The Irish Government and Omagh
Opinion Piece by Cillian McGrattan
The Irish government’s promise of cooperation with the Omagh Bombing Inquiry has been met with incredulity among unionist leaders. The DUP’s Gavin Robinson, for instance, suggested that it was akin to ‘gaslighting’ – an offer of assistance masquerading as a self-serving empty gesture.
The Memorandum of Understanding, published by Jim O’Callaghan, the Minister for Justice on April 15th, in fact makes a similar argument to that propounded by Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State. Documentation will be provided to the Inquiry’s chair, Lord Turnbull, following an assessment by the government:
Prior to disclosure to the Inquiry all Irish State Materials will be subjected to review and redaction of the material by the Minister or other Irish State Agency, as necessary, including to meet requirements under Irish law, the Irish Constitution, European Union law and the ECHR.
This is essentially an appeal to raison d'état. As such, the circumspect assessment offered by SEFF’s Kenny Donaldson is understandable:
This MoU is littered with ifs, buts and maybes and there appears to be no certainty that there would be participation and full engagement from key people formerly employed by the Irish establishment, eg those who were handling agents within the RIRA and CIRA.
The scepticism is justified. Because this is the first time that the Irish government has even as much as offered something beyond silence or platitudes. The ground is well-trodden. For instance, the Consultative Group on the Past (the Eames-Bradley initiative), which reported in 2008, remarked on the ‘fact’ that the legacy of the Troubles was an area of ‘mutual concern’ to Dublin. It called for the Irish government to join with the British Government in implementing the initiative and making an appropriate contribution towards costs’. That ‘initiative’, a time-bound Legacy Commission, was, of course, ill-fated – falling under the wheels of the Group’s proposed recognition payment to ‘the closest relative of those who died during the conflict’.
American intervention
The question concerning responsibilities of the Irish government in contributing to any legacy initiative was more or less ignored by the American duo, Richard Haass and Meghan O’Sullivan in 2013. Aside from some passing comments about Dublin, all Haass and O’Sullivan suggested was asking the ‘governments in London and Dublin to participate in this effort and to pass similar enabling legislation where necessary’.
It is difficult to imagine a more deleterious contribution to policy development than the Haass/O’Sullivan process. Beyond the prisoner release scheme, it is difficult to discern any other single intervention that was more wrong-headed and influential.
For instance, they kept mentioning reconciliation but defined it as ‘the transition from a divided society to one that is whole, from a wounded society to one that is healed’. I’m not sure if anyone has agreed with that. Certainly, it’s far from any sensible definition. Reconciliation is a noun – an end point or a goal; it is difficult to tell victims they are ‘healed’. It is also a (transitive) verb: To be reconciled is an open-ended state.
Stormont House
Haass/O’Sullivan fed into the 2014 Stormont House Agreement. This pledged the British government to ‘full disclosure’ but called for the Irish government to cooperate ‘including disclosure of information and documentation’. It envisaged ‘cooperation between criminal investigation agencies in both jurisdictions and arrangements for obtaining evidence for use in court proceedings’. It suggested that where ‘additional legislation is required, it will be brought forward by the Irish Government’.
The Ulster Unionists rejected the SHA right away – the DUP followed suit. It is revealing that that is ignored. Sandra Peake, the head of WAVE recently mentioned that
The process to date is welcome but deeply frustrating. In 2020, the last Government departed from the Stormont House agreement and the process that was suggested. The period in between has been very damaging for victims and survivors.
At a meeting of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, the Conservative Chair, Simon Hoare MP got so fed up with the idea that he stated:’ One can try to flog a dead horse for as long as possible but, in essence, in terms of local political buy-in, if it is not dead, it is certainly on a life support machine’.
Reasons of state apply on both sides of the Border
Hoare is correct: Stormont House has gone and with it the Haass/O’Sullivan idea that Dublin has no part to play. A more nuanced view than WAVE’s can be found in the most recent report of the Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ), which argues that it was London’s triggering of raison d'état that scuppered the SHA:
SHA implementation was derailed by the then Government’s insertion of a ‘national security veto’ into the draft legislation which would empower Ministers to redact ‘sensitive’ information from reports and conceal human rights violations relating to state agents.
