Starmer's 'constructive' call with Taoiseach on Troubles legacy plans

Christopher McKeon, Belfast Telegraph, July 19th, 2025

Sir Keir Starmer stressed the importance of “consensus” in handling the legacy of the Troubles as he spoke to his Irish counterpart yesterday.

In a phone call with Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the Prime Minister had what Downing Street described as a “constructive discussion” on dealing with the legacy of the 30-year conflict.

A Number 10 spokesperson said that the two men had “underscored the importance of a way forward that built consensus”, before turning to economic issues and the UK-EU relationship.

Mr Martin himself echoed Downing Street's comments, tweeting that he had a “constructive discussion with British PM Keir Starmer on a framework for dealing with legacy”.

The call came as Sir Keir faces pressure from some of his own backbenchers over plans to repeal and replace legislation passed by the previous government that halted investigations into all but the most serious allegations involving Troubles-related cases. A protest was held in London last week ahead of a Westminster Hall debate on the issue.

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act has been criticised by human rights campaigners for granting conditional immunity to suspects.

That provision was ruled incompatible with human rights laws by the Northern Irish courts, prompting Labour to commit to replacing legislation it described as “flawed and failed”.

But that proposal has brought condemnation from former British soldiers who fear it will open the way to vexatious prosecutions and civil claims.

Some Labour MPs unhappy

Opponents are also reported to include some Labour MPs, including veterans minister Al Carns.

A former Royal Marine and special forces officer, Mr Carns was reported by The Times to be considering resigning over plans to repeal the Legacy Act.

But earlier in the week, Downing Street said the Government was “working in lockstep” on the issue.

A Ministry of Defence source also played down the prospect of Mr Carns quitting, but told the PA news agency it was a “tricky issue” and “when you are making policy there is always going to be debate internally”.

On Friday, the former Veterans Commissioner Danny Kinahan revealed he signed a petition to stop the Government repealing the controversial Legacy Act.

Ex-servicemen and women said they believed repeal would lead to a reopening of investigations and prosecutions against them.

Secretary of State Hilary Benn defended the Government's plan and said that “only one soldier” had been convicted over a Troubles-related death since 1998.

More than 176,000 people signed the petition demanding that Labour not make any changes to the law.

Mr Kinahan said: “I was one of them. I fully support the campaign to stop the Act being repealed.

“Legislative changes that would allow Northern Ireland veterans to be prosecuted for having done their duty is wrong.

“Our veterans in particular showed huge restraint in how they combated terrorism here.

“The Legacy Act is probably as good as it gets. I wish everyone would stop playing politics with the issue and sit down and find the right way forward so that we reach a fair and balanced solution.”

‘I just did what I thought was right’

From ministering to black communities in the US in the 1960s to acting as a witness to republican and loyalist decommissioning, Rev Harold Good has never been afraid to confront the realities of divided societies. He spoke to Denzil McDaniel

FOR over 40 years, Rev Harold Good has spent every summer in his mobile home in a secluded corner on the coast at Ballycastle, overlooking the spectacular but rugged sea.

Even in July there are days when the waves crash dramatically against the rocks, but as he views the scene from his window, Harold is the essence of calm.

In an eventful and remarkable life, he has approached the storms of a divided society and his role in bridge-building in rough waters in the same assured manner, with his mantra of “talk, truth, trust”.

The dignified demeanour, however, is allied with an inner determination, as he says: “I just did and said what I thought was right.”

There may have been people from his own community who were unsure about his stance.

“I was never apologetic about my position. I was very open about who I talked to and what I was doing,” says Rev Good, who also admits: “I was fortunate in that I didn’t have the nasty experience some people had.”

His faith gave him powerful inner strength, and he was always steadfast in remembering that Charles Wesley “wanted Methodists to be friends of all and enemies of none”.

Harold Good, a former president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, was one of two independent witnesses to the decommissioning of IRA weapons in 2005, crucial to the continuation of Sinn Féin in the Stormont Executive. The other witness was Redemptorist priest Fr Alec Reid.

Following the publication last year of his memoir In Good Time, written with Martin O’Brien, much attention focused on his role in the decommissioning process, the links with political figures and the secret meetings held during the period.

But there is much more to Harold Good’s long journey which includes ministry in Waterford, where he met his wife Clodagh, and the United States, where at one point he was minister to a black congregation in shock following the murder of Martin Luther King.

Shankill Butchers, Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley

Then back to the Shankill Road in Belfast in the 1960s, where he advised young loyalists including Shankill Butchers William Moore and Robert Bates not to be drawn into conflict. Years later he would meet the two men on a prison visit.

His story interconnects with the journeys of others, notably Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley, and in this interview he also refers to the importance of journeys yet to be undertaken in shaping a new Ireland.

He’s concerned that unionism is ignoring the reality of changing circumstances but also believes that all sides need to engage in “an honest attempt to understand each other’s problems, fears and hurt”.

It was McGuinness who first approached Harold Good about the decommissioning process and he recalls many meetings with the future deputy first minister, including the first time he came to his mobile home on the coast.

Looking out at the stunning view, McGuinness said: “Harold, is this where you go when you die?”

At the time, it seemed unlikely that it would be Martin McGuinness who would die first, but even more unlikely had been the warm and close relationship that had developed between the Methodist preacher and the former IRA man.

One senses the great warmth from Harold Good that still exists towards Martin McGuinness.

“I had a very genuine affection for him, we had an affection for each other,” he says; but as well as the personal relationship he praises the republican leader for his role in the peace process.

“Leadership is trying to bring people to a new place. That’s why I would have a lot of respect for Martin McGuinness.

“Everything is relative. It may not have been as new a place as many would have liked, but it was a long way from where they’d been. He was able to bring people on a remarkable journey from where they were.”

Rev Good also gives credit to Ian Paisley for his role in the peace process but feels that the DUP leader had a record of telling people what they wanted to hear, and eventually couldn’t bring enough with him when entering power-sharing.

“At the end of the day he had to go on his own, but I respect him for having done that.”

He says he and Paisley would have many issues of difference since as a schoolboy attending a “Youth for Christ” rally he first saw the firebrand ‘rabble rouser’ preacher, whose accusations of “apostasy” against mainstream ministers such as his father caused great hurt.

“I could have enjoyed my self-righteousness and condemned Paisley and McGuinness. But we have a long track record of condemning each other and the politics of condemnation has never brought us very far.

