Speaking truth to power
As a journalist he revealed to the world the brutality of internment from inside Long Kesh. He went on to become a senior barrister who took on the Irish government in defence of democracy and won. Senior Counsel Séamus Ó Tuathail spoke to Patrick Murphy about his remarkable career
IN THE hushed tones of the Law Library in Dublin’s Four Courts, esteemed Senior Counsel Séamus Ó Tuathail is in discussion in Irish with colleagues about a forthcoming case.
His 40-year involvement at the heart of the Irish court system is a far cry from his experience at the hands of British justice when, on the morning of August 9 1971, he was arrested in Belfast and interned without charge or trial.
Then a freelance journalist, he was arrested in a house on the Falls Road.
Like hundreds of others that morning, he suffered the brutality of the internment raids and the subsequent interrogations but, unlike others, his journalistic instincts kicked in and he began documenting what was happening.
He recorded his own experiences and took witness statements from several others.
By smuggling his reports out to the Irish Times, the Irish Press and the Irish Independent, he became the only journalist to report on internment from the inside, including the first account of the torture of what became known as the Hooded Men. He says that following the initial arrests “I was in a cell in ‘C’ wing of Crumlin Road with a member of the Hannaway family”.
“He was taken away and became one of the men whose case for torture was brought to the European Court of Human Rights by the Dublin government.”
A total of 342 men were arrested that August morning and by mid-November the number had risen to 980.
Ó Tuathail recalls: “I saw Patrick Shivers of Toome, PJ McClean of Beragh, Michael Montgomery and Michael Donnelly of Derry, who had spent a whole week at an unknown location being tortured. I specifically remember taking down a verbatim account of what Patrick Shivers had experienced.”
Ó Tuathail recorded what happened on pages torn from a Penguin book which he found in a cell.
“I was later in the same cell as Belfast businessman Billy McBurney. As a businessman he was entitled to a visit from his wife and he was able to smuggle the account to her.”
Mrs Roseleen McBurney took the pages to the Belfast office of The Irish Times. She remembers it was off Rosemary Street.
The staff there were reluctant to accept it until, she says, “a journalist called Kelly recognised Seamus’s writing and he accepted it”.
The Belfast office sent it to Dublin, where the paper’s editor, Douglas Gageby, was still doubtful.
‘That man’s mad enough to have done that.’
So he asked the paper’s political correspondent, Dick Walsh, “Could this be true?” Walsh knew Séamus and said: “That man’s mad enough to have done that.”
The paper printed Ó Tuathail’s story and kept up his reports over several days as more details emerged.
Both the Irish Times and the Irish Independent published the first accounts of internment-related torture.
Mrs McBurney’s journey through the streets of Belfast at the height of the Troubles told the world the truth.
Inside Crumlin Road, there was a growing recognition of the need to record what had happened.
Séamus recalls: “Kevin McCorry, Des O’Hagan, Oliver Kelly and myself – all graduates of various Irish universities – took down the majority of statements from the internees. Accuracy was everyone’s prime concern.”
Shortly after his release, Ó Tuathail issued a selection of the internees’ statements in “They Came in the Morning”, which was published by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.
Kitson named
He put a picture of Brigadier Frank Kitson on its front cover – the first time that Kitson’s role in orchestrating torture had been publicised.
Séamus says: “The statements allowed most internees to later claim compensation for unlawful detention and false imprisonment and, of course, they began that long legal road taken by the Hooded Men.
“When Lord Compton reported on all this in November 1971, he concluded that not only was there no torture following internment, there was not even brutality.”
It took several decades for Ó Tuathail’s information to be proven accurate.
His journey to the Crumlin Road began when, as a teacher of Irish in Belvedere College, Dublin, he was active in campaigns to promote the Irish language, including helping in the formation of the activist group Misneach (Courage) in 1963 along with his close friend, Seán Ó Laighin.
The organisation’s guiding light was Máirtín Ó Cadhain, perhaps the most influential Irish writer of the 20th century, whose literary output includes Cré na Cille, widely regarded as one of the greatest ever works written in Irish.
Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta
Inspired by the northern civil rights campaign, Misneach supported the formation of Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta (GCSG – Gaeltacht Civil Rights Movement).
Séamus, speaking in Irish, recalls that an important part of their activities was to put up a candidate,
Peadar Mac an Iomaire, for the Dáil in Galway in 1969: “Cuid tábachtach den obair a dhein GCSG ná iarrthóir, Peadar Mac an Iomaire, a chur chun tosaigh mar iarrthóir neamhspleach i nGaillimh Thiar don 19ú Dáil”.
Huge support arrived in Conamara from Dublin, including Caitlín Maude, poet, writer, singer, actress, dramatist, who campaigned actively.
Among the organisers was Séan Ó Beacháin, one of 13 hunger strikers in Dublin (and six in Belfast) in 1966 who had protested against the Dublin government’s neglect of the Irish language 50 years after 1916.
Those offering support included well-known Irish language activists: “I measc an slua as Baile Átha Cliath a tháinig, bhí Cian Ó hÉigeartaigh, Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, agus Séan Ó Tuairisc. Thug Dónall Ó Moráin, ceannasaí Gael Linn seic ar dhá chéad punt.”
Mac an Iomaire was not elected, but Séamus says he received more than 1,500 votes – “Cé nar éirigh leis, gnothaigh sé breis agus míle cúig vóta, scéal a bhain croitheadh as an mbunaíocht” – an outcome he says shook the establishment. It fostered the founding of Raidió na Gaeltachta and ultimately the Irish language TV station, TG4.