The CAJ is consistent in that idea and it criticizes Dublin for its lack of action on legacy.
However, the logic could go even further. If the Irish government is also aware of the need to balance individual rights with disclosure, can it then take that reasoning to the next step and acknowledge that legacy lawfare undermines security and the common good?
Dublin has involved itself in Omagh. If it can do so there then why not elsewhere? The MoU demonstrates, for the first time, that Dublin has something actual to contribute. Perhaps it can also be invited to weigh-in on the future of lawfare?
Cillian McGrattan
April 2025
Sole survivor of Kingsmill massacre raises concerns over report process
Suzanne Breen, Belfast Telegraph, April 23rd, 2025
POLICE OMBUDSMAN TO RELEASE PRIVATE 'CLOSURE LETTER' TO FAMILIES OF VICTIMS
The Police Ombudsman is due to release its long-awaited report into the Kingsmill massacre next week but a lawyer for the families has expressed serious concerns about the process.
The solicitor for sole survivor Alan Black said he was deeply unhappy that it wouldn't be a public report — as those into other major Troubles atrocities have been — but rather would be privately given to the families in a “closure letter”.
Mr Black was shot 18 times and left for dead by a south Armagh roadside in the IRA attack in which 10 Protestant workers were murdered.
The men had been ordered out of their minibus — with the sole Catholic told to flee — and then shot dead in 1976.
Mr Black (81), who is in ill health, said: “I am hoping for the truth to be finally told about Kingsmill, but I am cautious and sceptical. It's 12 years since I lodged my complaint with the Police Ombudsman.
“I've been told mine is a high-priority case. If this is how long it takes to deal with high-priority cases, I dread to hear how long the non-priority ones have taken.
“My lawyer will be examining the report with a fine-tooth comb.”
‘Shameful that bereaved relatives in the 80s and 90s expected to travel to Belfast’
Mr Black and other families will be given the report at a Belfast hotel on Tuesday at 10.30 am. “It's shameful that bereaved relatives in their 80s and 90s are expected to travel to Belfast,” he said.
“The Ombudsman should be coming with the report to somewhere like Bessbrook which would be far easier for us. They're offering to deliver the report individually to families, but that's a cop-out.
“I want to be there, sitting in the front row, looking into the whites of their eyes as they hand us the report.”
Solicitor Barry O'Donnell of KRW Law said: “We have engaged with the Police Ombudsman about the format of the report, and we're unhappy with the outcome. We believe it should be a public report under Section 62 of the Police Act.
“It should be published on the Ombudsman's website as a public document. That has been the process with other major Troubles reports and we thought this one would be the same.
“Instead, the report will be contained in a closure letter to each family and won't be published in the open. It will be up to the families themselves to decide if they want to publish it, but the report won't go up on the Police Ombudsman's website.”
Mr O'Donnell said that the Kingsmill massacre report was of public interest.
“A Section 62 report would have been a much more thorough engagement,” he said. “For example, if a police officer was to be criticised, they'd get a Maxwell letter informing them and offering them the opportunity to respond and give their account.”
Mr O'Donnell said there had been a “close working relationship” between the Police Ombudsman's Office and the Coroner's Office on Kingsmill.
“There was a memorandum of understanding setting out that relationship given the public interest and magnitude of the case,” he said.
“The families believed when the Kingsmill inquest was completed in April 2024, that the Ombudsman's report would follow immediately because the two processes were working in tandem.
“Instead, they've had to wait another year as the Ombudsman held out until almost the last day that they can deliver the report. This has all taken its toll on our clients, particularly Mr Black who has been engaged in this process for almost 13 years.”
Mr O'Donnell added: “We've communicated our concerns and disappointment to the Ombudsman. We will go through the report's content and discuss it with our clients. We will then offer advice on any further action.”
In a statement, the Police Ombudsman's office said they appreciated the frustrations of the families but wanted to reassure them that processes “have not been deliberately delayed”.
They added that the report each family would receive “will contain as much information about the Police Ombudsman's investigation as it is possible to include” and “a comprehensive summary will also be published on our website”.