“I don’t think it would’ve brought me into the relationship I had with both of them,” he says.

The call from McGuinness to get involved as a witness to the decommissioning of weapons was a measure of the reputation of trust Good had built up over many years.

When he discussed it with his wife, her instinct was: “You must do it. It would be a completion of all that you’ve been doing up to now.”

Born in Derry in 1937, Harold Good was a son of a Methodist Minister, the Rev RJ Good – also a former president of the Church in Ireland – and says his parents were very liberal and influenced by Wesleyan belief in ecumenical thinking.

In the late 1950s, following the murder of a young RUC man, his father met the leaders of the republican movement, asking them to consider the moral implications of their border campaign.

He had to go alone when other church leaders felt “the time wasn’t right”. Half a century later, his son would play a vital role in the peace process.

Harold Good recalls the realisation of his younger self of the “underlying divisions” between the two communities in Northern Ireland when he served in Bessbrook in the late 1950s.

“I would have been living in a comfortable, privileged Protestant suburb in east Belfast and wasn’t aware of what went on until I went to Bessbrook. I saw the curfew in Newry and I saw protesters being hosed out of Margaret Square,” he says, commenting that at the time, nationalists were given little voice.

His book graphically describes the way protesters were dealt with as “degrading… hosing the crowd with a water cannon as if they were hosing vermin out of a farmyard”.

After the Bessbrook experience, Rev Good’s next church was in Waterford. It would be a relatively brief spell, but of major significance as he met and married a young member of the Methodist congregation, Clodagh Coad.

In 1964, Harold Good’s political education continued as he headed to the United States for four years, to Ohio and Indiana, at a time of massive racial discrimination against the black community, many of whom were in his congregation.

Racism and Sectarianism - two sides of same coin

“In America I began to understand that racism and sectarianism were two sides of the same coin. I saw very ugly examples of racism which I found extraordinary and deeply offensive,” he recalls.

In 1968, when he was minister of an all-black congregation in Indianapolis, Martin Luther King was murdered and Rev Good felt inadequate in ministering to them. But they insisted he was their minister.

“They were remarkable people, and I learned from them about the meaning of grace.”

He had preached a sermon on Philippians chapter 3, where St Paul wrote: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead.”

The Biblical lesson of letting go of the past and embracing new possibilities is one which Harold Good speaks powerfully about in the interview and one he has used in Irish congregations who have experienced hurt and conflict.

When he returned to Ireland in 1968, he was hoping for a quieter life in a vacancy in a quiet parish in Tipperary. But his superiors had other ideas, and he ended up in Agnes Street on the Shankill Road at the outset of the Troubles.

Following the burning of Catholic families in Bombay Street, Rev Good made an appeal from the pulpit for practical help for their neighbours and the Methodist congregation responded generously.

Throughout his experiences, Harold Good’s faith continued to strengthen him, and he recalls a line from a letter written by Methodist founder John Wesley to a Catholic: “If your heart be as my heart, give me your hand.”

Taking the gun out of politics

His witness of the decommissioning of weapons was 20 years ago, and the often-quoted line which Fr Alec Reid whispered to him was: “There goes the last gun out of Irish politics.”

I ask in the interview if society has moved on sufficiently and if he believes there is a danger that violence will return.

“I don’t think we’ll ever go back to the naked, raw, physical violence,” he says.

“But I am worried about us not going forward; just sitting where we’re sitting and being content with that.

“It’s better than violence? I don’t think that’s good enough,” he says.

He is concerned that many in the unionist community who say they won’t have a conversation about a new Ireland because it isn’t going to happen are “putting their head in the sand”.

“That to me is trying to deny the change that is happening around us and it would worry me,” he says.

He often refers back to the alternative covenant drafted in 1912 by Ballymoney Presbyterian minister JB Armour, who suggested unionists shouldn’t be so apologetic or fearful but be more confident and proud about what they could bring to the island of Ireland.

“I’ve said we need to go back and revisit Armour’s Covenant and I think it is a debate we should be having at the moment.

“How many people within the Protestant or unionist tradition would die in the ditch now to stay within the UK, whatever the alternative would be, particularly when the queen is gone.”

Rev Good says he “never thought of this island in two parts”. His father was from West Cork and he recalls growing up visiting relatives in Kilkenny, Sligo, Youghal and Dungarvan. But he also refers to the role his maternal grandfather played in securing UVF weapons in 1914. Such is the complexity of identity and history in Ireland.

“I just felt this place was my island home and I ended up marrying a girl from Waterford,” he says, although he agrees he would probably have signed the Ulster Covenant of 1912, as his grandfather did.

“The idea of the theocratic nature of the Irish government would not have been in our interests. But the world has changed since then,” he says.

He believes there is an onus on all sides to have a more honest conversation. While there is benefit in the idea of an island sharing a health system, an education system and the benefits of an island economy, the problems go deeper.

He uses the analogy of a couple whose relationship has broken down coming to see him as a minister.

“I wouldn’t start by suggesting it would make sense to live in one house rather than two. I’d start by talking about the history and hurt of their relationship,” he explains, and says that in Ireland an honest conversation is needed and “it’s not happening sufficiently that we acknowledge each other’s hurt and history”.

“I’d say to republicans and nationalists, you’ve got your vision of a united Ireland and I could live comfortably with a new Ireland. But if all we’re going to do is redistribute the resentment, where does that take us?”

Since the 1950s, Rev Harold Good has been walking the walk of reconciliation, inspired by the “inclusive understanding of grace which is at the heart of Wesleyan/Methodist theology”.

He says the conversation going forward should not be “one-sided”.

DUP says ‘minority rights’ should be extended to all in Irish language sign and parade row

Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent, Irish News, July 19th, 2025

A DUP councillor has suggested “minority rights” should be extended to all after claims that a mixed street at the centre of an Irish language row was included in a loyalist parade route in a bid to intimidate local people.

Oldpark councillor Jordan Doran confirmed he followed the controversial parade through the mixed Sunningdale Park North of north Belfast area on July 11.

The event, branded ‘Ballysillan Community Parade’, included one band and up to 100 participants.

While details were notified to the Parades Commission, it was not marked as sensitive, and no determination was issued.

North Belfast SDLP councillor Carl Whyte has written to the PSNI and Parades Commission and believes both should have considered the parade “contentious”.

In correspondence to police, Mr Whyte said that while similar parades have previously taken place in the wider area, Sunningdale Park North was added to the route this year.