United Irishman
As part of his campaign to hold the Irish government to its responsibilities to the Irish language, Ó Tuathail began writing articles in Irish for the monthly republican paper, The United Irishman.
He recalls: “The then departing editor, Tralee’s Denis Foley, invited me to become editor and I accepted in late 1968.
“My only condition was that I would not have to join Sinn Féin, so I could independently edit the paper which was banned in the north at that time.”
As editor during the republican re-think following the ending of the IRA campaign in 1962, he expanded the paper’s coverage from the standard republican stance of Irish unity to include social and economic issues in the south and the growing civil rights campaign in the north.
“In the south, I launched a campaign for public ownership of all Irish waterways and I backed it up with ‘fish-ins’ on several Irish rivers, a tactic I adopted from the Meskwaki Indian tribe of Washington State in North America who had their rivers stolen too.”
He wrote a modern-day version of Tim Healy’s 1913 Stolen Waters, identifying how the English plantation system had survived across Ireland in the ownership of its rivers and lakes, including Lough Neagh. Over 50 years later, it is still relevant in the north.
He also organised the “Ground Rent is Robbery” movement which ultimately led to the abolition of ground rents in the south.
On one occasion he travelled to Eton College in England to hand out leaflets highlighting the connection between its bursar, Peter Broby, Earl of Carysfort, and the collection of ground rents in Sandycove Ireland.
Dublin Housing Action campaign
Ó Tuathail also strongly supported the Dublin Housing Action campaign.
He says: “It was spearheaded by Máirín de Burca of Sinn Féin, a founding member of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement. She also won the right of Irish women to serve on juries. The United Irishman played an important role in improving Irish society.”
Increasingly the paper focussed on the growing civil rights movement in the north.
On August 24 1968, he travelled to take part in the first civil rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon.
“I was with Betty Sinclair and Malachy McGurran, chairman of the Republican Clubs and several thousand others, when we were blocked by the RUC at Dungannon’s Rural District Council Offices.”
He points out that “at a time when the southern media were slow to appreciate the importance of the civil rights movement, coverage of civil right marches and associated issues in The United Irishman boosted monthly sales to over 100,000”.
The paper was sold door to door across the north, with the highest sales being in Newry.
Bloody Sunday
When the civil rights campaign reached its peak on Bloody Sunday, Ó Tuathail along with others compiled the first eyewitness accounts of what had happened in the “Massacre at Derry”.
It gave an accurate account of events in the city that day, some 26 years before the Saville Inquiry reached exactly the same conclusion.
Although his journalistic instincts were as strong as ever, his ambition began to expand from reporting on events to shaping them.
“Armed with the compensation I received for wrongful arrest on internment morning, I enrolled for a law degree in Trinity College, Dublin. Following a further year in King’s Inns, I was called to the Bar in October 1980.”
Since then he has been successful in several major cases heard in both Irish and English.
Two of them, he explains, represented major victories for Irish democracy.
The first was when, as a junior counsel to Paul Callan SC, they won a landmark case in 1987 on behalf of Raymond Crotty.
The Supreme Court forced the Dublin government to hold a referendum for any proposed changes to the Treaty of Rome, which governs Irish membership of what is now the European Union.
Garret Fitzgerald’s government had tried to ratify a transfer of sovereignty from Dublin to Brussels by a vote in the Dáil, but Crotty’s legal team of Callan and Ó Tuathail forced the government to consult the Irish people in that instance and in all future cases relating to Ireland’s EU membership.
“The second case was McKenna versus the taoiseach in 1995,” he explains.
“Having fixed a date for a referendum on divorce, the Dáil supported a government motion to spend £500,000 on a campaign supporting the removal of the ban on divorce. Patricia McKenna MEP opposed this one-sided expenditure by the government which would have set a precedent for other referenda.”
Equality of funding in referenda
McKenna lost her case in the High Court but won it on appeal in the Supreme Court.
Ó Tuathail won a judgment which stated that the government was “not entitled to expend public monies for the purpose of promoting a particular outcome to a proposed referendum to amend the terms of the constitution.” That ruling now applies to all referenda.
One of his most significant achievements in Irish, as recorded in the legal publication Tuairiscí Éireann (The Irish Reports) involved Helen Ó Murchú, who was unable to register Comhar na Múinteoirí Gaeilge as a company in Irish, because the Companies Office could only offer her forms in English.
Ó Tuathail won the case on the basis that this constituted a violation of her legal rights under the constitution.
The afternoon rush of Dublin’s never-ending traffic along Arran Quay is in strong contrast to inside the Four Courts.
The number plates on the vehicles indicate their county and date of registration and, above those details, the plates display the county name in Irish.
The barrister who won that right for Ireland’s Gaeilgeoirí is inside the building, re-engaged in a conversation in Irish with legal colleagues.
In the Four Courts, Séamus Ó Tuathail no longer just writes about injustice and the need for change in Irish society. Now he does something about it.
He has made a significant contribution to advancing human and cultural rights in both parts of Ireland and as his conversation in Irish with learned colleagues reveals, he is not finished yet.
Project exploring Protestant exodus from west bank in Derry aims to heal 'half century of hurt'
Garrett Hargan, Belfast Telegraph, July 5th, 2025
EU FUNDING TO HELP ACADEMIC EXPLORE 'PAIN AND HURT' OF RELOCATION IN 1970S
A project has been launched aimed at resolving “half a century of frustration and hurt” about the Protestant exodus from the west bank of Londonderry.