On the location of Tuesday's meeting, the spokesman said: “Consistent with other family meetings, next week's meeting will take place in Belfast. For those families unable to attend, the report will be delivered to their representatives at the same time.
“However, as she has done for other families, the Police Ombudsman has made it clear that if, after reading their report, any of the families would like a follow-up meeting to discuss it in more detail or to ask any questions that may arise, she will be happy to make arrangements to do so at a time and place agreeable to them individually.”
Despite the long wait, there is no guarantee we will get to the truth
Suzanne Breen, Belfast Telegraph, April 23rd, 2025
Six months ago, Alan Black stood in Stormont's Great Hall with the assistance of a rollator — an oxygen tank attached — and appealed for political support.
In ailing health, the sole survivor of the Kingsmill massacre feared that time was running out in his battle to secure the truth for his 10 murdered workmates.
Black (81) has long ago defied the odds to reach old age. He was hit 18 times and left for dead by the roadside in south Armagh on January 5, 1976.
The men were travelling in their minibus from Glenanne textile factory, where they worked, to their Bessbrook homes.
A man with a torch waved them down on a deserted part of the road. Other men with blackened faces and wearing combat jackets then appeared.
The workers were ordered out of the minibus. The sole Catholic among them was told to run down the road while his friends were slaughtered.
The Kingsmill massacre followed the equally horrific murder of six Catholics by the UVF's Glenanne Gang in the previous 24 hours.
It's acknowledged that the IRA carried out the atrocity, although it denied doing so at the time with the 'South Armagh Reaction Force' claiming responsibility.
Last April, following a long-running inquest, a coroner ruled that Kingsmill was an “overtly sectarian attack by the IRA”.
The publication of the Police Ombudsman report was expected immediately after the conclusion of the inquest. When that didn't happen, a pre-action protocol letter for judicial review was issued by Black's solicitor.
‘Why are they doing this to me'?
Speaking in Stormont in October, the 81-year-old said: “Why the Ombudsman's office is doing this — and me in particular in bad health — I just do not know. It's cruel, it really is cruel.
“Why are we being passed from pillar to post, first with the inquest and now the Ombudsman? They don't want to open this can of worms, that's my opinion. But that can of worms has to be opened.”
DUP MLA Joanne Bunting said: “It is appalling that (49) years after this most brutal, callous and sectarian of murders that caused embarrassment even for the IRA that, to get to the truth, these families are still having to fight the very systems set up to support them.
“Mr Black has endured an eight-year inquest which frankly raised more questions than provided answers and as a result, he has pinned his hopes for getting the truth on the Police Ombudsman report, but he fears he may not live to see it.
“This matter should have been resolved and the report issued as soon as the inquest was over.
“The initial complaint was made in 2013. This is no way to treat innocent victims. It is shameful.”
The month after Black's visit to Stormont, the Assembly unanimously passed a resolution deploring the Ombudsman's failure to disclose the findings of its office's investigation “within a reasonable timeframe”.
MLAs called for publication “without further delay”. That report will be given to the families next Tuesday, but there is no guarantee that it will hold the answers they're hoping for.
Loyalists at Apprentice Boys parade mock Francis’s death
Connla Young, Irish News, April 23rd, 2025
March attended by senior DUP figures
THE death of Pope Francis was mocked by loyalists during an Apprentice Boys parade attended by DUP education minister Paul Givan and other party elected representatives.
Footage from the annual Easter parade in Lisburn on Monday shows a band playing ‘No Pope of Rome’.
Several DUP members posted photos of the Easter event on social media, although there is no suggestion that they were present when the tune was played.
The offensive song that mocks the Catholic faith was played just hours after the pontiff died. It includes the words “No, no Pope of Rome, no chapels to sadden my eyes, no nuns and no priests, no Rosary beads, every day is the Twelfth of July”. It also includes the lines “oh give me a home where there’s no Pope of Rome, where there’s nothing but Protestants stay, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and flute bands play The Sash every day”.
A post on Paul Givan’s Facebook page shows the Stormont minister with party colleagues Jonathan Buckley and Edwin Poots in Lisburn. Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart was also present. She and Mr Givan later posted similarly worded social media messages describing the atmosphere in Lisburn as “first class” while Mr Poots wrote of “super crowds and a great atmosphere”.
