SAM McBRIDE, Sunday Independent and Sunday Life, November 15th, 2026
Fifty-eight years ago this month, TK Whitaker sent an exceptionally far-sighted six-page memo to taoiseach Jack Lynch. The blandly titled A Note on North-South Policy spelled out some then unorthodox thinking on partition.
The brilliant Down-born bureaucrat wrote that the Border had not simply been imposed by the British, any use of force to remove it was pointless, the south could not pay for the North and the only way unity might happen would be if Northern Ireland agreed to it.
He said something else: "For the Northern unionists, the main motive binding them to the United Kingdom is fear rather than loyalty — fear of loss of power, property, privilege and even religious independence if they were subject to a Dublin parliament.”
While a great many unionists have long had a strong emotional loyalty to Britain, there was some truth in that observation.
But there is another fear that partly explains why nationalism has made such limited progress on unity in what ought to have been a fertile decade since Brexit. There is a risk for nationalism that, as it starts to confront what a united Ireland might actually be, dormant tensions will burst to life among those striving towards this goal.
When something seems unlikely, supporting it is easy. We are now entering a period in which Irish unity is more possible than at any time since partition, but also one in which the paucity of nationalist planning for this eventuality is increasingly stark.
If a border poll is going to be won by nationalism, this planning is important; if they're going to win and make a success of the outcome, such planning is indispensable. Yet in undertaking this planning, there are innumerable perils for their cause.
Last weekend, Fine Gael published its "blueprint” for a united Ireland. Despite what party leader Simon Harris said, it's nothing of the sort. This document is not a plan, but a recognition of how much planning must be undertaken.
And yet, for that very reason, this is a modestly impressive document. It doesn't seek to sell the lie that removing the Border would be easy, painless or cheap.
Awkward questions
Far too many nationalists have sounded like Brexiteers over recent years, seeking to swat away the awkward questions.
Instead, they should be paraphrasing John F Kennedy's defence of Nasa's moon mission: "We seek to unite Ireland not because it is easy, but because it is hard; because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
The 34-page Fine Gael document is accompanied by a 115-page analysis by Professor Deirdre Heenan (to whom I spoke as part of her research), a 45-page economic analysis by Professor Stephen Kinsella and a calculator to work out rough estimates of what unity might cost, based on various scenarios.
What struck me when reading this material was that I've never seen anything like this from Sinn Féin; something that confronts the scale of the challenge of ending partition.
Especially on finance, Sinn Féin's central argument hangs on two weak pillars: Northern Ireland is nowhere near as expensive as most economists say, and the Brits will keep paying for much of these expenses long after they leave. This simply isn't serious.
Sinn Féin has boxed itself into a corner, where it just keeps saying "we must have a border poll by 2030”, even as that becomes progressively more absurd.
The party's excuse for not doing serious planning for unity is that only the Irish Government can do this. Yet Fine Gael, as a party, has done something Sinn Féin hasn't.
Days before the Fine Gael document, Fianna Fáil set out a 'Futures Study Initiative' to examine the possibility of a unitary state, a continuing devolved Northern Ireland government or a continuation of the status quo. These are the most basic questions; the flag, anthem, membership of the Commonwealth and Nato, protections for Britishness and other compromises are more divisive.
One of the most significant elements of Fine Gael's document is the proposal to create a sovereign wealth fund to help pay for unity. This is strategically sensible for nationalism, and should concern unionism.
Yet consider the political pressures in the Republic if such a pot of hundreds of billions of euro is sitting there amid a future recession. It is at this point we will see how prepared southern citizens are to undergo hardship to pay for the future to which they aspire.
What's now happening is in many ways is the enactment of the vision of Whitaker, who in 1968 warned "we should not be the prisoners of old ideas, even as to the form that reunification might take”.
Many more people now share his worldview. But plenty of others do not, and believe that most of their fellow nationalists are also wedded to the old ideas.
Eleanor Donaldson looked so ordinary
SUZANNE BREEN, Sunday Life, November 15th, 2026
Eleanor Donaldson certainly doesn't look sinister. Nothing about her appearance would send a shiver down your spine.
Indeed, the opposite is true of this slender, silver-haired woman.
You can imagine her selling scones at the church fête in Moira or helping out on a bric-a-brac stall.