The early 1970s saw a large-scale departure of thousands of unionist residents from the area, driven by factors including fear, intimidation and violence.
It is an event which has been “interpreted in a range of ways and viewed from a range of perspectives”, Mayor Ruairí McHugh said at a launch event in the Fountain estate.
The mayor paid tribute to figures who have been committed to supporting the local Protestant, unionist and loyalist (PUL) community including Jeanette Warke and the late Kenny McFarland.
The Exodus Project is part of the EU's Peace Plus funding programme which is designed to support peace and prosperity across Northern Ireland and the border counties in the south.
Derek Moore and Brian Dougherty of the North West Cultural Partnership will be project co-ordinators.
Londonderry Bands Forum
At the launch, Mr Moore reflected that in August 2013 he accepted an offer from Mr McFarland, the Londonderry Bands Forum chairman, to leave the building trade after 38 years.
His task was to work on a new project promoting the positives and looking at dispelling the preconceived ideas and misconceptions surrounding marching bands and their culture.
Mr Moore said: “One of Kenny's great disappointments was the lack of recognition or even acknowledgement by this city and his former neighbours, around the fact that as a young lad he was forced to move from a home he obviously loved, in the heart of the Bogside.”
His family relocated to Newbuildings on the outskirts of the city, a place he described as “in the sticks” at that time.
“As the events of Bloody Sunday went on to become world famous and were investigated and highlighted at every level, until eventually Prime Minister David Cameron issued an apology to the families and this city about the wrongs of that day, the removal of many thousands of Protestants from their homes and businesses in Derry's west bank was allowed to fade and indeed be undermined,” Mr Moore told the audience.
“Revisionist nationalist historians and some academics hired by people with a vested interest have played down the significance of the effects that the exodus had, and the disruption caused to relationships and community cohesion in our city.”
The Peace Plus project “may be the last opportunity” for the generation who lived through those days to present the reality of living in the city at that time, Mr Moore said.
It would be easy to apportion blame, he suggested, which is why acclaimed academic Dr Niall Gilmartin from Ulster University, who has written extensively on displacement studies, will conduct in-depth research and analysis.
Mr Moore added: “Kenny is sadly no longer with us to impart his passion and knowledge, but for those of us now charged with the work, we will, if the facts dictate, look at an acceptance and possible apology from the city and its citizens, that the trauma felt by all those people who left, is a genuine grievance on a parallel with the Bloody Sunday events.
Absence of genuine reconciliation
“The disconnect between our communities caused by the exodus and the inability for a full generation of the PUL community to participate fully at community level has contributed to a lack of genuine reconciliation in our city.
“Despite our multi-million pound peace industry here and five massive injections of European peace money there is somehow still work to do.”
It is hoped the project, bringing in research and constructive dialogue between those who endured the exodus period, will “help to resolve the half century of frustration and hurt created by that period in our joint history.” Welcoming funding, Mr McHugh said some of the history “has been difficult and painful at times” while other aspects of it have been “rich, vibrant and shared” by many people regardless of identity.
“It is right and fair to acknowledge that the history of what has been termed 'The Exodus' of much of the Protestant, unionist and loyalist community identity from the cityside of Derry~Londonderry has, and continues to be, a raw wound in our local history,” he said.
The mayor added: “This project will engage 200 participants, mainly adults, from diverse community, voluntary and educational organisations in a range of elements.
“I'm sure it will be inspiring and poignant to revisit many of those experiences as well as potentially doing a lot of listening to each other and hearing different perspectives and experiences.
“Sometimes, we do have more in common than we think, and I'm sure, despite the heaviness of the topic, there'll be space in the project too to share a laugh and a bit of banter over a cup of tea now and again.”
The mayor shared a famous peace quote from American philosopher Santayana, which states, 'Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.'
He concluded: “There is also a famous Irish proverb which, translated into English says, 'It is in the shelter of each other, that people live'.
“Given that the exodus was about so many people having to relocate and move house, and given recent nearby events in the city, we hope that the positive spirit of people being able to live in each other's shelter is something that people will reflect on as we continue to move forward in reconciliation to make our city and district a place where everyone is welcomed and valued.”
Family ‘totally refute’ claim Frazer involved in loyalist murders of Reavey brothers
John Breslin, Irish News, July 5th, 2025
MEMBERS of the family of Willie Frazer “totally refute” the allegation the deceased activist was the getaway driver of the car used in the loyalist murders of the three Reavey brothers in South Armagh in 1976.
Mr Frazer, who died in 2019, was the combative and often controversial founder of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (Fair), which advocated for families of those killed by the IRA and other republican groups.
In a just published book, the surviving Reavey brother, Eugene, linked Mr Frazer to the murders, suggesting he was the getaway driver, citing information received from “Protestant locals” and “evidence” contained in PSNI documents as part of legal proceedings in a separate case.
John Martin (24) and Brian (22) were shot dead on January 4 1976 at their Whitecross home in south Armagh. A third brother, Anthony (17), died later from his injuries.
“The Frazer family totally refute the allegations that Willie Frazer, a victims advocate, drove the getaway car used in the attack (at 15 years of age),” the family said in a statement in response to an Irish News report on the book ‘The Killing of the Reavey Brothers: British Murder and Cover Up in Northern Ireland’.
“This claim is made against a deceased member of our family who cannot respond to the allegation or clear his name,” added the statement issued by Molly Carson, the current manager for Fair.
“William was not able to drive any vehicle at that age; he didn’t even own a motorcycle. He was in his 20s before learning to drive,” the statement read.