‘UFF’ leaflets
Dozens of onlookers appear to be singing along with the band and dancing on the street just a short distance from where a loyalist threat was recently issued to the residents of a mixed housing estate. It has been reported that leaflets claiming to be from the UFF were put through letter boxes in the mixed Altona Drive and Altona Gardens districts warning that if residents remove unionist flags recently placed on lampposts they “will be dealt with”.
Up to 50 bands and 6,000 participants were expected at the annual Apprentice Boys parade on Monday.
Those in attendance during the day included several high-profile DUP members. Mr Givan, who is an MLA for Lagan Valley, and his party colleagues former minister Edwin Poots and MLA Jonathan Buckley attended. Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart was also present. She and Mr Givan later posted similarly worded social media messages describing the atmosphere in Lisburn as “first class” while Mr Poots wrote of “super crowds and a great atmosphere”.
Lisburn and Castlereagh City councillor James Tinsley, who works for Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, also attended.
Robinson and Little-Pengelly offer respectful sympathies
Posting on social media Ms Little-Pengelly later said “Pope Francis was held in high regard and admiration by so many”.
DUP party leader Gavin Robinson extended “respectful sympathies to all those grieving his passing”.
Lagan Valley Alliance MLA David Honeyford said: “It’s really disappointing to hear of this provocative and insensitive behaviour yesterday.
“This would have been disrespectful at anytime, but is especially on the day of the Pope’s passing.
“Those involved are not representative of the vast majority of people out on Monday, on what should have been a good day for Lisburn and the wider area.”
Police said: “Police have not received any reports at this time but are aware of a video online and are conducting a number of enquiries.”
The DUP and Apprentice Boys have been contacted. The DUP has condemned the “distasteful” actions of a loyalist flute band who mocked the death of Pope Francis. A party spokesman said the controversial incident did not reflect the vast majority of those attending Monday’s parade in Lisburn
The party condemned the “distasteful” actions of a loyalist flute band who mocked the death of Pope Francis.
“The distasteful actions by a few should not taint the entire event nor everyone there.
“We urge people to be respectful of their neighbour’s grief.”
Glentoran 'reviewing' footage of player Patrick McClean at New IRA Derry rally
Niamh Campbell, Belfast Telegraph, Irish News, April 23rd, 2025
BROTHER OF FORMER REPUBLIC OF IRELAND STAR FILMED AT EASTER DISSIDENT PARADE
Glentoran FC has confirmed it is investigating footage which shows one of its players in attendance at a dissident Easter rally.
Defender Patrick 'Paddy' McClean was spotted at the New IRA parade in Londonderry on Monday.
A video clip widely circulated online shows the former Derry City footballer — who is also the brother of Wrexham and former Republic of Ireland star James McClean — walking on the street as the masked colour party marches in the same direction through the city.
A spokesperson for Glentoran said yesterday that the east Belfast club “is aware of footage involving one of our players currently circulating online”.
“The club is fully committed to maintaining a respectful, inclusive and welcoming environment for all players, staff, supporters and the wider community,” they continued.
“The matter is being reviewed internally in line with club policies and no further comment will be made at this time.”
During the Derry parade, police made two arrests and seized items including a van, after officers were attacked with petrol bombs.
There is no suggestion Paddy McClean was involved in any of the disorder, or was spoken to by police.
Disorder was orchestrated
However, a senior officer condemned the actions of others who caused trouble.
PSNI Area Commander, Chief Superintendent Gillian Kearney, said that despite parade organisers' claims they wanted to hold a dignified commemoration, “what we saw was the complete opposite”.
“From the commencement of the parade to when it dispersed, we saw masked individuals, which we believe at this time to be a breach of the Parades Commission determination,” she added.
“As these masked individuals made their way towards the dispersal point on Lecky Road, disorder developed in the area of Nailors Row from around 2.50pm.
“Petrol bombs, fireworks and masonry were thrown which resulted in nearby Bishop Street being closed for a time for public safety reasons. Members of the public were diverted away from that area in the City Walls.
“This disorder involving young people was orchestrated. We have no doubt about this,” the senior police officer added.