A visitor to the former DUP leader's home remembers boxes piled high in one room. The politician explained that they contained goods his wife had collected “for the missions”.
Apart from noting that she was always immaculately dressed, locals in Lagan Valley say little stood out in their encounters with the former Lady Donaldson.
And that is the most unsettling thing about the entire case: the banality of evil.
A man, known by friend and foe alike in politics for his mild and unassuming nature, committed the most horrific crimes against children.
A woman who looks utterly ordinary helped him in this unspeakable cruelty.
The jury found that Eleanor Donaldson had carried out acts of aiding and abetting her husband's sexual offending against two little girls.
She's not guilty of simply being married to the wrong man or failing to understand what was happening.
The seven men and five women who listened to four weeks of evidence in Newry Crown Court found that she had actively assisted his abuse.
In her impact statement, Victim A said she “cannot comprehend not wanting to protect a child”.
A prison sentence became a legal impossibility once she was deemed medically unfit for trial. Instead, she was subject to a 'trial of the facts' — an outcome that prompted public unease and calls for legal reform.
Eleanor Donaldson will now be supervised until 2029 by a social worker within the Craigavon Community Mental Health Team. She will also be on the sex offenders register for the next five years.
Such ignominy is a far cry from the life she once enjoyed. While she wasn't the smiling political wife constantly by her husband's side, she did attend key events with him in recent years.
She joined other VIPs at a garden party in 2023 at Hillsborough Castle during the first visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla to Northern Ireland following his coronation.
The year before, she had accompanied her husband to Queen Elizabeth's funeral in Westminster Abbey. Her last public appearance by his side was when devolution was restored at Stormont in February 2024.
She joined him in the public gallery at Parliament Buildings to watch the first meeting of the new Assembly. A month later, the couple were arrested.
There is no glamorous political world left to inhabit. Her husband is behind bars and, although avoiding that fate, she is forever shamed by both her actions and inaction in this whole sick saga.
Aged
The images of Eleanor Donaldson now speak of a life transformed.
Appearing in court via video-link on Friday, her hair was cropped short and she had dark rings under her eyes and two large cuts on her forehead.
Her head was bowed most of the time as she clutched a tissue and cried.
In the 21 months since she was last seen walking briskly in and out of court, she looked like she had aged many, many years.
Yet there is a danger in stories like this. We are fascinated by the downfall of the powerful: the disgraced politician and the wife whose appearance has so dramatically changed.
The extraordinary nature of their crimes makes that natural. We want to dwell on every detail of how he's handling jail and what she's up to.
Journalists digging and reporting what they find on both fronts is entirely justified, and the public are certainly hungry for news on the infamous couple.
But while Eleanor Donaldson's story is compelling, she should not command our sympathy.
The tragedy here is that two young girls had their childhoods violated.
Eleanor lost her reputation and the life she once knew. It is nothing in comparison to what has been taken from the victims. Their stolen childhoods can't be restored.
No prison sentence or supervision order can give them back what they have lost. It is the suffering those two young girls endured that should keep us awake at night.
Their words should haunt the ex-DUP leader's wife. In her impact statement, Victim A said she “cannot comprehend not wanting to protect a child”.
These two brave women, who brought the house of cards crashing down, sat in the public gallery to watch justice finally catch up with the person who aided and abetted their abuse.
A senior DUP figure who worked closely with the disgraced politician said: “This whole story shakes your confidence in your ability to judge people. You think you know somebody and you don't.
“I'd not have thought twice about leaving my children with Jeffrey and Eleanor. I trusted him completely. Now I'd trust nobody with my kids.”
The exposure of the DUP leader and his wife should stand as a permanent warning not to be fooled by appearances.
Paedophiles carefully craft their image to hide the monsters they are. And their protectors don't always look like what we expect. Sometimes, they wear pearl earrings and a smile.
MLA raps 'delays' in rape cases
SHAUN KEENAN, Sunday Life, November 15th, 2026
The number of rape cases awaiting a first court appearance has more than doubled in four years.
Department of Justice figures show 10 such cases were at that stage on April 1, compared with four on the same date in 2022.
The statistics were revealed in response to an Assembly question from SDLP Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan.
The median time between a Public Prosecution Service (PPS) decision to prosecute and the first court date in rape cases was 30 days in 2025/26.