“It is a grave matter when the memory of a dead man is traduced in a way that denies any right of reply, especially when no verified forensic or witness evidence has been brought to substantiate the charge.”
Justice system 'broken' as Femicide deaths take years to progress through NI courts
Allison Morris, Belfast Telegraph, July 5th, 2025
CASE DELAYS ARE SO RE-TRAUMATISING FOR VICTIMS AND LOVED ONES: WOMEN'S AID
A Policing Board member has said more action is needed to speed up our courts system.
There is a backlog of cases in the Crown courts, with one of the highest-profile murder trials not due to start until almost three years after the victim's death.
Unlike England and Wales, where the legal process in murder cases can take just months, it often drags on for years here.
A series of cases involving the deaths of women are affected.
The issue is back in the spotlight this week after a man was charged with murdering Sarah Montgomery in Co Down.
Sinn Fein Policing Board member Linda Dillon said: “Women and girls need to feel when they make the very difficult decision to come forward that they will be taken seriously and the punishment fits the crime.”
Natalie McNally was killed in December 2022 in her Lurgan home. She was 15 weeks pregnant with a boy she had named Dean.
November 3 has been set for the trial of Stephen McCullagh, formerly of Woodlands Gardens in Lisburn, who is charged with murdering the 32-year-old on a date between December 17 and 20, 2022. A trial date was set for May, but had to be pushed back.
When the case was listed again in June at Belfast Crown Court, Mr Justice O'Hara spoke of the “extreme delay” and said the case should be “given priority”. The hearing is expected to last between four and six weeks.
Ms Montgomery was the second pregnant woman to be killed in Northern Ireland in the last three years.
On Tuesday, a man was charged with the murder of Ms Montgomery, who was found dead at her home in Donaghadee last week. She was 34 weeks pregnant.
Zak Hughes, with an address in north Belfast, has been charged with her murder.
Covid, the recent criminal barristers' strike, and the shortage of experts to give evidence for both the prosecution and defence have all caused delays in our court system.
Time to process cases up 20%
Figures published last April show the time taken for offences to go through the system has increased by almost 20%.
The Department of Justice said tackling the delay “is a key priority for the department and justice partners”.
Ms Dillon added: “One of the big challenges is delays in the justice system and getting cases to court.
“The 2022-23 figures show that the average time for cases of sexual crimes is 757 days — twice as long as other offences and highlights systemic issues that need urgently addressed.”
While many of those facing the most significant delays involve violence against women, there are also outstanding murder trials linked to male deaths.
One of them is the case of Odhrán Kelly in Lurgan. The 23-year-old's body was found beaten and burned beside a car in December 2023. Eighteen months on, no trial date has been set.
The Chloe Mitchell murder trial has also been beset with delays.
Brandon John Rainey (28), formerly of James Street in Ballymena, is charged with killing Ms Mitchell (21) in Ballymena on June 3, 2023, and attempting to prevent the lawful burial of her body.
A trial date set for April 28 this year didn't proceed, and the case has been delayed while psychiatric reports were sought by both the defence and prosecution.
No date set
There is no date set yet for the trial of a man accused of murdering Kathryn Parton, known as Kat.
Jamie Love (25) has been charged with murdering Ms Parton at her Madrid Street home on May 9 last year.
A post-mortem found the 34-year-old died from haemorrhaging, lacerations to the scalp and nasal fractures following a sustained assault to the head.
One of the core aims of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls strategy is improving justice outcomes.
Sources say those monitoring the justice response to the strategy are carefully watching the case of Mary Ward, a 22-year-old mother-of-one found dead in her home in south Belfast last October.
Her former partner, Ahmed Abdirahman (31), was arrested in Dublin and will stand trial in the Republic.
While the Republic also has issues with court delays, it is expected that this will be heard much quicker than other similar cases here.
The cases of Karen Cummings, a children's nurse found dead in Banbridge last December; Rachel Simpson, who died violently in east Belfast last September, and Ms Parton are all in the early stages of the criminal justice system.
Sonya McMullan, of Women's Aid Federation Northern Ireland, said: “The whole criminal justice system is fractured and broken.”
She added: “We are the slowest part of the UK with regard to court delays. It is so re-traumatising for victims and survivors.”
Ms McMullan said cases involving domestic or sexual violence “should be prioritised and fast-tracked with specialised judges and courts”.
Sarah Montgomery was found dead in her Co Down home last week.
Idea of armed guard for former UVF chiefs if it disbands 'farcical'
Allison Morris, Belfast Telegraph, July 5th, 2025
The UVF's reported request for a 240-strong “close protection team” of armed militia as security for the group's ageing leadership after disbandment has been branded a “farcical concept”.
Loyalists have been involved in intermittent talks with the UK Government in relation to a transitioning process — intended to dismantle their structures — for several years.
There is pressure on the Government to expedite that process and bring an end to the continuing involvement of loyalist paramilitary groups in criminality and street disorder.
The majority of the UVF and several factions of the UDA are said to be at an advanced stage in the disbandment process, but a recent Independent Reporting Commission report stated that time was running out.
In February it was announced that the British and Irish governments were to jointly appoint “an Independent Expert to carry out a short scoping and engagement exercise to assess whether there is merit in, and support for, a formal process of engagement to bring about paramilitary group transition to disbandment. This will include examining what could be in scope of such a formal process”.
Lord Alderdice, the former Alliance Party leader who was chair of the Independent Monitoring Commission, said talks about loyalist transition should stop.
“A halt should be called, and you can't call a halt now sooner than today,” he said.
“There comes a point when you have to say no, this hasn't been delivered.”