Mr Whyte said he has been contacted by a number of local residents “who feel this parade was an attempt to intimidate because of the erection of a dual-language street sign earlier this year”.

Mr Doran said he is “completely perplexed” over why the SDLP politician wrote to the PSNI and Parades Commission about the event, which he suggested was “for kids”.

“I walked behind the parade, through its agreed route and would refute any claims of ‘intimidation’,” he said.

Different rules?

Oldpark councillor Jordan Doran confirmed he followed the controversial parade through the mixed Sunningdale Park North of north Belfast area on July 11

“Given the fantastic turn out of residents throughout the route who were at their doors waving at the kids and band as they passed by peacefully, anyone who believed this was an act of intimidation is culturally ignorant.”

And Mr Doran added: “This is a clear example of a rule for one and a different rule for another.”

There was controversy earlier this year after unionists failed in a bid to block the erection of dual Irish/English signage in the area.

Applications linked to four streets, including Sunningdale Park North, were deferred after they met the threshold for dual signage but had a greater number opposing the move.

Mr Doran suggested minority rights should now be extended to all.

“The argument used by nationalist councillors of minority rights was good enough to erect a dual language sign, but those rights are not extended to those that might wish to learn the flute or celebrate their culture,” he said.

However, he congratulated the parade organisers, which he said “was designed to bring the community together during the July celebrations and I felt it did just that”.

“I will also write to the Parades Commission and the PSNI refuting any claims of ‘intimidation’ – this is a clear attack on unionist culture and those in positions of responsibility should give no credence to these ridiculous claims and politicallymotivated opposition,” he added.

Wife of Armagh GAA legend McGeeney a director of firm that owns 'asbestos bonfire' site

Andrew Madden, Belfast Telegraph, July 19th, 2025

PLANS TO REMOVE HAZARDOUS MATERIAL HALTED AFTER AREA COULDN'T BE SECURED

The wife of Armagh All-Ireland winning captain and manager Kieran McGeeney is linked to the company that owns the land in Belfast where a controversial loyalist bonfire was built.

The pyre in the Village area was lit on the Eleventh Night despite plans by Belfast City Council to remove it due to asbestos on the derelict site and its proximity to an electricity substation that serves two hospitals.

Boron Developments Ltd has an office registered in Armagh.

According to Companies House, the directors include Maura McGeeney and former Kildare GAA player Patrick Mangan.

Mr McGeeney (53), a three-time All-Star, managed Kildare between 2007 and 2013. At the time Mr Mangan was chair of the county's fundraising arm, Club Kildare.

Land registry documents obtained by the Belfast Telegraph show Boron Developments has been the registered owner of the site close to the Westlink since 2018.

The landowners and Armagh GAA were contacted for comment.

It is understood Boron Developments was made aware there was asbestos on the site when it bought it, and it did not give permission for the bonfire to take place on its property.

There is no suggestion of wrong-doing by any of the directors.

It has been reported that Boron Developments engaged with a waste management company to remove the asbestos, but it couldn't complete its work due to people “bringing in materials and building the bonfire”.

Too late to secure bonfire site

It is understood the site owners had scheduled the removal of the asbestos to begin on July 16. However, the area couldn't be secured.

Concerns were raised by Environment Minister Andrew Muir, other politicians and statutory bodies about the risks the bonfire presented to the public and to the power supply for the Royal Victoria and Belfast City Hospitals.

Despite the warnings, many people attended on the Eleventh Night.

Councillors had agreed by a majority vote days before the pyre was lit to have it removed.

However, within hours of the news breaking a crowd gathered at the site and entrances were blocked.

Police then announced they would not assist in the removal of the bonfire.

The PSNI said the decision followed a meeting of stakeholders and involved “carefully balancing potentially competing statutory and human rights obligations”.

It added: “During this multi-agency meeting all partners considered the environmental risks associated with the asbestos on the site, the risks related to the electricity substation, as well as the risks to public safety on a site occupied by members of the public, including children.

“The consensus of the meeting was that the risk of the bonfire proceeding as planned was lower and more manageable than the intervention of contractors and the proposed methodology of dismantling the bonfire.”

Meanwhile, loyalist activist Jamie Bryson has criticised coverage of the saga, refuting any assertion “bonfire builders in the Village area had 'poisoned' kids”.

In a letter in today's Belfast Telegraph, he adds: “A decent, tight-knit community in the Village were used as a political football and held up for public ridicule by the media and 'commentariat', based largely upon not only deliberate misunderstandings of and/or unwillingness to even try to understand the factual situation around that bonfire itself, but also more generally the loyalist community and our cultural traditions per se.”

Anti-PSNI billboard allowed to remain in republican heartland

Connla Young, Irish News, July 19th, 2025

A BILLBOARD poster criticising the PSNI has remained untouched in a republican heartland for several weeks.

The huge sign has been draped across a large advertising board at Casement Park in west Belfast by republican group Lasair Dhearg.

The professional looking sign makes several allegations about the PSNI, including that the force has arrested and charged twice as many Catholics as Protestants in recent years.

It also claims that police ‘spit hoods’ are used two and a half times more often on Catholics than their religious counterparts.

The poster includes the words ‘there is nothing normal about the PSNI’ and ‘reject British policing in Ireland’ and carries an image of an armed PSNI officer with his face covered.

Lasair Dhearg Vice-Chairperson Pádraic MacCoitir said “activists took over a billboard… to combat the British state’s PSNI ‘normalisation’ campaign”.

The former republican blanketman said that “almost a quarter of a century ago the RUC changed its name overnight to the PSNI”.

“It was said that this would be a new beginning, that the old days were behind us, and that this would be a force representative of all,” he said.

“We only have to look at the PSNI’s own statistics though, to know that this was a lie.”

The PSNI did not respond to the content of the the Lasair Dhearg poster.

“While no reports have been made, police are aware of material on a billboard in the Andersontown area of Belfast,” a spokeswoman said.

West Belfast People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said: “Catholic and nationalist communities have been subject to over-policing, surveillance and higher rates of stop and search for decades.”

Can no one end sectarian summers?

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph, July 19th, 2025

Here we are. July 19. We're strung like an oul carcass over a poisonous Ulster barbeque, the fat spitting off onto the bare legs of people trying to escape the heat.