Mr Durkan said: “The system is failing victims. The existing delays are unacceptable, forcing victims to live with uncertainty for months and years, battling repeated postponements.
Complex
“How can we expect victims to have the confidence to come forward when they see the delays and difficulties faced by those navigating the justice system?”
The PPS, however, claimed the figures did not necessarily point to delays.
It said: “(The figures) do not show when decisions were made, the reasons why cases had not yet reached court, or the total number of such cases being handled.
“A period of time between a decision to prosecute and a first court appearance is a normal part of the process, and does not, in itself, indicate delay.
Justice Minister Naomi Long said sexual offence cases were often complex, involving vulnerable victims and witnesses, significant volumes of sensitive evidence and the need for careful investigation.
She added: “These factors can mean cases take longer to progress.
“My department is working with partners on a programme of work to reduce delay.”
Former Sinn Fein councillor and republican activists endorsed cocaine baron
CHRISTOPHER WOODHOUSE, Sunday Life, November 15th, 2026
BELFAST COMMUNITY WORKER CAME OUT IN DEFENCE OF 'QUIET MAN' REPUBLICAN REFUSES TO SPEAK TO SUNDAY LIFE AFTER HAILING CRIME BOSS FOR 'SAVING CHRISTMAS'
A former Sinn Féin councillor was among those who provided glowing references to a court on behalf of a Kinahan cartel-linked cocaine dealer.
In written submissions to a judge, Annie Armstrong claimed organised crime chief Joe 'Quiet Man' Kearney saved Christmas in a west Belfast housing estate, and spoke of his “care, dedication and kindness”.
When challenged by Sunday Life about her gushing remarks, including a plea for leniency, the former politician said: “I don't want to talk to you, and you shouldn't have come to my home. I don't want anybody coming to the door.”
Sinn Féin has said that Ms Armstrong is no longer a party member.
Cocaine king Kearney was jailed last month for being involved in the large-scale importation of drugs into Northern Ireland using the Europe-wide Encrochat network.
The 45-year-old is currently serving half of a four-and-a-half year term behind bars for smuggling cannabis and conspiring to import cocaine, along with having £250,000 in criminal cash.
The money was found stashed around Kearney's Juniper Park home during a police raid in west Belfast in June 2020.
Messages found on his mobile phone showed the cocaine he was trying to import was brought into the UK by the Kinahan cartel.
Prior to Kearney's sentencing, his lawyers provided the court with six references which spoke positively of his character.
One was written by Annie Armstrong, previously a Sinn Féin councillor on Lisburn council.
Leniency plea
In it, she spoke of how Kearney saved a west Belfast Christmas lights switch-on by paying out of his own pocket for repairs to a festive tree which had been vandalised.
Copies of the references were provided to Sunday Life after a judge said objections to them being made public by the authors were not sufficient to depart from the principle of open justice.
Armstrong, who works for the west Belfast community group the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, appealed for the court to show leniency towards Kearney.
Her reference spoke of how in one instance Kearney rescued a “Santa Comes to Colin” event in the Twinbrook estate after youths damaged a 15ft Christmas tree and stripped its lights ahead of them being switched on.
“Because of the anti-social activities of the young people involved, we needed to secure additional financial support to restore the tree, replace the lights and have them installed once more by an electrician, as well as having again to hire a cherry picker to re-install the tree and light,” she said.
Flooded
“Joseph Kearney secured and paid for the cherry picker (and) contributed to the replacement of lights to ensure the local community could have their Santa Comes to Colin event. Joseph also assisted others to secure the spot where the tree was placed.”
Armstrong said it showed his “care and dedication to the community, as well as his kindness” and how “this community will be forever grateful”.
She added: “I now wish to appeal to the court for leniency towards any outcome in terms of the court decision in respect of Joseph Kearney.”
Another reference for Kearney was provided by ex-IRA prisoner Jim McCarthy, the head of the government-funded charity Community Restorative Justice Ireland (CRJI).
He wrote of how Kearney had “transformed not only his own life but also the lives of those around him”.
“Joseph's dedication, consistency and willingness to take responsibility have shown what real positive change can look like,” he said.
McCarthy said Kearney “embodies the values of restorative justice” and that he felt he was an “exceptional individual”.
