without bringing details to the chamber.
“The role of the Assembly is to hold ministers to account. I have to say, it's not the best start to our business,” Mr Poots added.
Approach taken by secretary of state to legacy process redesign ‘appalling’
REBECCA BLACK, Irish News, September 9th, 2025
SECRETARY of State Hilary Benn’s approach to the redesign of a process to deal with Northern Ireland’s troubled past has been blasted as “appalling”.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said she wants reassurance that victims have been placed at the heart of the process which she said has been “opaque”.
Mr Benn said last week that he believes he is close to being able to announce a fresh agreement on dealing with legacy, revealing he been in discussion with the Irish government.
It comes after the Labour government committed to “repeal and replace” the former government’s controversial legacy act.
During questions for the Executive Office in the assembly yesterday, DUP MLA Diane Dodds accused Mr Benn of “running to Dublin”.
She said many are angry at that approach, claiming that Dublin has “never admitted its role”, and not co-operated with the Omagh Bombing Inquiry.
She added there has also been no justice for the families of some who were killed south of the Irish border by terrorists, including farmer Ian Sproule, Lord Justice Gibson and the Hanna family.
Ms Little-Pengelly said the approach to legacy “must always have justice at the heart of it”.
She said the process towards a new approach to legacy has been “opaque at best” and referred to “extensive consultations with the Irish government”.
“This is an appalling way to approach this,” she said.
“Victims should have been at the heart of the redesign of this process and I do not get any sense that that has happened.
“I think the secretary of state has asked for views, he has taken them in, and we are to wait to see what he, in all of his judgment, will say.
‘Shambolic Labour Govt’
“I notice that there has been a reshuffle, a significant reshuffle, of the UK government and I have to say that thus far, quite frankly, it has been shambolic by this Labour government, and I think it is time for them to get their act together.
“While I may not be optimistic, I think I am hopeful that a reshuffle is an opportunity for them to do so.
“Should have been some legacy and many other issues. This is a UK government that needs to get a grip, needs to get a grip of our economy, it needs to get a grip on immigration, it needs to get a grip on tackling the internal barriers to the UK internal market and it needs to get a grip on legacy and start to talk to the people most impacted by it.”
Ms Dodds also criticised the attendance of First Minister Michelle O’Neill at republican memorial events.
Ms Little-Pengelly responded: “It is worth reiterating time and time again that terrorism was always wrong, that violence was always wrong, there was never any justification and there was always an alternative.”
She said she has spoken to families bereaved by terrorism who feel their loss is being mocked and laughed about, and those who carried out the attacks being glorified.
“That is wrong, I disagree with the glorification of terrorism, should it be about the IRA, IRA prisoners, UVF, UDA.”
Who knows havoc Farage would inflict as Prime Minister
MALACHI O’DOHERTY, Belfast Telegraph, September 9th, 2025
Nigel Farage says it will be easy to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement to remove any dependence it has on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Well, as a businessman, he presumably knows the meaning of the word 'negotiate'. It describes an engagement between parties in which each concedes something to the other to make a deal.
So, what, I wonder, does he think he might concede? And who is he going to be negotiating with anyway?
Let's take the second question first.
The Good Friday Agreement arose from a three-stranded negotiation between Britain and Ireland, between the two parts of Ireland and between the two traditions in Northern Ireland, nationalism and unionism.
Farage, as British Prime Minister would be negotiating primarily with the Taoiseach.
But the Taoiseach would have to seriously consider the wishes of northern politicians. The ECHR provisions in the agreement relate mainly to the rights of northern people, so a change made without reference to them, indeed without their representatives at the table, would be inconceivable.
When the agreement was last renegotiated, in St Andrews in 2006, the deal was done between the two governments — but with all the major political parties present to assure the governments that they would accept it.
Walk outs?
A threat to walk out by either of the major parties — Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party — would make any proposed deal untenable.
So what is Mr Farage going to offer?
It is going to have to be something that both Sinn Fein and the DUP would agree to.
I can't think of anything that passes that test. They might agree on what time to break off for coffee, but they are hardly likely to agree on anything else.