It's halfway through our version of the summer holidays, the period traditionally of highest community tensions swinging from one extreme to another, with both extremes pretending they are the middle ground and virtually every single political representative away reading their beach blockbusters until mid-September.

You're on your own, folks. Slap on the Factor 100 and noise-reducing headphones.

You can set your alarm clock for the annual outrages. Bonfire effigies and posters and safety concerns. Flags everywhere, marking territory. Up the 'Ra chants.

And the febrile atmosphere always delivers a new twist on the same old story.

This year, simultaneous flashpoints involved children and young people. A bonfire in the Village area of Belfast risked damage to hospital electricity and igniting asbestos. In Comber, North Down Cricket Club abandoned plans for a children's event involving East Belfast GAA because of online comments which were subsequently spelled out by Goldsprings Orange Lodge.

Both these cringingly embarrassing situations needed leadership to be resolved. None came. Both could have been resolved. Neither were.

Endless condemnation

No-one creates space to problem-solve, but relentless condemnation is never in short supply. Fuming rage is the default of public commentators and politicians. That's all anyone ever does. The slow-motion car crash. We all watch it happen.

It's clear now there are no channels between the factions here. Face-offs occur which must benefit someone because otherwise they would be defused. Instead, resolution never happens, not as regards the past any more than as regards the present. No-one is coming to rescue us. No-one will feel the fear and do it anyway, step out of their comfort zone for the greater good.

MLAs' expenses and staffing cost £11m in just one year. If that dosh cannot buy us backroom teams capable of a fresh approach, we're being had. Pointless MLAs. Pointless MPs. Pointless councillors.

It's a parallel universe, the international showpiece of The Open a world away from the Green/Orange Retro Rhetoric the rest of us are condemned to live among.

What's really depressing about the usual sectarian set-pieces is how picky the perpetrators get about being called “sectarian”. Nobody likes the word but every single political stance is built on it here and has been for more than 100 years. Simple fact.

There never was a formula that allowed Protestants and Catholics in Ireland to live side by side. There were no halcyon days. Nor will there be.

Is coercion unavoidable in ‘United’ Ireland?

Whatever the future of Northern Ireland, any accommodation within a unitary state on this island will be implemented with some degree of coercion.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.

We know this because the mood music over the years of so-called peace has only intensified in raucous dissonance.

We also know this because, with such superhuman restraint that it's almost admirable, successive Irish governments have failed to develop a single plan for accommodating these unionists or Protestants or loyalists or planters or fascists or racists or thugs or whatever nationalism chooses to call them.

After decades of staring over the fence coveting the neighbour's rockery and red, white and blue flowerbeds, nothing.

It would be funny if it were actually just a cartoon. Somehow it's Jonathan Swift that's needed to describe this island today.

Failing that we just have to recognise that in 100 years not one fresh idea has emerged from anybody which might begin to re-imagine how Northern Ireland and/or Ireland could accommodate itself to the simple irrevocable facts of history.

You don't have to check history books to confirm this. Just reflect on your own life. How often have you read and listened to politicians and pundits, watched documentaries, heard new party leaders, looked at new parties and thought 'finally, this will make a change…'?

Right away you see how pointless it has all been. All that newsprint and airtime. You could drown the entire island in viewpoints locked into a partisan perspective. You know what someone is going to say before they utter a word.

Not a single political figure has emerged who can be said to have projected a vision that has persuasion across, and among, traditional allegiances. Not one has managed to convey such a humane and charismatic perspective that it has been recognised as plausible and doable and desirable across the old tribal lines.

It doesn't have to be everybody. But it does have to be somebody. And it is incredible that among all the many mouthpieces in Ireland in 100 years, stuck in their nests like baby birds, their beaks open waiting for mummy to fly in from London or Dublin to feed them, not one person has managed to step across the boundaries with conviction, honesty and generosity.

The Peter Robinson/Martin McGuinness era provided a glimpse of a possible future of mutual understanding and respect. Apart from that it's always been defensive, bitter, vindictive, accusatory. The direction of travel is away from conciliation. Digging us further in, not out.

Breed for Ireland

It's 2025. There are people still waiting for the biological clock to solve their problems. Breed for Ireland.

There are people still imagining that some hitherto undetected clause will save Ulster from Ireland. That something will turn up. It won't.

There is already an issue rapidly replacing unification as a theme for urgent political discussion and which will probably occupy everybody for the rest of this century, and that's migration.

Again, anyone who doesn't see that is deluded. Stating this is not racist either. It's a determining factor right across Europe. Why would it be any different here?

If this were an episode of Deal or No Deal, every single box would have nothing in it. Everyone would lose every time. Every answer would be 'Thank you, Mr Banker, but no deal.'

The repeat series would not last long on afternoon TV, but we have stuck it now for 100 years.

It's very sad, but it is remarkable that not one person came forward.

Other countries have charismatic leaders. Not for ever. Just for a few years to move things on.

Here? No-one at all.

No other version of how it's possible to live in Ireland has ever arrived except this grisly version with antiquated notions at every turn, gnawing at everyone's sense of wellbeing, tracing the routes of old funerals.

For heaven's sake, somebody do something.

Loyalist band parade bypasses the minds of most visitors to Portrush

Niamh Campbell, Belfast Telegraph, July 19th, 2025

BULK OF TOURISTS HERE TO ENJOY GOLF UNAWARE OF ROW OVER CLASHING EVENT

Despite the controversy, headlines and tee-time changes caused by the Sons of Ulster parade in Portrush this weekend, the majority of international visitors to The Open don't seem to know it's even taking place.

The loyalist flute band will hold its annual event on Saturday night, with the timings coinciding with the third round of the golf Major.

Organisers say 77 bands are expected to take part, with approximately 2,000 spectators.

Mark Darbon, chief executive of the R&A (Royal & Ancient), said there would be “marginal adjustments” of about 15 minutes to the golf tee-times on Saturday to try and ensure both events take place in a “seamless” way.

Local TUV councillor Allister Kyle said the last time The Open was held on the north coast in 2019, the band ran a concert in Portrush amphitheatre and “the Americans loved it”.

The Belfast Telegraph stopped visiting golf fans at Royal Portrush yesterday to ask if they'll be watching the parade.

But for nearly all of them, it was their first time hearing about it.

Not Zoe Weinberg, though. She grew up in Michigan and lives in London. Her boyfriend is English, but his parents live in Moville, Co Donegal.

She said: “I do know what it is, actually — they wear bowler hats? And they almost got paid £20,000 to not do it, and they've decided to still do it.