When Sunday Life previously contacted McCarthy to ask him about providing a reference for an organised crime boss who flooded his community with drugs, he said: “We don't give out references willy-nilly and certainly wouldn't be used by anyone as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
“They have to genuinely commit to what they're doing. If I thought they were in swinging the lead, it wouldn't happen.”
Other references were provided by Umberto Scappaticci, a community worker in the Colin area and relative of IRA double agent Freddie 'Stakeknife' Scappaticci, who spoke of Kearney's “kindness” and “helpfulness”.
“Joe has consistently shown himself to be a kind, supportive and community-minded individual,” he said.
Liam Cunningham, the chairman and head coach of Saints Boxing Club, said he had known Kearney for more than 30 years, and he had helped the club financially, helped with fund-raising and was an “invaluable volunteer”.
A letter from the committee of Tullymore Swifts Football Club, of which Kearney was a member, said he was an “integral part of our coaching team”, had been a “player, coach (and) peer mentor” and had served as secretary, treasurer and chairperson.
It said it had found Kearney “dependable, trustworthy, courteous and a valuable member of the club and community”.
At his sentencing hearing, Judge Neil Rafferty KC outlined that when police searched his house on June 14, 2020, they found £250,000 in cash, along with 1.5kg of cannabis in the backyard.
Detected
Kearney used the encrypted Encrochat network to talk about and arrange the supply of “jackets” of cannabis, saying he could do “100 every other month”.
In other messages, Kearney talked of how they needed to cut packages of cannabis out of a road roller, asking where they could do it without being detected.
The messages talked of how “30 would go to Dublin”, with Kearney and others keeping “40” of what he described as “good stuff, Canadian proper”, saying they expected to get “seven or seven and a half for it easy”.
Kearney also arranged for the transfer of up to £30,000 at a time.
He was later charged with, and pleaded guilty to, a string of offences, including possession of cannabis with intent to supply, conspiracy to possess cannabis with intent to supply, and transferring and possessing criminal property.
Along with the references, Judge Rafferty was provided with a pre-sentence report which said Kearney had got into drug dealing to fund a gambling addiction.
It also outlined how he had established a maintenance business which had contracts with the Housing Executive and employed six staff members.
Jailing Kearney, Judge Rafferty said he had been motivated by “significant financial gain”.
Sunday Life previously revealed how Kearney had been paying off dissident republicans to be allowed to deal drugs freely in west Belfast and live within the republican Twinbrook estate.
Other major cocaine dealers such as Jim 'JD' Donegan and Sean Fox were murdered by the terror gang ONH, yet he was left alone because of his regular protection payments.
Ex-DUP volunteer and £1m cocaine convict in court for drug dealing
JOHN TONER, Sunday Life, November 15th, 2026
A loyalist bandsman and former DUP volunteer who was once caught with a £1m cocaine haul has been back in court to confess to drug dealing again.
Mark Officer appeared at Laganside Magistrates Court in Belfast last Friday for sentencing after he earlier admitted selling cocaine.
The 53-year-old counsel said the prospect of referring his case to the specialised Substance Misuse Court (SMC) had previously been explored, but the defendant was deemed unsuitable.
His solicitor asked the court to revisit his eligibility, describing him as “genuinely a very good fit” for the SMC.
District Judge Steven Keown agreed, saying Officer's “small-scale supply” was “not a barrier” to the remedy.
The judge added: “His instructions (to probation) relate to selling to friends to generate funds for a gambling addiction, I think we should look at an SMC referral.”
Addressing the defendant, Judge Keown continued: “Speak to probation and come back in two weeks.”
The case against Officer, of Ardoyne Road in north Belfast, was adjourned until November 27.
In 2021, Officer was convicted of taking part in an illegal Eleventh Night parade in the mixed Kilcoole area of the city the previous year.
Officer and Belfast City Council employee Thomas Horner (43) were found guilty after a contest and fined over their participation in the event, titled No Surrender Lockdown 2020. They took to the streets with other bandsmen despite the Parades Commission having refused permission for the march.
Seized cocaine
Officer was fined £750 and Horner, from Kilcoole Gardens in north Belfast, was fined £500.
Officer was jailed for more than three years in 2015 after police seized cocaine worth nearly £1m in a house linked to him in the Shankill area of Belfast.
He was handed a 40-month sentence for supplying the class A drug, while co-accused Phillip Leslie Colville was given a 12-month sentence for possessing cocaine and a stun gun in the shape of a mobile phone.