Deal close
Yesterday Dr Aaron Edwards, a expert on loyalism, reported on his blog: “Sources close to the UVF tell me that the group's leadership is close to making a deal with the British government on what is being referred to as a 'General Order of Disbandment'.
“This is seen by leading members of the group as a necessary means of 'dealing with the issue of criminality'.”
Mr Edwards, who has accurately reported on activities of the group in the past, also stated: “I have been told how the UVF Brigade Staff has explicitly requested the retention of 30-40 active 'volunteers' in each of their 'battalion areas' to act as a 'Praetorian Guard' — or 'Close Protection team' in security parlance — for its more prominent members.”
There are six UVF 'brigade' areas which would mean the Government would have to agree to a 240-strong armed militia, to act as a vigilante army to protect the organisation's ageing leadership. A senior UVF member said last night that a sticking point in the talks had been the de-proscription of the UVF name so it could be retained and used in remembrance events, but also as protection from younger, more militant members trying to use it to carry on with violence.
They added that while there was a “will to move things along”, that recent events had “slowed that process down”.
PIRA precedent
“We've learned from the IRA that if you call people to stand down, then those against change will just form dissident groups and that's not going to benefit anyone”, they said.
“We've told the government if that does happen then let them call themselves what they want, but it will not be under the name of the UVF.”
By recent events they mean the imprisonment of Loyalist Communities Council member and UVF commander Winston Irvine on gunrunning charges.
The Government were holding talks with Irvine about UVF disbandment right up until his arrest with a haul of weapons in June 2023.
“The arrest of Winkie has stalled things. There are serious issues that need ironed out internally. The will is definitely there, but an 'order of disbandment' is not where we are,” they added.
SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole said: “Without wishing to comment in detail on what are only second-hand reports, it should be obvious that any process of disbandment which involves the continuation of armed structures of any kind would by definition not be disbandment.”
Beattie
The UUP's Doug Beattie said: “Any pledge from the UVF to completely disband is welcome. The reality being they should have disbanded many years ago, indeed they should never have existed in their terrorist form.
“However, any notion that 40-60 active UVF members, per brigade, should be retained to act as some kind of close protection for former senior UVF leaders is just ridiculous.
“The UVF need to disband and in doing so allow communities and its membership to leave the intimidation, drug dealing, prostitution and money laundering behind.
“Any notion that the UKG would allow an armed militia to continue with some random title or societal role in law enforcement is a farcical concept.
“I hope the UVF have the courage to issue a general disbandment order, but it cannot be conditional in any way.”
A5 row - Judge told tarmacking 3,000 acres of farmland less polluting than industrial farming
ASSEMBLY NOT INTERESTED IN PROTECTING ONE OF EUROPE'S MOST SENSITIVE HABITATS - UNTIL IT WANTED TO BUILD A5
Sam McBride, Northern Editor, Belfast Telegraph, July 5th, 2025
If you want to save the environment in Northern Ireland, almost the entirety of its surface should be covered in tarmac and concrete over which cars and lorries will drive day and night.
That's the logical conclusion of an extraordinary argument put before the High Court in Belfast by civil servants working under the direction and control of a Sinn Fein minister.
Her officials told a judge that building a massive dual carriageway on 3,000 acres of land is less polluting than allowing farmers to continue with what are now standard intensive agriculture practices.
For years, Stormont has not only been turning a blind eye to rampant pollution here, but it has been encouraging it.
Buried within Mr Justice McAlinden's 50,000-word judgment which last week threw into turmoil the Executive's plan to build the A5 dual carriageway is something which, at first glance, seems too preposterous to be correct.
The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) argued to the court that building a massive road through rural farmland would result in less pollution than if farmers continue farming there.
That's right: Building what is by far the biggest infrastructure project in the history of Northern Ireland would mean less pollution than the farming practices Stormont has encouraged.
It's a remarkable claim, and there is a second remarkable element to this, but first it's important to understand some of the background.
The A5, which runs from Aughnacloy to Londonderry, is a deathtrap. In the last 19 years, almost 60 people have died on the road, leading to repeated political promises to upgrade it to a dual carriageway which would be far safer because it largely eliminates the potential for head-on collisions and traffic cutting across lanes of fast-moving vehicles.
But for years, civil servants haven't been able to get this road built in a way which is lawful — and politicians have failed to either hold them to account or change the law to match their promise.
Last week's decision may be far more devastating for the project than many people instinctively assumed.
Rather than just a setback, it could be terminal.
Despite €600m (£518m) from the Irish Government for a bill likely to be around £2bn, roads expert Wesley Johnson told me he's sceptical as to whether the road will ever be built as envisaged.
The author said that “the legislative environment has changed so much since the road was designed that I don't see how it can be built in its present form”.
There are many reasons for this, some highly technical.
Changing political environment
One is that Stormont's Climate Change Act — which Sinn Fein championed but didn't seem to understand — now makes it impossible to build vast projects like this without accepting trade-offs elsewhere. Populist Stormont has never accepted unpopular trade-offs.
But there's another much simpler reason: planning permission was granted on the strict condition that the road would be built within an agreed period of time.
That's to give certainty for landowners and those who will lose their homes or businesses. For years, they've been in limbo and the courts have taken this seriously. They have a human right to enjoy their property but can't do so — and both planners and the courts have warned Stormont to urgently either build the road or forget about building it.
The Planning Appeals Commission said three years ago that planning permission should lapse unless building started by March 2028 — now just over two-and-a-half years away.