“We won't be there because we'll be back in Donegal. We're coming back on Sunday.

‘I just wanna hang out’

“I don't even know enough about it to even think [about going to watch it]. I just wanna go hang out and have a relaxing evening.”

Canadian Karen Caulfield lives near Toronto. During this trip, a special highlight was finally visiting Castlecaulfield in Co Tyrone, her namesake.

She said: “I have friends that live in Coleraine, so we're close by here.

“We've been to St Andrews, and Portrush blows it away. It's a better viewing course.

“I have been fortunate to golf at Royal County Down numerous times over the years.”

Karen has witnessed loyalist bands in Belfast before, and “wouldn't mind going to see it, except for the crowds”.

She added: “It's interesting too, because it might cause a little divide, right?

“I just volunteered at the Canadian Open and we get rock bands to play every night, so I actually looked for music at The Open and AI said that no, they don't do any concerts at this.

“We have a huge stage at The Canadian Open on one of the holes not being used, and two of our top Canadian artists play — Billy Talent and Sam Roberts.”

She did suggest The Open should maybe follow suit — and get the likes of Westlife and Snow Patrol to play next time.

Scott Olson from Minnesota lived in Derry for about a year and knows about loyalist band culture, but had no idea about the parade.

He's attending the tournament all weekend, but just wanted to soak up the golf.

“No, probably not,” was his answer about attending the parade.

Meanwhile, the PSNI has advised road users to anticipate traffic disruption.

The parade is due to begin at 8.30pm on Metropole Green before moving onto Sandhill Drive, Eglinton Street, Kerr Street, Upper Main Street, Main Street, Causeway Street, Victoria Street, and finish on Dunluce Avenue at around 11pm.

Additional traffic management measures will be implemented from 6-11pm with all roads into Portrush town temporarily closed to facilitate the volume of participants and spectators.

Road closures include Coleraine Road at Glenvale Avenue Junction, Hopefield Avenue and Girona Avenue, Girona Park by Girona Avenue, and Girona Avenue by Ballywillan Road.

The PSNI said: “Officers will be on the ground during the parade to assist with traffic diversions. Any diversions will be made where necessary for vehicular movement, and local businesses will remain open and accessible as usual.”

Ex-world rowing champion criticises GAA following camp cancellation row

Paul Ainsworth, Irish News, July 19th, 2025

A FORMER world championship rower from Co Antrim has sparked a backlash online after criticising the GAA for its association with “anything political/cultural”.

Joel Cassells, who won gold for Great Britain at both the World Rowing Championships and the European Championships in 2015, spoke out in the wake of the cancellation of a sports summer camp event in Comber, Co Down, following local opposition to the inclusion of children from a GAA club.

Among those opposed to having young East Belfast GAA members take part in the cross-community event, which was to be hosted by North Down Cricket Club, was the local Goldsprings Orange Lodge.

The lodge released a statement in which a spokesperson said: “There is unease regarding aspects of the [GAA] organisation that have, in the past, celebrated or commemorated individuals associated with paramilitary activity.”

Goldsprings Lodge has hosted the Goldsprings True Defenders flute band, which earlier this month took part in a memorial parade in Belfast’s Shankill area to UVF commander and suspected sectarian killer Trevor King.

Cricket Ireland has since invited East Belfast GAA to take part in an upcoming event at Stormont.

Joel Cassells rowed into the row with a post yesterday to the X platform, in which he highlighted concerns some have with the GAA.

His post was in response to North Down Cricket Club issuing a statement claiming its decision to cancel the summer camp was not influenced by Goldsprings Lodge.

“I’m a product of cross-community sport through rowing, having proudly represented both Ireland and GB,” wrote the 31-yearold athlete, whose X profile description states “I believe in the union”.

“It is possible, and it should be encouraged. However, Rowing Ireland doesn’t allow association with anything political/cultural. The GAA does, and that’s an issue.”

The GAA’s official rules state a basic aim of the organisation is the “strengthening of the national identity in a 32 county Ireland”.

Some critics view the promotion of an all-island Irish identity in the GAA as “political”, despite the recognition of the right to an Irish identity for people in the north under the Good Friday Agreement.

The GAA’s rules state the association is “non-party political” and “anti-sectarian/anti-racist”.

In other posts on X, Joel Cassells refers to a ‘natbot’ when describing nationalist users, and promoted a prounion event earlier this year in Coleraine, describing it as a “fantastic event”, while in another post about the Ireland’s Future group, he labelled it as “just another front for the same old republican rhetoric and toxic language”.

In a post last year, he accused the Republic as having been “always good at placating terrorism” after it formally recognised the state of Palestine.

Users responded to his post about the GAA, including member Stephen McCourt, who wrote: “The GAA is a cultural organisation. Its 1 million members are fine with it.”

Another referred to the annual Henly Royal Regatta rowing competition in England, and wrote: “Whats Henley ‘royal’ regatta then? The one that Rowing Ireland associates itself with yearly? Anything political or cultural around that one?”

The Irish News approached Rowing Ireland for comment.

Palestine GAA group travels to Jordan after Irish tour is cancelled

Cate McCurry, Belfast Telegraph, July 19th, 2025

GAA Palestine said its players and mentors have arrived in Jordan for a summer camp after their planned tour of Ireland was cancelled over visa denials.

The group, which includes 33 Palestinian children and young teenagers, was scheduled to arrive in Dublin yesterday, however, they were denied entry by the Irish Department of Justice.

In a statement, GAA Palestine said despite the “heartbreaking” decision to cancel the Irish tour, the group turned “adversity into an opportunity for breakthrough”.

They announced a 10-day summer camp in Amman, Jordan.

The group of 33 from the West Bank were to travel to Ireland this weekend, and lodged an appeal after their visas were rejected.

However, they were forced to cancel as the appeal would not have been dealt with in time.

GAA Palestine said hurling stars Conor Donohoe and Fergal Whitey will join the tour, along with former Waterford inter-county player Shane Casey.

Visit to Amman, Jordan

“These inspiring players will travel to Amman on Saturday to lead the camp, bringing with them the vibrant energy, professionalism and rich traditions of Gaelic games,” GAA Palestine said in a statement.

“Today, we celebrate a moment of triumph — the young players and mentors arrived in Amman, greeted warmly by members of the GAA Palestine team.

“The summer camp promises an unforgettable experience, blending sport with culture and adventure.