“Young people were shamelessly and deliberately used in an attempt to distract from and shield the masked individuals as they took cover in a gazebo following the parade in the area of St Joseph's Place to change out of their parade clothing.
“This is child criminal exploitation. It is utterly shameful.”
It is understood that around 150 people had gathered for the parade on Monday afternoon. Organisers said two bands, 500 participants and 100 supporters were expected.
It has previously been billed as the 'Unfinished Revolution National Easter Commemoration', and left the Creggan shops at 2pm, ending at a New IRA monument in the Bogside.
Patrick McClean worked on a building site in Dublin after quitting football back in February 2023 but returned to the sport later that year, getting picked up again by the Glens.
Both Patrick and James McClean grew up in the predominantly nationalist Creggan area of Derry, with the latter often making headlines because of his refusal to wear a kit bearing a poppy during matches played over Remembrance Day weekend each year.
Badenoch criticises Kneecap for 'openly glorifying evil terror groups' at US festival
Gabrielle Swan, Belfast Telegraph, April 23rd, 2025
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has hit out at Belfast rap group Kneecap for “openly glorifying evil terror groups”, following their controversial Coachella sets where band members shared anti-Israel messages.
It renews the row between Ms Badenoch and the group which broke out last year after Kneecap won their discrimination case against the previous government, when the Conservative leader refused the trio funding.
In her tweet yesterday in response to a shared video from a 2024 gig the band played in London, Ms Badenoch said: “In govt I blocked Kneecap getting taxpayer funding. Labour didn't contest the legal case the band brought and they walked away with £14,250 of OUR money.”
Last year, the UK Government conceded it was “unlawful” that the group were refused a £14,250 funding award by Ms Badenoch.
Kneecap launched legal action claiming the decision to refuse the grant discriminated against them on grounds of nationality and political opinion.
The latest controversy comes as their Coachella US gig saw former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne slamming the band and calling for the group's work visas to be revoked.
The 72-year-old music mogul, whose mother was of Irish descent and who has Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, also criticised festival organisers as she called on the US Government to take action after the words “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people” were projected on stage.
Osbourne took to social media, sharing an image of the projection.
“Kneecap, an Irish rap group, took their performance to a different level by incorporating aggressive political statements,” she wrote on Instagram.
“This behaviour raises concerns about the appropriateness of their participation in such a festival and further shows they are booked to play in the USA.
“I urge you to join me in advocating for the revocation of Kneecap's work visa.”
During the band's first performance at the music festival in LA last weekend, they reportedly displayed a slogan stating “F**** Israel, free Palestine” which was cut from the live online stream.
The words were displayed again this past weekend when the trio returned to perform at Coachella's Sonora tent where the band delivered a speech to fans, accusing Israel of genocide.
The group has shared “uncensored” videos of the protest on X.
Osbourne issued a scathing criticism of Coachella organiser Goldenvoice, which has claimed that, at the time of booking, it was unaware of Kneecap's political intentions.
“After witnessing their performance during the first weekend, allowing them to perform again the following weekend suggests support of their rhetoric and a lack of due diligence,” she continued on Instagram.
Band members Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí have also engaged in anti-Margaret Thatcher chants during their sets. Kneecap have also shared “fan mail” they have been receiving from those who oppose their views.
During the band's performance on Friday, Mo Chara also delivered a brief speech to the crowd in California.
“The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the f***ing skies with nowhere to go,” he said.
“The Palestinians have nowhere to go. It's their f***ing home and they're bombing them from the skies.
“If you're not calling it a genocide, what the f*** are you calling it?”
A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: “This Government's priority is to get on delivering the change we promised and protect the taxpayer from further expense, which is why we did not continue to contest Kneecap's challenge as we did not believe it to be in the public interest.”
GPs to vote on funding levels after contract talks with health department break down
Allan Preston, Irish News, April 23rd, 2025
GPs in Northern Ireland will vote next week over funding levels that are said to be pushing many surgeries towards closure.
After a breakdown in negotiations between the Department of Health and the BMA’s Northern Ireland GP committee, members are being asked to decide whether they accept or reject the 2025/26 GP contract as it stands.
The department has called the move “a matter of regret” and said the minister Mike Nesbitt had hoped to discuss the “public disquiet” about access to GP appointments.