If never built, this will have been both an exceptional waste of public funds (already about £100m has been spent on an unbuilt road) and a deep disappointment to families of those killed on the road who'd hoped their experience would help ensure a safer route.
Mr Justice McAlinden described the level of “sunk costs” on the project which can never be recovered as “quite shocking”.
But there's one element of his judgment which illuminates a far wider truth, exposing the contorted contradictions of the Stormont Executive.
The A5 route passes several highly protected conservation sites, one of which is Tully Bog.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs describes the 89-acre site as a “compact, relatively undisturbed lowland raised bog which is among the most intact examples in the west of Northern Ireland”.
As far back as 1996, Stormont designated the bog as an area of special scientific interest. In 2008, it gave the bog an even higher level of protection, designating it a special area of conservation because it represents a habitat which is “rare or threatened within a European context”.
Stormont promised to protect the site, but failed to do so.
The only reason this is being examined in detail and exposed is because of ministers' road-building ambitions.
The area around the bog is described as “intensively managed agricultural land in silage and grazing, categorised as improved grassland or arable habitats” typical of Northern Irish agriculture.
In other words, there's nothing particularly unusual about how farmers are farming in that area.
The bog, two-and-a-half miles north-west of Omagh, is said to still be capable of natural regeneration, but Stormont's own assessments in 2008 and 2014 showed it was “in unfavourable, declining condition”.
Despite this, the judge said that “there is no formal government management plan in place for the bog at present”.
Instead, a charity, Ulster Wildlife, gets some funding from the NI Environment Agency to help conserve the bog.
Its work is dependent on money, which the judge said was “far from assured”, and the cooperation of local landowners.
The Planning Appeals Commission found in 2020 that Ulster Wildlife's limited work had not led to any significant improvement in the bog's condition, although it said such work would take years to become apparent.
DfI told the judge that its main way to protect the bog would be “displacement of agriculture” — stopping farmers spreading slurry and fertiliser beside the site.
The department said it would ensure nearby agricultural land didn't pollute — and it would do so “in perpetuity” by vesting land and entering into legally-binding agreement with a farmer.
Thus, the only thing that persuaded ministers and civil servants to try to pay farmers to stop polluting was because they wanted to tarmac over the area — and knew the law wouldn't allow that unless they could construct some argument that they weren't trashing the environment.
The key pollution impacting the bog is ammonia; when dry, it can be toxic to some species, while it causes other species to thrive, disrupting the natural balance of a sensitive habitat.
The Planning Appeals Commission noted that Stormont was doing nothing to save the bog — until, that is, this road project would run within 125m of it.
And so, suddenly, this forsaken bog became of huge interest to civil servants. They poured money into studies, reports, external experts, monitoring, and plans to protect it.
This wasn't happening because Stormont cares deeply about protecting such environments — it had shown for years it didn't care. It was merely a means to an end.
The judge said: “It is asserted that if the road is not built, the damage resulting from elevated ammonia levels caused by intensive livestock agriculture taking place on these adjacent lands will continue into the future and may increase, and the damage occasioned by this will be all the greater unless the long-term conservation and management measures described above are implemented, without which favourable condition will not be achieved.”
The judge didn't dismiss this, but after looking at the evidence he concluded it was right — building the massive road would improve the bog's situation.
The reasons he ended up blocking its construction were linked to other factors, most significantly the Climate Change Act.
He said: “It is clear to me that the scrutiny of and focus on the condition of [Tully Bog] over the last number of years as a result of this proposed road have the potential to give rise to material beneficial outcomes in that there is a renewed commitment to conservation measures coupled with proposed mitigation measures which, if implemented, will see less pressure overall on this [site] both from within and externally from the surrounding environment.
“It would appear to me that the construction of this road with the associated primary and supplementary vesting of lands and land management agreements will remove nitrogen emitting agricultural practices from those adjacent lands and it is abundantly clear that these nitrogen emitting agricultural practices are having and, unless abated, will continue to have, damaging impacts on this and many other areas of protected bog land throughout the United Kingdom. In short, Tully Bog will be better off with this road than without it.”
The judge went on to say: “Having carefully considered the parties' submissions on this point, I am firmly of the opinion that… Tully Bog has a better chance of ultimately achieving overall favourable status if this proposed road scheme is constructed than if it is not.”
This isn't unique to Tully Bog. The judge said that “in common with almost all special areas of conservation in Northern Ireland, Tully Bog is experiencing exposure to excessive levels of potentially harmful nitrogen compounds. This is largely as a result of widespread intensive agricultural activities…”
Rank incompetence
There are many strong arguments in favour of upgrading the deadly A5, most significantly that human lives are at stake.
The failure to build the road had been due to Stormont's rank incompetence. It can't even satisfy the rules it has set for itself.
Two years ago, the Planning Appeals Commission found that the A5 scheme had been “trapped for more than a decade in a cycle of information gathering, public consultation and abortive decision-making” and “the repeated delays were due primarily to a series of unforced errors by the department”.
DfI said that Daera, which is responsible for agriculture, accepted its assessment that building the road would mean less ammonia pollution than if the land was farmed.
When asked if it would do the work to protect the bog even if the road isn't built, DfI said it wouldn't.
“The landowner agreements to protect Tully Bog will only be necessary on construction of the new road.
“DfI has not spent any money to date on physical measures protecting Tully Bog.”
There are those who will argue that safe roads are more important than rare habitats.
The law currently doesn't agree with that — and MLAs aren't planning to change the law.
Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins this week made clear — with First Minister Michelle O'Neill's support — that she intends to appeal Mr Justice McAlinden's judgment.