“Participants will explore the historic Amman Citadel, visit the bustling Souk Mango, and enjoy exhilarating ziplining, buggy rides, and climbing adventures at Forest Park.

“They will watch the All-Ireland hurling final on a big screen, connect with local landmarks like the King Abdullah I Mosque, and indulge in fun-filled days at amusement and water parks. Most importantly, they will learn and grow through coaching sessions led by our committed volunteers and coaches.

“While this journey may not replicate the Irish welcome they initially envisioned, it embodies the very spirit of resilience and hope — a reminder that even in the face of disappointment, community and determination can forge new paths toward brighter futures.

“This remarkable feat would not have been possible without the generosity of donors, the tireless efforts of volunteers, our inter-county players, and the unwavering dedication of all members of GAA Palestine.”

‘Full investigation’ is needed into McCracken statue damage

Irish language part of plaque torn away in ‘act of vandalism’

Clodagh Traynor, Irish News, July 19th, 2025

THE statue of anti-slavery campaigner Mary Ann McCracken at Belfast City Hall has been damaged and is believed to have been vandalised.

The Irish language portion of the plaque beneath the statue is partially torn away and left hanging from the base.

Local councillors have called for a “full investigation” and have described the alleged act as “disgusting”.

The damage was discovered and reported on Friday morning.

The bronze statue was installed in 2024 and unveiled on International Women’s Day alongside a statue of Winifred Carney, commemorating two female icons of Irish nationalism.

The pair were the first non-royal women to receive statues on the grounds of city hall.

These monuments are also the first new memorials added since the Operation Banner Memorial in 2013.

Sinn Féin Councillor Ronan McLaughlin described the damage as “disgraceful”.

“I have spoken with council officials and called for a full investigation into the damage. I have also asked that the matter be referred to the PSNI.

“Those responsible must be held accountable for their actions to ensure this intolerant behaviour is not repeated.

Mr McLaughlin added that it is “even more concerning” that the damage “appears to have been aimed specifically at the section inscribed as Gaeilge”.

SDLP Councillor Gary McKeown described the damage as “appalling”.

“The reported vandalism of the Mary Ann McCracken statue is disgusting and will appal people right across Belfast and beyond.

Very few statues to women

“Belfast has an embarrassingly low number of statues dedicated to women, so the unveiling of this one in the grounds of city hall last year was particularly welcome. This makes it more shocking that it appears that someone has attacked it.”

Mr McKeown added: “Mary Ann was an inspirational figure whose contribution to our city still resonates to this day, particularly around her work as a social reformer and opponent of slavery. The principles she stood for remain relevant two centuries later.”

A spokesperson for Belfast City Council confirmed the council is aware of the situation and are investigating the circumstances.

They also stated the sign will be replaced “as soon as possible”.

Mary Ann McCracken was a Belfast-born businesswoman, social reformer, antislavery campaigner, and supporter of the United Irishmen.

Born in 1770 into a liberal Presbyterian family of Scottish and French Huguenot descent, she ran a successful muslin business and led the Women’s Abolitionary Committee in Belfast during the peak of the anti -slavery movement.

She also established the Ladies Committee of the Belfast Charitable Movement and was dedicated to helping the city’s poor from a young age.

A founding member of the Belfast Harp Society, McCracken was the sister of Henry Joy McCracken, a United Irishmen founder, and cared for his daughter after his execution in 1798. She died in 1866.

Defacement of Prison Service billboard poster pathetic - DUP

Mark Bain, Belfast Telegraph, July 19th, 2025

MLA BRETT SLAMS 'THUGS BEHIND SINISTER ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE'

A DUP MLA has criticised a republican group behind the vandalism of a Prison Service recruitment billboard in north Belfast.

A video of the vandalism, which happened on the Antrim Road, was posted online by Lasair Dhearg.

The recording shows a man daub orange paint over the images of two prison officers to create sashes, under which the words “Loyalist Prison Service” are spray-painted.

Lasair Dhearg posted a statement with the video on their website, which said the “British state continues to recruit for its Prison Service in occupied Ireland, hoping that they can balance the books with 'Catholics'. Just like the PSNI, they will fail.”

DUP MLA Phillip Brett has criticised those responsible as “pathetic”.

“I utterly condemn the disgraceful and cowardly vandalism of a Prison Service recruitment billboard recently on the Antrim Road. This is nothing more than a pathetic and sinister attempt to intimidate future applicants from pursuing an honourable and essential career serving and keeping our communities safe,” the North Belfast MLA said.

“Let me be clear, those responsible represent no one but themselves.

Relics of dark past

“They are relics of a dark past that the vast majority of people across Northern Ireland have long rejected. The men and women of the Prison Service carry out a difficult and vital job, often in challenging circumstances, and they deserve nothing but our respect and support.

“These thugs will not succeed in their attempts to deter individuals from stepping forward to serve our society.

“Political representatives in north Belfast should publicly condemn those behind this and support the right of the Prison Service to advertise in and recruit from all communities.

“I would urge the PSNI to take firm action against those who shamelessly and foolishly filmed themselves carrying out this criminal damage.”

The NI Prison Service said it “was disappointed by the vandalism of one of our recruitment posters. We welcome applications from all parts of the community, and any attempt to intimidate people from applying must be condemned.

“The recruitment campaign was very successful, with significant numbers applying to join the service.

“We look forward to assessing those applicants over the coming months, with successful candidates beginning their induction training later this year.”

It's understood the recruitment campaign ended on July 11 and the poster has since been removed.

The PSNI said: “Police received a report of criminal damage to a poster in the Antrim Road area of north Belfast on Wednesday, July 16. Enquiries are ongoing.”

DUP push for unity can only weaken Unionism

Sam McBride, Belfast Telegraph, July 19th, 2025

THERE IS AN IRRECONCILABLE CONTRADICTION IN THE CLAMOUR FROM SOME FOR UNIONIST UNITY: UNIONISTS DON'T AGREE ON TRIBAL ISSUES, BEFORE EVEN GETTING TO QUESTIONS OF ECONOMICS, SOCIAL POLICY OR THE ENVIRONMENT

For an ideology so perpetually divided, unionism's obsession with unity is perhaps inevitable. Yet two incidents in recent days demonstrate how such a move would likely weaken rather than strengthen unionism.

This matters now more than at most other points in recent history because senior unionists have for months been seriously considering how unity could work, and what form it should take.