GP services receive around 5.4% of Northern Ireland’s £8.4 billion health budget but the BMA says at least another percentage point (around £80 million) is needed to meet growing demand.
Other concerns include the increased costs of National Insurance payments and “a full indemnity solution for all GPs”.
Unlike in Britain, there is no state-backed indemnity scheme for GPs in Northern Ireland which protects against risks like malpractice claims and can cost £10,000 a year.
The BMA said there is “relentless criticism” that patients are unable to see their GPs or get an appointment, but that department figures did not support this – with 200,000 patients (10% of the population) seen every year.
This compares to 750,000 patients visiting A&E every year, which shows “the huge volume of work GPs are undertaking for a fraction of the health budget”.
BMA NI GP committee chair Dr Frances O’Hagan said: “Our asks are simple and will help stabilise general practice. Without more funding we will see more contract hand backs as some practices will no longer be financially viable.”
She also said the department’s proposals on increasing patient access to GPs were presented too late, were not costed and would even pose “significant patient safety issues” in some cases.
“We were clear in discussions that we are happy to work with the department on access proposals throughout the next year, but that was not acceptable to them.”
She said the department had been asked for a final offer to put to GPs but failed to respond.
At Breaking Point
Describing a profession “at breaking point”, she added: “There is a real risk that more practices will decide they have had enough and will close their doors for good.”
In a statement issued to Pulse magazine last week, a department spokesperson said it was regrettable that an agreement could not be reached in time for 2025/26.
“The minister had been keen to address public disquiet regarding the difficulty in accessing their GP – this has been a key element of the department’s discussions with GPs in relation to the negotiations on the contract.”
Mr Nesbitt has since written to the NI GPC to discuss the 2025/26 contract.
“It is a matter of regret that the NIGPC has decided to announce their ballot of members in advance of that,” the spokesperson said.
“Ensuring that patients can continue to access high quality, sustainable GP services remains a key priority for the department.
“The minister continues to view general practice as a key enabler in ‘shifting left’ by placing more emphasis on prevention and early intervention, rather than acute care in hospital.”
The referendum will be open from May 1 to May 11.
One in five Daera workers declare conflict of interest
Tommy Greene, Irish News, April 23rd, 2025
AROUND one in five staff in Stormont’s agriculture and environment department have declared an “immediate family” conflict of interest.
More than 600 officials and other employees at the Department of Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) registered a family-related “commercial interest” in a recent transparency exercise.
The department employs about 3,000 staff.
In response to an assembly question tabled by People Before Profit MLA for West Belfast, Gerry Carroll, Daera revealed that 606 of its staff flagged a potential or actual conflict due to immediate family members with a commercial interest in either farming or environmental matters.
This may include the family members owning a farm or having some other agriculture or environment-related business. The number “who have formally registered an interest because an immediate family member has an agricultural or environment related commercial interest totals 606,” according to the answer provided by minister Andrew Muir.
Around 20% of staff at the Department of Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) declared a family-related conflict of interest, according to official figures
“Under departmental guidance, immediate family members include a spouse or partner, in-laws and relations to the extent of parents, siblings, children, and grandparents.”
Bi-annual Survey ‘commendable but raises questions’
The data was taken from a biannual survey in which civil servants are asked to declare any such conflicts, a Daera spokesperson confirmed.
The spokesperson also confirmed that most of the registered conflicts were agriculture-related rather than being related to environmental commercial interests.
No comparable figures have been released for other Stormont departments.
John Barry, Professor of Green Political Economy at Queen’s University Belfast, told The Irish News the disclosures were commendable but also raised questions.
“This is definitely, in one respect, very surprising in terms of the amount of staff who have declared an interest,” he said.
“I think the reasonable assumption would be that most of these are not to do with environmental conflicts of interest, but agricultural conflicts of interest.
“Obviously, people have done nothing wrong and it’s very open and honest of those members of staff to declare that. But it does raise the question of whether, with such a high level of conflicts of interest, for those civil servants who have declared these interests – particularly, in agriculture – there’s an opportunity for them to move to another department to avoid these conflicts. That’s one suggestion.”
He added “it’s hard to say what the impacts of this are in terms of decision-making”.