During the original negotiations Sinn Fein set out preconditions for participating, one of which was flatly refused: that the British Government would become 'persuaders' for Irish unity.
Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, stood by an assertion that Britain would be neutral on the question. Keir Starmer has said that he would not be neutral on it. But the important point is that the agreement does not oblige him to take one position or the other.
Britain's position in relation to the Union is that Northern Ireland may leave any time it wants. This is rather different from its position on Scotland, which it grabbed by the tail when it was trying to leave, bullying and cajoling it into staying.
Farage is being much too blithe in his conviction that he can manage the Irish. His tone is reminiscent of much of the debate around Brexit when many in Britain seemed flummoxed by the very idea that Ireland was an autonomous state within the EU and didn't have to take a humble place at England's heel.
They had not thought through the implications of Brexit for the Irish border or foreseen the massive complications that would arise.
Then Prime Minister Boris Johnson was just as brash as Farage when he scoffed at any suggestion that there would be an Irish Sea border controlling trade, or that Northern Ireland would still have one foot in the EU. But he was wrong. And the issue remains an irritant still.
So Farage has learnt nothing from that experience and still thinks that the Irish can be coaxed into surrendering a principle of the Good Friday Agreement. And he has no sense of the difficulty that the Irish would have in conceding anything to him.
So what's his offer going to be? It could be a border poll, with Britain acting as persuaders for Irish unity.
English nationalists who flock to the Reform Party may be content with that. They may say: “What did we ever get from Ireland, apart from Oasis, Ant & Dec, The Beatles, Saoirse Ronan, Judi Dench, etc?
Ireland will be more apprehensive. For many, the plea for unity is like Augustine's Prayer to be made holy — “but not yet”.
But once such an offer is on the table, it would be hard for nervous Irish nationalists to reject it. What would be the attraction of a Union in which you weren't wanted?
Unionists would feel utterly betrayed.
This would not lead to a renegotiation of the Good Friday Agreement but to its collapse — which would suit Farage. Unless a premature border poll did actually fail. In which case we would have lost the agreement and have nothing to fall back on.
I doubt that Farage has thought this through, but he may have done. I also doubt that many in Ireland have thought through what havoc Reform UK in government would inflict on us.
Some may be excited by the prospect of Farage bringing forward a border poll; some may fear that even thinking these thoughts and beginning to prepare for the sort of shock that Farage could deliver will itself accelerate the process.
School transgender guidance issued by Education Authority ‘inconsistent with law’: Givan
MARK ROBINSON, Irish News, September 9th, 2025
EDUCATION Minister Paul Givan has said that guidance issued by the Education Authority (EA) on transgender pupils is “inconsistent” with the law and has written to the body to request its immediate withdrawal.
The guidance, which was first issued in 2019, advised that transgender pupils should access facilities including toilets and changing rooms which aligned with their gender identity.
However, Mr Givan announced yesterday that his department had issued an updated policy statement which outlines that ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ refer to biological sex.
The new policy states that pupils should only have access to changing rooms and toilets which align with their biological sex and that teachers should not be “compelled to use pronouns other than those with reflect biological sex”.
The DUP minister said that the decision was taken following the UK Supreme court ruling in April which defined “sex” in law as referring to biological sex.
The impacted legislation, the Equality Act, does not extend to the north, although LGBTQ+ campaigners said they were “deeply concerned” by the ruling at the time.
“The UK Supreme Court’s ruling has direct implications for education policy and practice in Northern Ireland,” Mr Givan said.
“The legal position is now clear: references to ‘sex’ in law are references to biological sex.
“Education policy must be grounded in legal clarity and prioritise the best interests of children. It should not be driven by ideology.
“I have already been clear that I do not believe a boy who identifies as a girl should participate in girls’ sports or use girls’ changing rooms and toilet facilities. Similarly, I do not believe that pupils or teachers should be compelled to use pronouns that do not reflect biological sex.”
Mr Givan said that the 2019 EA guidance was non-statutory and that he had tasked his officials to seek legal advice following the Supreme Court decision.