At one end, some involved want a full DUP-UUP merger. Tellingly, even for these people, they don't want that to encompass the TUV, a party which represents close to a third of unionist voters.

Thus, even those advocates of unity want to maintain some of the divisions in unionism.

At the other end of the spectrum, some want limited pan-unionist deals on which seats to contest and how many candidates to run.

Psychologically shaken

That is the most likely outcome of this process, yet if there is ever a time when something far more radical might emerge, it is now. Unionism is psychologically shaken from repeated defeat, the incumbent DUP and UUP leaders are open to something drastic, and there is a long period without an election.

Yet much of the thinking about this involves abstract nostalgia for a bygone age of unionist strength. Two recent developments illustrate the impossibility of meaningful unionist unity.

For more than a year, Gavin Robinson has led the DUP skilfully.

Although there are rumblings within the party from those who either feel it is moving in too liberal a direction or who just feel cut off from its centralised power structure, there has been no return to the open warfare of recent years.

Robinson has also opened the party up. He now regularly does media interviews, as does Emma Little-Pengelly and the party's other ministers.

That has made it possible for the DUP to set the agenda while also drawing attention to how rarely Michelle O'Neill ever subjects herself to serious journalistic scrutiny. The longer this continues, the more pronounced it will become.

Yet there remains an ideological vacuum within the DUP. Robinson has not yet moulded the party after his image.

In responding to events, parties have a chance to communicate their message. But not responding promptly communicates its own message.

This week saw a unionist communications void as a major story developed.

A children's summer camp at North Down Cricket Club in Comber was cancelled at short notice after local opposition at the involvement of children from East Belfast GAA club.

If unionism is to be relevant to modern Northern Ireland, it needs to have a view on issues of this nature. Yet here it was silent, with the TUV Press Officer Sammy Morrison one of the few to address it publicly. Eventually, when Emma Little-Pengelly was asked about the issue in an interview, she said she felt “deeply saddened” at what had happened.

Many unionists — as Morrison made clear — have either no interest in the GAA or are actively hostile to it due to issues such as the naming of grounds and competitions after republican terrorists.

Yet many of these people have been willing to share platforms with loyalist terrorists (Morrison is not one of those people, and has always consistently condemned all terrorism).

Double standards

To those beyond unionism, this looks like double standards; the issue for some of these people doesn't seem to be their unbending opposition to terrorism but their tribal opposition to the IRA.

It's true that the GAA is an avowedly political organisation — to be a member involves agreeing to a constitution which states that it is a nationalist organisation which opposes partition and seeks to secure Irish unity.

Yet the reality is that there are plenty of people who play GAA, or follow the sport, who are not nationalists. For them, it is simply an enjoyable pastime.

Several years ago, a prominent DUP member privately expressed dismay to me at what he said was the mindset of some senior party figures who couldn't comprehend that his Protestant neighbour's children played GAA without giving it a second thought. Even in unionist heartlands, like east Belfast, such changes are happening rapidly.

A legalistic interpretation of a GAA member having signed up to a nationalist organisation while not themselves being nationalist fails to account for the nuance and contradictions common in every area of life.

Just as a Catholic whose top political priority is abortion may vote DUP without becoming unionist, so someone who supports or is agnostic on the Union can play GAA without endorsing its politics.

Orangemen now routinely will go to Catholic funerals or weddings despite signing up to never attend the Mass. Presbyterian ministers who have signed the Westminster Confession of Faith denouncing the Pope as the antichrist in many cases engage in ecumenical work and in some cases even go to meet the Pope.

It is possible to argue that every one of these examples involves impossible contradictions and that in the case of the GAA, if it just wants to be known as a sporting organisation, then it should ditch the politics.

Winning arguments and losing votes

But by making this argument over a few children from a GAA club coming to play with young people at a cricket club means that the argument is not just lost on most non-unionists but has clearly appalled even plenty of unionists.

Imagine a single unionist party or movement handling this issue. Would it put out a statement of support for the initiative or a statement of condemnation?

Most likely, it would say nothing at all because the bounds of the possible would be constrained by what the divisions within unionism would allow without fracturing the movement.

Thus, unionist unity wouldn't actually unite unionism; that could only happen if every unionist agreed or disagreed on the issue in question — and that's not the case.

Instead, unionist unity would, in a case such as this, weaken unionism by either making it mute on the issues where unity was meant to give it added strength, or some limp comment would be followed by disruptive briefings from either side, dismayed that their ideas hadn't been followed.

Likewise, last week's unionist response to controversial Eleventh Night bonfires demonstrates how deep and how fundamental unionist fissures are.

Religion divides Unionists in ways nationalists avoid

The DUP and TUV backed an attempt to stop Belfast City Council removing a huge bonfire on a site where there is asbestos, while the UUP pointedly did not do so.

That reflected two significant strains of thought within unionism — that these towering bonfires are either a potentially deadly menace, or that attempts to remove them are cynical moves to eradicate elements of loyalist culture.

If there was unionist unity, what would a united unionism's message here be?

The simple fact is that unionists have different views — even on tribal issues where supposedly they're on the same side.

If unionist parties can't reflect those views, then unionists who disagree with them will go elsewhere. In seeking to grow the number of unionist politicians, unionist unity could ultimately — even if there was an immediate surge — lead to fewer unionists getting elected.

Yet there is little evidence of this obvious point being appreciated at the top of the DUP.

In a statement last weekend, Gavin Robinson described the Twelfth as “a proud celebration of our identity and our culture, and a public statement of our faith”. For many, of course, this is true. But it was a tellingly exclusive line — the “our faith” was necessarily and exclusively Protestant.

Despite a small number of conservative Catholic voters who have turned to the DUP over recent years, this was a public admission that the DUP is almost universally Protestant.

Robinson went on to laud “the unifying power of the Orange Institution”. Again, for many Protestants this is true. But an exclusively Protestant organisation can necessarily only unite Protestants.

Orange Order is divisive

It was the Orange Order — an organisation which draws together Protestants of every class and denomination — which formed the basis for Robinson's appeal to unionism. He said: “That is a message unionism must learn from. We achieve more together than we do apart.

“Divided unionism has already cost us dearly. As we look ahead to Assembly and council elections in two years' time, we must explore how to maximise the pro-Union vote and return more unionist representatives, not fewer. The need for common purpose and cooperation has never been more obvious or more essential.”