The grounds of such an appeal are, for now, unclear.
However, that further uncertainty and delay add to the questions over whether construction will be able to start before planning permission expires.
Stormont in Climate Change denial
But there's a wider issue far beyond the land involved in the A5.
For years, Stormont has been incentivising greater intensification of agriculture — in some cases moving towards industrialised agricultural practices whereby animals never see the outside of a vast shed during their short lives.
For years, it has been in denial about the implications of this for the environment, especially through the huge volumes of slurry produced by such cooped up animals.
Even with Lough Neagh turned into a toxic toilet and with the Executive claiming that its restoration is one of their top priorities, the minute Alliance minister Andrew Muir even started consulting on stricter enforcement of agricultural pollution rules, the major parties came out to oppose him.
If Stormont doesn't intend to protect these sites because it believes intensive agriculture is more important, then it should be honest and say so rather than pretending — at great expense and wasted effort — to designate sites as protected when they're nothing of the sort.
Few facts sum up the farcical nature of our devolved government's approach than this: The best way to protect a critically endangered rare habitat in Northern Ireland is to persuade Stormont to build a road beside it.
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Twelfth 2025: Large crowds at Rossnowlagh parade in Donegal
By Philip Bradfield, Belfast News Letter, May 5th, 2025
The thousands of people expected at the annual pre-Twefth Orange Parade in Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal tomorrow, are evidence of “the fortitude and resilience” of the Orange family in the south, the order’s Grand Master has said.
Edward Stevenson was speaking just ahead of tomorrow’s flagship parade in Donegal, renowned for its family-friendly atmosphere, and often attracting 10,000 people during good weather.
Mr Stevenson, said: "Rossnowlagh remains an important date in our calendar as each year, the Brethren and Sisters from our Lodges in the Republic of Ireland come together to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne.
“Despite partition and the dramatic numerical decline of the Protestant community in the new ‘Free State’, the Orange tradition has endured and remains an important religious and social touchstone for our members and their families.
“The fortitude and resilience of the Orange family in the Republic of Ireland is an inspiration to me, and it is evident by the large number of supporters and spectators who attend Rossnowlagh each year that they are held in high esteem by many of our members throughout Northern Ireland and further afield.
“We may live in different political jurisdictions, but we are united in our shared identity and commitment to the Orange Institution.”
Drumcree: Lockhart urges Benn to take action over Parade Commission ‘failure’
By Philip Bradfield, Belfast News Letter, July 5th, 2025
Carla Lockhart MP has urged the Secretary of State to take action over the Parades Commission’s “failure” to resolve the Drumcree parade dispute – with the 27th anniversary of Orangemen trying to complete their 1998 march taking place on Sunday.
Portadown Orangemen will peacefully attempt to complete the return leg of their parade from their annual Drumcree Parish Church service along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown to their lodge in Portadown – something they have been trying to do almost every Sunday since the route was blocked by police in 1998.
The stand-off at Drumcree made headlines in the 1990s with nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road resolutely opposed to the parade passing through the area, leading to violence for several summers locally and across NI.
Portadown District Master Nigel Dawson told the News Letter: “This is the oldest church service in the history of the Orange institution so it's an excess of 300 years old. So there it is, there's a lot of heritage and a lot of history attached to it and that's why it's such an important and significant parade.”
He has taken part in the Drumcree parade for almost 40 years, and he is the only district officer left from the year the trouble first began, in 1995.
Aside from the Covid pandemic and the foot and mouth scare, Orangemen have attempted to complete the parade every Sunday since 1998, he said.
The Parades Commission said it engaged with both sides in 2022.
The Orangemen, it said, reasserted their commitment to parading back along the Garvaghy Road, but offered to compromise on the size, time and form of the parade.
However, the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition (GRRC), stressed that the parade would cause “significant community tension and is therefore non-negotiable”.
It added that this would “bring to the fore issues, anxieties and fears, which the residents consider should remain in the past and which could have wider ramifications”.
Ban ‘remains necessary’
The commission concluded that the ban “remains necessary, proportionate and fair” and “reflects the potential impacts on community relations in the immediate vicinity of Portadown and across Northern Ireland”.
But speaking after a recent meeting with Secretary of State Hilary Benn and Orange district masters, Upper Bann DUP MP Ms Lockhart called on him to take action.
“The secretary of state listened carefully, and I welcome his commitment to consider what has been said. But words must now be followed by action," she said.
“This is a dispute that has now persisted for over 25 years, and in that time we have witnessed a sustained effort from Portadown District to seek dialogue, to be respectful, and to pursue a peaceful and lawful resolution."
She queried on what evidence the commission bases its decision on the ‘potential for public disorder’.
“Who is making that assessment? Is it based on PSNI intelligence or simply a threat from those who oppose the parade? There was no clarity, and that is deeply concerning.”
In response, the Parades Commission said it has “consistently encouraged all parties to enter into dialogue to achieve an accommodation which meets the needs of the local communities”.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: "The Secretary of State met with officers from Portadown LOL and Carla Lockhart MP on Thursday 26 June. He appreciated the opportunity to hear about their concerns in relation to the annual Drumcree parade. "The Secretary of State highlighted that the Parades Commission is the independent public body overseeing public processions in Northern Ireland and encouraged the group to engage with the Commission. "The Parades Commission continues to have our full support in their important role in relation to parades across Northern Ireland."
In July last year the order applied to complete their march on the day Armagh was playing the All-Ireland GAA final, but the commission refused.