“Having carefully considered the legal advice provided, I have concluded that the current Education Authority guidance does not reflect Departmental policy and is inconsistent with the law in Northern Ireland,” he said.
“While many of these issues are best managed at a school level, consistent with the ethos of the school, the Department has a responsibility to set clear, lawful, guiding principles.”
He added that the issue was both complex and sensitive and that the policy statement “is not about denying the experience of any individual”.
“We are dealing with real young people – their lives, their wellbeing and their futures,” he said.
“This is not an easy issue, but we cannot shy away from it. As Education Minister, I am committed to ensuring our schools are safe, respectful and supportive environments for every child.”
British Army banned at Derry jobs fair following opposition from nationalists
JOHN BRESLIN, Irish News, September 9th, 2025
THE British Army will not have a stand at a jobs fair in Derry following criticism of the proposed presence from nationalist politicians, the Ministry of Defence confirmed yesterday.
Defence officials were told Derry City and Strabane Council was unable to offer the army a stand at the local authority-owned Foyle Arena, the venue for the Department for Communities-organised event.
“While we are disappointed that the British Army will not be allowed to join other organisations at Foyle Arena leisure centre next Tuesday, we accept the decision,” a MoD spokesperson said.
“The British Army welcomes the opportunity to attend jobs fairs in Northern Ireland, to share the careers available to all potential recruits.”
Political sensitivities were cited as the reason for the council’s decision to not offer the stand at the annual Derry and Strabane Cross Border Job Fair.
The fair is organised by the DfC but with council support and is due to take place today. The department more broadly is supporting British Army involvement in jobs fairs in the north.
Yesterday, the council said it had no further comment “other than to say we are looking forward to a very successful jobs fair event”.
It previously said a “steer” had been given by elected members of a council committee and this was communicated to the DfC.
Independent Councillor Gary Donnelly said the absence of the British Army from the fair is a “positive development” but that the council “needs to draw up a policy that all armed groups are kept out of all council facilities”.
A dispute broke out at the committee meeting last week after it emerged the army had registered for the event.
Sinn Féin’s Christopher Jackson said his party “fully opposed” its involvement, while the SDLP’s Brian Tierney said “ample opportunities” were available elsewhere and flagged “potential security risks”.
Ulster Unionist councillor Derek Hussey described some of the comments made in the chamber as “sheer hatred and bigotry”.
Gavin Robinson, the DUP leader, said last week his party’s ministers “would not allow discrimination against those seeking to pursue a career in the armed forces”.
DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said the opposition was born out of “hostility to the army”.
Veterans For Peace Ireland.
8th September 2025, Immediate Release - Ref: Derry Job Fair and British Army
“Irishmen and more latterly women have served the English Crown for centuries. Some join for a career but many others due to socio or economic disadvantage, others still for nefarious reasons.
In 2023-24 1,216 people in Northern Ireland applied to join the British Army, making up about 1.21% of total applicants. In the same period (2023/24), 900 people from the Republic of Ireland joined the British Army.
The Army not participating at a Trade Fair in Derry will achieve little or nothing in dissuading a potential recruit; they’ll find another route to join.
Politicians should thus end their faux outrage and phoney battles. Instead they should address the root cause to why British Army recruitment of 16-17 year olds comes from the poorest constituencies within the poorest Towns and Cities of this Island and Britain. It’s recruitment by poverty.
I challenge, why aren’t the politicians addressing that poverty? Why are they letting the British Army specifically target recruitment of vulnerable kids from deprived backgrounds?”
Glenn Bradley, Chair,
Veterans For Peace Ireland.
Adams 'not in the mix' as SF candidate in Irish presidential election, says McDonald
SENAN MOLONY, Belfast Telegraph, September 9th, 2025
Gerry Adams is “definitively not in the mix” to be a Sinn Fein candidate in the Irish presidential election, Mary Lou McDonald has said. The Sinn Fein leader was speaking at her party think-in in Dun Laoghaire yesterday, having earlier ruled herself out.