To imagine Jim Allister, Gregory Campbell and Doug Beattie in the same party or as part of the same electoral alliance is to imagine the irreconcilability of this vision.

Even on tribal issues, these people don't agree — and that's before more mundane disputes over taxation, social policy, the environment and so on. Those are increasingly the issues which motivate younger voters; a unionism which simply tells those people to accept what they're given is going to repel rather than entice.

Having three unionist parties has for years made little sense. But having two parties wouldn't solve the problem of a split vote. The truth is that the vote there to be split has sharply declined.

Many in unionism are in denial about this, believing that if only the parties worked together, things could go back to how they were 20 or 30 years ago.

DUP’s poisonous legacy could condemn Union it was founded to preserve

The fact that the DUP has been losing support to both its left and its right, and the fact that unionism is now represented in Westminster by three different parties and an independent shows how divided unionist voters are. If they wanted unity, they'd all vote DUP — the biggest party with the greatest chance of winning. Increasingly, they're making clear that they don't want that.

It's convenient for a DUP, which is losing support, to appeal for unionist unity to save itself. But in so doing it is hamstrung by its own history.

Had the DUP never existed, unionist unity would have endured under the old Unionist Party, a few independents notwithstanding.

The whole point of the DUP's existence was to protest at the hegemony of a single party.

The basis for this mindset is far deeper than commonly perceived.

Writing from a prison cell in 1966 before he'd even founded the DUP, Ian Paisley reflected on what had been his first great mission.

In his commentary on the Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Romans, written while in Crumlin Road Gaol, Paisley said approvingly: “Paul was a separatist”.

Central to Paisleyism in its earliest incarnation was the concept of being a voice crying in the wilderness; proclaiming a noble truth which would never find widespread acceptance but which needed to be made known.

He went on to say that “certain men are to be marked men to the church. They are to be labelled and then scrupulously separated from (literally turn away from). Avoid never means associate!”.

This concept of division was at the heart of Paisleyism. What was true to Paisley religiously then bled into his separatist politics.

This involved an unavoidable tension in Paisley's political foray from the outset; in a democracy where the vast majority of electors didn't share his religious views, he could only succeed politically if he offered arguments which were sufficiently attractive to such people.

Ultimately, this is what led Paisley to effectively repudiate Paisleyism by sharing power with Sinn Féin; doing so was what unionists wanted and so if Paisley wanted to lead unionism, then that's what he had to do.

The DUP has never confronted this inherent contradiction in its history. If it really wants unity, such introspection will be unavoidable.

It’s time for Ireland to step up and stop the planes and ban the bonds

Patrick Murphy, Irish News, July 19th, 2025

Displaced Palestinians attempt to return to their homes in the bomb-ravaged northern Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean coast, which has been touted for development as a ‘riviera’ by Donald Trump

IMAGINE a sun-soaked coast, with palm trees, super-yachts and Dubai-style skyscrapers overlooking the clear blue waters of the Mediterranean.

It would be a place of smiling people, luxury cars and unending money.

Brilliant, you say, how do we create that? It’s simple – all you have to do is deport over a million Palestinians out of Gaza and you have a brand new riviera, with low-tax zones, artificial islands and a deep-water port.

There would be no need to send in the bulldozers, because the Israeli air force has already reduced to rubble everything there, including homes, schools and hospitals.

The United States (in the form of Donald Trump) would “own” this new Palestinian-free paradise.

This is not fantasy, it is a serious proposal confirmed by a recent Financial Times investigative report.

So whose idea is it? Donald Trump’s, yes, but what other names cropped up in the report?

That’s right, Tony Blair, the man who through the Good Friday Agreement gave us constructive ambiguity – and we have learned to our cost that there is nothing ambiguous about Stormont’s appalling standard of government.

That’s the same Tony Blair who supported the US invasion of Iraq, which cost hundreds of thousands of deaths in a country still marked by chaos.

While the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (a fine sounding name) said it opposes any attempt to relocate Gazans, and neither Blair nor the institute was involved in authorship of the Gaza plan, staff have taken part in calls relating to it.

The area is currently a shooting zone for Israeli war planes to kill children queuing for food, water and medicine.

Boston Group and Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

The plan has also been linked to the US company Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which helped to establish the ill-named and highly controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“ We were glad of help from abroad during times of famine and death in the past. Now it is our turn to help others

The Israeli government has contracted it to run aid distribution centres in Gaza rather than allow in United Nations relief agencies.

The BCG has since also disavowed the riviera plan.

As well as this proposed ethnic cleansing, Israel continues to seize land in Palestine’s West Bank.

Over 750,000 Israelis now live on stolen land there – a situation we understand well from Irish history.

Meanwhile, the world remains largely silent. The US, Britain and the EU continue to supply Israel with arms.

Only Ireland offers a meek challenge in the form of The Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban the import of goods from occupied settlements.

Originally it proposed banning goods (such as fruit) and services (such as technology, banking and tourism). The present bill covers only goods, which account for about 30% of Irish trade with Israel.

US Bullyboys

At least 10 members of the US Congress have warned that enacting the Bill would be harmful to Ireland. US ambassador to Israel Mick Huckabee wondered if “something so stupid” had been caused by the Irish falling “into a vat of Guinness”.

There appears to be no end to US Republican ill manners and ignorance.

If the Occupied Territories Bill becomes law, Ireland can expect retaliatory action from the US. That might well include higher tariffs on Irish exports and denying study visas to Irish students.

So should Ireland stick its neck out and be punished by the US, or should it look after its own interests and remain silent?

A choice between ignoring the daily civilian death toll in Gaza and speaking out is not hard to make.

If that means offending the Israeli government, so be it. It will not offend everyone in Israel.

If it means incurring the wrath of Donald Trump, then that’s too bad. He will not be in power for ever.

However, Ireland’s current stand is not enough. US planes still re-fuel at Shannon. The Irish Central Bank still facilitates the sale of Israeli war bonds, which are loans to finance the killing of civilians in Gaza.

When the killing is done, Israel will require similar bonds to build the dream of Trump-Towers-on-Sea.

Such wishes may not fully come to pass, but it is clear that more and more Palestinians will be systematically moved from their homes and killed to accommodate British and American interests. Ireland must stop the planes and ban the bonds.

If that helps to end the daily murder of children seeking a drink of water or a piece of bread, then that’s what Ireland must do.

We were glad of help from abroad during times of famine and death in the past. Now it is our turn to help others.