Despite his conviction and jail time, Officer would go on to be pictured with senior DUP figures, including former party leader Arlene Foster, ex-deputy leaders Nigel Dodds and Paula Bradley, former minister Nelson McCausland and MLA William Humphrey, at a constituency meeting in 2018.
The image was posted on Twitter by the DUP's north Belfast branch before being removed.
The party later defended the cocaine convict's attendance at the event, saying he had served his time in jail and wished to “make a positive contribution to society”.
In 2019, Officer was again pictured alongside Mr McCausland while canvassing on behalf of then DUP Belfast City councillor Dale Pankhurst.
Officer's name was also listed among those who signed election nomination papers for former party candidate Gillian Simpson and Mr Pankhurst in the Oldpark area.
Several photos were posted on social media showing Officer canvassing with the candidates and carrying their election leaflets.
He previously belonged to the Pride of Ardoyne loyalist flute band, which featured in the BBC documentary Petrol Bombs & Peace: Welcome to Belfast, shown in 2013.
New IRA bar room thug 'is gunman in OnH show of strength'
CIARAN BARNES, Sunday Life, November 15th, 2026
CONVICTED BADGER BAITER BRANDED 'A COMPLETE ROCKET' BY SOURCES QUIZZED OVER SINISTER PHOTOGRAPH
This is the convicted badger baiter and self-confessed New IRA member suspected of being one of the masked gunman photographed taking part in a sinister republican show of strength by a rival dissident grouping.
Paramilitary sources told Sunday Life Michael Conwell was the hooded man holding a machine-gun on the far left of our image here.
The picture was taken after the same dissident group was filmed firing shots in the air on the Tullymore Road in Derry city last January.
Conwell was arrested by police in connection with the show of strength by ONH (Óglaigh na hÉireann) but later freed without charge.
Sources said the 36-year-old had been trying to establish an ONH unit in Derry after a split in the organisation led to its members there siding with a rival faction.
They also explained how Conwell had been kicked out of the New IRA after issuing drunken threats on behalf of the group in Dungiven — an incident that led to him pleading guilty to New IRA membership last Thursday.
“Michael Conwell is a rocket, and after the mayhem he caused in Dungiven, the New IRA couldn't wait to get rid of him. ONH is welcome to him,” a republican insider told Sunday Life. He is completely reckless, and if he's not going about bars drunk and issuing threats, he is taking part in armed shows of strength while on bail.
“Conwell should have never been admitted in the first place. His animal cruelty convictions show exactly what type of fella he is.”
Conwell, a WWE wrestling fanatic, was freed on bail following an appearance at Belfast Crown Court last Wednesday during which he pleaded guilty to New IRA membership. He had been due to go on trial along with Dermot Kenneth Burke (62, left) and a youth from Derry, but all three made confessions at the last minute and will be sentenced in January.
They admitted belonging to or professing to belong to the IRA, and possessing a firearm or imitation firearm — namely, a handgun — with intent to cause fear of violence.
They also pleaded guilty to possessing offensive weapons — two metal bars — at locations between and including Garvagh Road in Dungiven and Main Street in the town.
Embarrassing
A drunken Conwell and his co-accused visited a GAA club and several bars in Dungiven in January 2024, telling patrons: “We are New IRA. We are here to clean up the bars. If you don't clean up the bars, we are doing it. The bars are full of drugs.”
It was after this, and details about his badger baiting convictions emerging, that Conwell was kicked out of the New IRA over his embarrassing behaviour.
Sources said he found a new home with ONH in Derry, where he is suspected of taking part in the gang's armed show of strength earlier this year.
Conwell also showed up at the ONH plot in Milltown Cemetery at Easter, reading a statement on behalf of Glór na Ógliagh (GnO), which is the political wing of his ONH faction.
Around 200 hardline republicans, some of whom wore paramilitary clothing, listened to his speech commemorating the Easter Rising.
GnO were criticised for having Conwell lead the event, with the new political party being branded 'Glór na Hoods' by rivals for recruiting criminals.
Even its own members stuck the boot in, telling Sunday Life: “People may look at us and think we are criminals, but we are not. We are hard-working republicans, we are not thugs who torture animals. What type of sicko does that?”
GnO later defended Conwell, saying: “Our party members and supporters know full well that Michael Conwell is a valued and dedicated member of Glór na hÓglaigh.