Polling day has been confirmed as Friday, October 24 and nominations for candidates will close a month before that. Ms McDonald said she did consider running for the Áras but believes she is best placed “holding this Government to account on a daily basis” in the Dáil.
She said she did not “come under pressure from the party” to put her name forward, but did say “some encouraged me, others said stay the course [as Sinn Fein president]”. Ms McDonald would not be drawn on the chances of others — apart from expressing her view that former MMA fighter Conor McGregor would not be a suitable candidate.
Pressed on possible stand-ins after she announced on radio that she would not run herself, Ms McDonald said in response to a question about former leader Gerry Adams: “Well, if you were to ask Gerry Adams, Gerry Adams would tell you that his name is very definitively not in the mix, but I'm not going to presume any of that.
“We're a republic. We're all equal citizens, and anybody who wants to make a pitch is fully, fully at liberty to do just that.” She said of Conor McGregor, who lost a civil case against Nikita Hand in which she alleged she had been raped: “He's certainly not somebody that I would support for that role.” Speaking of the current situation now for Sinn Fein, she added: “We still have the option of a Sinn Fein candidate or of backing another.”
Connolly option
Left-wing independent Catherine Connolly, who is a strong voice on Palestine and neutrality, secured the backing of a variety of opposition parties to become the first candidate in the race in July.
The Galway TD has faced questions over a trip to Syria in 2018 and her description of ex-MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace as “like-minded”.
Ms McDonald said Ms Connelly will “of course be in the reckoning” to be backed by Sinn Fein, if they do not table a candidate of their own.
Ms McDonald commended Ms Connelly on her “admirable” social justice work at home and abroad, and gave particular attention to her stance on a united Ireland.
“I was really pleased to hear her talk about Irish reunification,” she said.
“From September 24 to October 24, the Irish people have ample time to weigh things up, to consider their options. I believe we have the winning of this thing.
“I believe a candidate beyond Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael can actually win the presidency.”
Former social protection minister Heather Humphreys, Fine Gael's presidential nominee, is expected to launch her campaign officially in the coming days. She has already faced questions over an abandoned policy that would have seen disabled people in receipt of social welfare medically assessed every five years. Sinn Fein is expected to announce who it is backing on September 20.
Communities Dept to pull funding for Derry City and Strabane events if ban on Army jobs fare not lifted
By Iain Gray, Belfast News Letter, September 9th, 2023
A Stormont department will pull funding from future Derry City and Strabane Council events unless a block on the army appearing at a jobs fair is lifted, DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said.
Accusing Nationalist councillors in the area of acting out of prejudice and discriminatory attitudes in bringing in the ban, the East Belfast MP stated Communities Minister Gordon Lyons will refuse applications for money from the council in future.
The Department for Communities (DfC) has contributed cash towards the jobs fair, which takes place today (October 9) from 11am to 2pm in Londonderry’s council-owned Foyle Arena leisure centre.
Money for today’s event won’t be affected, but Mr Robinson is adamant the council won’t get any from the DfC for future jobs fairs while the army ban is in place.
A political row exploded last week, with Sinn Fein and SDLP councillors lashing out at the idea of the army having a stall at the event. Yesterday the Ministry of Defence confirmed the military would not appear, stating officials are “disappointed that the British Army will not be allowed to join other organisations” at the jobs fair.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Stephen Nolan Show this morning, Mr Robinson said his party colleague Mr Lyons would not hand out any more funding to Derry City and Strabane Council while the army ban is in place.
Said the DUP leader: “Gordon Lyons as Minister for Communities will not be accepting, and he will be indicating to his department, he will not be accepting funding applications from councils that cannot adhere to their legal obligations.
‘Prism of Prejudice’
“That means that they should be able to provide public services without discrimination, without political bias, without discriminatory practices, which in Londonderry of all cities, the city where they talk about civil rights, I’m afraid their councillors have not lived up to that mark at all.”
He went on to accuse First Minister Michelle O’Neill of “sipping champagne with the commander in chief of the armed forces” while Sinn Fein “denies opportunities to the young people of Londonderry”.