Sinn Fein and Breandán Mac Cionnaith of the GRCC were invited to comment.
Chinook 1994 helicopter crash families criticise MoD for ‘losing moral compass’
By Robert White, PA, Belfast News Letter, July 4th, 2025
Families of the victims of the 1994 RAF Chinook crash have hit out at the Ministry of Defence for refusing a public inquiry into the incident and sealing key documents for 100 years.
Relatives of the 29 victims who died on the aircraft have written to the Prime Minister to demand a full, independent, judge-led public inquiry to establish the truth into the disaster, accusing the MoD of “losing its moral compass”.
RAF Chinook ZD576 crashed on the Mull of Kintyre on its way from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George in Scotland, and all 25 passengers and four crew members were killed in the incident.
A verdict of gross negligence against the pilots, flight lieutenants Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper, from a review into the incident by two senior RAF officers in 1995 was overturned by the Government in 2011 after a 16-year campaign by the families.
Relatives have now written to the Prime Minister to intervene and are seeking a judicial review in the High Court.
Chris Cook, whose brother Richard was one of the pilots killed in the disaster, said: “In the BBC documentary that was shown early last year, what came to light was that the official documents to do with the accident have been sealed for 100 years by the Ministry of Defence.
“We weren’t aware of that. There was news to me when I watched the programme.
“And so it seems rather suspicious to us that the documents are going to be locked away for such a long time.”
He added: “We campaigned for 16 years to clear the pilots’ names and so many times we were given indications that information didn’t exist.
‘They want us to go away’
“Based on the experience we had in our campaign, they wanted us to go away – simple as that.
“But my late father always said justice has no expiry dates.
“Sadly, he passed away before we cleared Rick’s name.
“He never got to see that, he died six years beforehand.
“But those words mean an awful lot, it means don’t give up.
“You know if you think that an injustice is being done, you keep fighting for it.”
Mr Cook says there are 47 individuals that lost their fathers in the crash, most of whom were children and some not yet born, who have lived their whole lives without answers.
Jenni Balmer Hornby, daughter of Anthony Hornby who was killed in the disaster, said: “It was a week before my 10th birthday when the crash happened and so obviously I wasn’t old enough to go to any of the earlier inquiries, but my mum went to those.
“For some time she felt that it was an accident because of these inquiries.
“But now we know that the full information wasn’t given, so we know over time that these inquiries were completely ineffective.
“I think it’s very clear to myself and everyone in the campaign that the MoD have lost their moral compass – I’m so certain now that the MoD is hiding something.
“I can’t go another 31 years not knowing what happened to my father.
“Him and his colleagues risk their life for their country and in return, we have just been dismissed and fed lies for three decades and we all deserve a lot better.”
Andy Tobias, who was just eight when his father John Tobias went on board RAF Chinook ZD576, has branded the response from the MoD as a “betrayal”.
He said: “(It’s been) really tough.
“My brother and myself have not had a father, he’s not been around to direct us through the challenges that you face in life.
“You never get over it but you learn to live with it.
‘MoD really let us down’
“For us, the MoD have really let us down as families.
“It’s been a complete betrayal to all of those men who boarded that flight and gave their life and service.
“If my father knew that his family were fighting so hard to get answers and to get the truth, he would be turning in his grave.
Sue Sparks, whose husband Gary was killed in the crash, said: “I think it would give us closure.
“Over the 30 years, we were led to believe it was an accident, which it wasn’t.
“It could have been prevented.
“The helicopter was declared unairworthy and they were made to fly in it.
“It makes us feel angry and not treated properly by the MoD.
“As a war widow, I feel very, very let down by the Government and the MoD.”
The MoD has been approached for comment.
Victims of PIRA bombings enabled by Libyan semtex ignored by successive UK governments
Belfast News Letter, July 5th, 2025
A letter from Andrew Rosindell, MP for Romford
On Tuesday, I convened a meeting in Westminster alongside colleagues from both Houses of Parliament and victims of Irish republican semtex bombings, as we re-established the parliamentary support group on Libyan-sponsored IRA terrorism.
The meeting was held alongside Jim Allister KC MP, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), and the Rt Hon the Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard, former Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), with victims of IRA terrorism in attendance.
For decades, victims and families whose lives were devastated by IRA bombings enabled by Libyan-supplied semtex have been ignored by successive governments.
The regime of Muammar Gaddafi provided the means for terror on British soil and yet, decades later, British victims remain without justice or compensation, while their counterparts in France, Germany, and the United States have rightly received settlements.
Successive UK governments have failed to secure justice or compensation for British victims or to utilise the frozen Gaddafi-linked assets held in the UK, despite Libya’s proven role in supplying explosives used in IRA attacks.
Despite clear recommendations from a select committee, a classified report by the government’s own special representative, and repeated calls from parliamentarians across the political spectrum, meaningful progress has been deliberately blocked.
Renewed push for Govt action
The meeting marks a renewed push for action, with a coordinated strategy now being developed by victims, campaigners, and elected representatives.
We are committed to holding the government to account and pressing for a just resolution – one that finally brings British victims into line with the treatment afforded to others abroad.
We are now calling on the prime minister and His Majesty’s Government to:
• Urgently meet with the Victim Support Group
• Publish the long-awaited Shawcross Report
• Commit to the equitable treatment of British victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism
Whether it was the London Docklands bombing, the Baltic Exchange bombing, the Harrods Bombing, Enniskillen, Manchester, or beyond, the impact of these horrific attacks continues to be felt to this day.
Andrew Rosindell, MP for Romford, Convenor of the meeting