“He has consistently demonstrated his commitment through hard work, integrity and an unwavering dedication to both the party and the wider community.”
In 2017, Conwell received a three-month suspended jail sentence and was ordered to pay kennelling costs of £14,000 after being convicted of animal cruelty.
Three dogs found in his home in the Claudy area had severe injuries to their mouths, indicative of being attacked by a badger or larger animal.
Conwell was back in court again in 2021 to be convicted of a second similar offence, receiving another lifetime ban from keeping animals.
When he again walked free with a suspended sentence, the USPCA accused him of being “linked to badger baiting, one of the most callous, premeditated acts of animal cruelty”.
Ex-UDA boss uses e-bike fleet to peddle coke around Belfast
SUNDAY LIFE REPORTER, Sunday Life, November 15th, 2026
GARY 'GOOF' COLEMAN FACING JAIL OVER 'DEALS-ON-WHEELS' DRUG-DEALING SCAM
Ex-UDA drug dealer Gary 'Goof' Coleman used a 'country lines'-style racket to peddle cocaine around Belfast.
The scam exploited young men who were in debt over drugs to the crime boss, who will be sentenced on Wednesday for supplying cocaine.
One way of clearing the money owed to Coleman was for them to transport his drugs around the city.
As most of the young men were not known to police, they were much less likely to be stopped and searched.
A source told Sunday Life: “Most of the guys transporting Goof's cocaine used cars, but some did it on e-bikes.
“It was never huge amounts, usually a bunch of smaller bags, and they were told to deliver it to different meeting points and collect payments.
“Because the fellas weren't known to the cops, they weren't stopped.
“All of them were in drugs debt to Goof, and they do this to pay it off.”
Sunday Life has been told that Coleman, whose court address was given as no fixed abode, used the 'deals on wheels' racket because of his high profile.
“Because Goof is so tall, he is easily recognisable and is well-known to the cops. He's been in the Sunday Life loads of times as well, and that makes him even more paranoid,” added the source.
Coleman is due to be sentenced on Wednesday for being concerned in the supply of cocaine. His offending ranges from dates between December 2022 to February 2023, when his county lines drug dealing scam was at its height.
The PSNI investigation into his criminality was based on phone messages between Coleman and his gang of dealers. This is the 33-year-old's second drug dealing conviction.
Torture
In 2021, he served a nine-month prison stretch for possessing cocaine with intent to supply, possessing pregabalin, receiving stolen goods and possessing and converting criminal property.
Goof Coleman has also been linked to several other drug dealing rackets involving his jailed older brother Dee Coleman (40), who is serving a nine-year stretch for a torture kidnapping and the large-scale supply of cocaine.
One of these rackets involved having drugs smuggled into Maghaberry Prison by inmates who had been out on temporary release using Kinder Egg containers hidden inside their bodies.
On another occasion, more than £6,000 of jewellery owned by Goof Coleman was seized by police under the Proceeds of Crime Act, including a £3,000 diamond ring that he planned to use in a marriage proposal.
Both Coleman brothers were named as Shankill Road UDA members in court, with a detective revealing how Goof replaced Dee in a leadership role when the latter was arrested.
They have since parted company with the terror gang after their homes were targeted by the UDA following a fall-out over drugs money.
Although he is facing jail on Wednesday, sources said Goof Coleman still had plenty of money coming in.
One revealed: “Goof uses a hairdresser shop in a nationalist part of north Belfast to launder his drugs money. He has plenty of money stashed away for when he's in jail.”
Notoriety
Coleman also remains good friends with cocaine queen Jackie Farrell, who served a prison sentence for selling UDA drugs and achieved notoriety after appearing on an episode of TV presenter Stephen Nolan's hit Peelers series.
A drunken Farrell screamed “f**k you and your ma” at Nolan after being arrested at a seance at which she was trying to contact the dead.
In the first episode of the new series, which aired on the BBC last Wednesday, Nolan's mother 'Big Audrey' hit back, saying: “You tell them I'm your ma and I'm proud of you, so f*** them.”
Farrell's social media profiles contain multiple images of her with Goof Coleman, who she previously referred to as her “apprentice” and “business partner”.
She even surprised the ex-UDA drug dealer with a tricolour cake for his birthday, and recorded his reaction.