Stating that he has never believed her claims that she is a ‘First Minister for all’, Mr Robinson said: “She needs to understand that there’s more than just her own backyard that live in Northern Ireland.
“There are people in Northern Ireland that have the right to live without political discrimination, the right to pursue opportunities that are not suppressed because of naked sectarianism.
“They have the right to understand and engage with the armed forces if that’s what they choose to do – and if others don’t, they can walk on by.”
The DUP leader argued that “not one public body should be operating through the prism of prejudice or political discrimination”, adding: “It’s not beyond the pale to suggest that our councils and our public bodies and our councils should operate within the law, in a non-discriminatory way, in a way that protects minorities. What’s controversial about that?”
Nationalists have a majority on Derry City and Strabane Council, with Unionist parties making up around 20% of the body. Mr Robinson argued Nationalist politicians “rail against majoritarianism” yet “when they have the majority, they show no grace and no favour to their minority neighbours.”
The DfC and Derry City and Strabane Council have both been contacted.
Irish Language group intervenes in Grand Central signage row
ALAN ERWIN, Belfast Telegraph, September 9th, 2025
An Irish language rights group is mounting a bid to intervene in loyalist activist Jamie Bryson's legal challenge over signage at Grand Central Station in Belfast, the High Court heard yesterday.
Papers have been lodged on behalf of Conradh na Gaeilge seeking participation status at the forthcoming judicial review into a decision by Sinn Fein Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins.
Mr Bryson is challenging her approval of a £150,000 scheme to have Irish language signs installed at the new public transport hub.
In court yesterday a judge confirmed Conradh na Gaeilge's application to intervene will be determined before the full hearing of the case is due to get underway later this month.
Representing himself in the case, Mr Bryson claims the minister unlawfully breached the Ministerial Code by failing to refer the issue to the Executive Committee for discussion and agreement.
Under Stormont rules any controversial or cross-cutting decision should be tabled for consideration by the full power-sharing cabinet.
Mr Bryson contends that the test was met based on the stance taken publicly by a number of senior unionist politicians.
The high-profile campaigner has provided the court with correspondence from DUP leader Gavin Robinson, along with other political and Orange Order representatives, to back assertions that unionists are united in regarding the erection of Irish language signs at the station as a controversial move.
DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has already been granted permission to intervene in the case.
Mr Lyons wanted to become involved in a bid to set out his opinion that Ms Kimmins' decision was both controversial and cut across his own departmental responsibilities.
In court, lawyers representing the Department for Infrastructure indicated they will not oppose Conradh na Gaeilge's application.
Mr Bryson sought reassurances that the move will not impact on preparations for the full hearing.
Outside court, Padraig O Tiarnaigh of Conradh na Gaeilge insisted promotion of dual-language signage in public spaces is in line with international guidance.
He said: “We feel that the minister ultimately made the right decision and, more than 25 years on from the Good Friday Agreement, we don't see anything controversial about placing Irish and English side by side, in equal font and sizing, on public signs.”
Kneecap: QUB Prof Liam Kennedy on balaclavas, ‘selective amnesia’ and younger generation
By Philip Bradfield, Belfast News Letter, September 7th, 2025
The merchandising of balaclavas at a major Belfast music festival shows that “younger generations in nationalist Ireland have been taken in by sloganeering and selective amnesia in relation to murder, mutilation, and terror” a leading academic has said.
The comments came from Queen's University Belfast Professor of History Liam Kennedy, who has extensively researched and campaigned against paramilitary style attacks by terror groups on civilians in Northern Ireland.
He was speaking after the PSNI noted public concerns about the high volume of balaclavas sold by unauthorised street vendors at the recent Vital festival on Boucher playing fields, where controversial Belfast rap band Kneecap was playing.
The band is well known for singer DJ Próvai wearing a tricolour balaclava.
Band member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, recently appeared in court in London charged with a terrorism offence after allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London gig in November.
The group said their actions had been taken out of context and that the case should be thrown out because of a technical error.
In the wake of the concert on August 29 a PSNI spokesman said they were “aware of concerns raised” that some individuals attending the concert were observed wearing balaclavas.
While the wearing of such items can “understandably cause concern” police said, public order legislation relating to the issue can only can only be invoked where there is a reasonable belief that a risk of violence exists – which was not met on this occasion.
PSNI superintendent Allister Hagan added: “We recognise that the wearing of balaclavas can cause unease. However, police powers in this area are specific and can only be applied where there is evidence of a risk of violence.
“We will always take proportionate and lawful action where that threshold is met and keep this under continual review. Our priority is to keep people safe and ensure that events can be enjoyed by all.”
But Prof Kennedy said the popularising of balaclavas illustrates “selective amnesia” about the brutality of terror groups wearing balaclavas.
Profiting from notoriety
"The trio Kneecap seem to revel in the notoriety the term 'kneecap' implies, at no cost and considerable profit to themselves," he told the News Letter.
"Curiously, for a band that claims to be against injustice, they exploit the past suffering of hundreds of young people in loyalist and republican areas of Northern Ireland for commercial gain. Cute hoors, as they might say in some parts of Ireland.
"The merchandising of balaclavas - one of the other sinister images from the Troubles - is a further step along the road to sanitising a brutal past. Such indifference shows a failure of history and memory.
"It shows rising generations, particularly in nationalist Ireland, who have been taken in by sloganeering and selective amnesia in relation to murder, mutilation, and terror.
"Meanwhile, far from the mass excitement of the concerts and the chanting fans, the victims of paramilitary violence must go on living their lives of pain as best they can.
"Their view was that the trio were using the title in an exploitative way that showed little concern for the broken bodies of 'punishment' victims."
The News Letter previously approached Kneecap manager Dan Lambert about the concerns raised over the sale of the balaclavas.
As usual, he gave his stock answer: "There’s journalism and then there’s the News Letter Belfast. Nobody from Kneecap will be providing comment to your ‘paper’, ever.”)
British ambassador is leaving post but staying in Ireland
Mark Hennessy, Common Ground, Irish Times, September 9th, 2025
Sitting in the quad of an Oxford college, Paul Johnston, the outgoing British ambassador to Ireland who leaves his post in less than a fortnight, talks about “here”, though he refers not to the English university town but to Ireland.
Like others who spend their lives involved in the British-Irish relationship, politicians, officials, community leaders, churchmen, journalists, Johnston was in Oxford at the weekend for the annual British-Irish Association gathering.
Johnston’s use of the word “here” to describe Ireland, even though he was 500km away in Pembroke College in Oxford, illustrates the depth of connection he and his wife Nicola have made with this country.
Unusually, the two are staying on in Ireland once his ambassadorship ends. He is becoming the director general of the Irish Universities Association – the representative body for Ireland’s seven universities – taking over from Jim Miley.
Borrowing the words of Ernest Hemingway, the decision not to leave came “gradually, then suddenly”, starting two years ago as he began to think, as ambassadors have to, about the next posting.
“It was really driven by the thought that we had found somewhere where – to paraphrase Harry in When Harry Met Sally – where we wanted to spend the rest of our lives,” he tells The Irish Times.
“We’d have really been heartbroken at saying goodbye to Ireland.”
It is a relationship he has invested in; he stayed overnight in 23 of the counties during his term “with hopes of finishing off the list” soon.
Five years in Dublin, Johnston began his Irish tour during the height of the Covid pandemic, getting to know his new country and its people from endless Zoom meetings rather than the usual round of face-to-face encounters.
During his time, he developed a subtle understanding of Ireland, illustrated by the laughter provoked in a speech in July to the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce in the Mansion House in Dublin when he displayed his understanding of the phrase “to give out”.
It is one found nowhere else in the English language, though it formed a not insignificant part of the early chapters of his post when relations between Dublin and London were at their lowest during the British crisis.
“I heard the phrase, and I thought this obviously means something a bit different from what it sounds like. It’s not about donation,” he says, with a laugh.
‘A lot of giving out’
“I suffered a lot of ‘giving out’ in the first two-and-a-bit years on the job, or probably four years.”
Often, the “giving out” was done by Micheál Martin, Leo Varadkar, Simon Coveney or Paschal Donohoe, he remembers, about London’s conduct during the Brexit negotiations, even if they always avoided attacking the man.
So how bad were the bad days?
“It was bad. I remember the then Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the relationship was at an all-time low. I thought: ‘This is a pretty bad place to be in’,” he says.
A really good challenge
“But, you know, as a professional, you try and do your job and try and explain and defend as well as possible. But it wasn’t easy. But in a funny sort of way, it was a really good challenge because I was trying to explain and defend something that was universally unpopular here.
“One of the many things I’ve loved about Ireland and the people I’ve dealt with is that even when the relationship between the two governments was really difficult, there was always a distinction made between the messenger and the message.”
In addition to visiting everywhere he could, Johnston maintained a visible presence on social media, though he took a break from social media network X in 2023 after taking considerable abuse following comments on Ireland’s debate about future security.
However, the social media experience brought good days, too, especially one Christmas when he posted “a nice picture from the residence in Glencairn” on December 26th, wishing his readers a “Happy Saint Stephen’s Day”, rather than Boxing Day.
Scottish, not English
“I got thousands, literally thousands of retweets with people saying: ‘You really understand Ireland. You have gone native’,” says Johnston, who usually quietly but firmly points out that he is Scottish, not English.
“I think the Scottishness has helped. I remember that a lot of my Irish friends were saddened when Keir Starmer came here for the Irish-English football international, and some of the Irish fans booed: ‘God Save the Queen’,” he says.
“But I said: ‘You know, if England were playing Scotland in Hampden, probably a lot of Scots would be booing God Save the Queen.’ So, you shouldn’t think of it as an exclusively Irish-English thing.
“I think there’s a lot of underlying affection for Britain. A lot of people here felt very sad about the Brexit decision for all sorts of reasons, political reasons but all sorts of personal reasons too.”
He believes there’s a lot of underlying warmth too noting that many people in Ireland have “spontaneously” said to him that they are glad Dublin and London are getting on better since Keir Starmer became British prime minister.
Ambassadors have a responsibility to translate their posting for their own political masters. Johnston says James Cleverly, the Conservative who was UK foreign secretary from 2022 to 2023, encouraged his ambassadors “to go native”.
This “at first seemed like a strange thing to say”, says Johnston.
He wanted British ambassadors “to be inside the heads of your hosts” to be able to say how the Irish or French or anyone else would see any of the issues affecting relationships between capitals.
During his sometimes difficult relations with Dublin ministers, Mr Johnston says he “took from the British script the elements that I thought would make the best and most coherent case to make here”.
Throughout his time in Dublin, Johnston was struck by Irish people’s depth of knowledge of Britain in comparison to the basic if benign attitudes towards Ireland held by the majority of the British.
“Irish people are so interested in British politics. I remember having dinner with Leo Varadkar once and there was a by-election coming up in Somerset and Frome, or somewhere,” he says.
“I was vaguely aware it was happening, but Leo had all the percentages in his head. He’d been looking at the polls in the way that British people obsess about American politics.”
Later this month, the Johnstons will make their final house move, they hope, when they move out of the Glencairn residence on the Murphystown Road in South Dublin to a house elsewhere in the capital bought a year ago.
He will not miss the moves, having completed postings in France, Sweden and Belgium in his diplomatic career.
“It’s the one bit of the job that I really dislike, uprooting every three or four years. You don’t lose your friends because you can stay in touch, but it’s never – it’s never the same. You have to start making friendships all over again,” he says.
Being a private citizen will bring its own changes.
“I’m still trying to prepare myself for it in my head. The former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind once said to me: ‘You know that you’re an ex-minister when you get in the back of a car and nothing happens’,” he says.
“I suspect I’ll need to get used to not just walking to the front door and the car being there and instead getting the times for the Dart or whatever but I’m looking forward to having a bit more freedom.”