He said the return to a standalone Department of the Environment may strengthen environmental policy and regulation.
“It reflects, in a way, the sense that Daera is largely an agricultural department,” he said.
“That’s how I’m reading this – it really underscores that the agricultural element of Daera is the strongest and that explains a lot of decisions that have been made since the separate Department of the Environment was ended in 2013.”
Informed debate needed
But William Taylor, from the Farmers For Action campaign group told The Irish News that governments in other parts of the world recruit more civil servants with sector-specific specialist knowledge and experience.
“That is what’s missing at Stormont,” he said.
“We don’t have enough people that know what they’re talking about. We have too many people with no life experience.
“We would go as far as to say that civil servants in Daera who have a farming background are needed for the good of the country.”
A Daera spokesperson said most of recorded conflicts of interest tend to be “neither wrong nor unethical” and “may be actual, perceived or potential”.
“It is a requirement for all civil servants that their private activities should not bring them into conflict with their official duties,” they added. In 2007 it became mandatory for all existing staff to complete a conflict of interest declaration form. Since then it has been a requirement of staff to update this as and when circumstances change in relation to their private and/or business activities. Additionally all new entrants are asked to complete the declaration on joining the department.
“A conflict of interest may be actual, perceived or potential. In most cases it is neither wrong nor unethical but it is important that staff declare them and for the department to ensure any conflict or perceived conflict with departmental business is managed appropriately.”
'I'll bomb the **** out of Dublin if you don't behave,' Ervine told Irish Government
Sam McBride, Belfast Telegraph, April 23rd, 2025
CONFIDENTIAL BRITISH EMBASSY MEMO REVEALED IN DECLASSIFIED FILES
David Ervine — now widely viewed as an affably progressive unionist leader — threatened in the mid-1990s to “bomb the **** out of Dublin” if the Irish Government didn't “behave itself”, according to a declassified Government file.
Among files opened to the public at The National Archives in Kew is a confidential cable to London from John Dew in the British Embassy in Dublin.
The experienced diplomat said that he had talked to several journalists who were in Dublin to cover loyalist leaders Gary McMichael and David Ervine meeting the Taoiseach John Bruton.
The September 20, 1995 message said: “Mark Devenport of the BBC in Belfast told me today that he had recently done a short interview with Ervine the other day in Belfast, and had asked him beforehand off the microphone what he intended to say to Bruton. David Ervine had replied that his message would be 'behave yourselves, or I'll bomb the **** out of Dublin' — without any hint of a smile. He and David Sharrock of the Guardian both believed that Albert Reynolds had told the loyalists before their ceasefire last year that he would insist on the Provisionals getting rid of their weapons…the loyalists believed that they had been misled by Dublin.”
The previous month, Dew had relayed details of Ervine's speech to a dinner at the Humbert Summer School in Mayo where he made “a strong and generally favourable impression. He appeared passionately sincere in his rejection of violence, past or future.”
Dew noted that Ervine “stayed in the bar until 5am, he and his minder much the worse for wear at breakfast”.
Two years later, loyalism was splitting into what would become pro and anti-Agreement factions after the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated the following year.
Security Co-Ordinating Committee
In March 1997 the Security Co-Ordinating Meeting - a monthly meeting involving senior NIO officials, Army commanders and top RUC officers - was told by RUC Assistant Chief Constable Tim Lewis: “Mid Ulster UVF were attempting to reorganise and had adopted the name of the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
“This group had been engaged in targeting republicans, weapon procurement from the Ulster Resistance and in attempts to acquire explosives from the UFF… the leader of this group, Billy Wright, had been sentenced to eight years imprisonment on charges of threats to kill.
“In his absence, the LVF would be controlled by Mark Fulton who would be keen to mount attacks in the future and forge links with the militant West Belfast UFF.”
In May 1997, the meeting was told that the LVF had recruited 25 new members in Lisburn from former UVF or UDA members and 20 members from east Tyrone.
The former UVF man became an increasingly significant unionist figure during the 1990s as the key person in the UVF's political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP).
He firmly backed the Good Friday Agreement and became the most liberal unionist leader there has ever been when he took over the PUP leadership in 2002.
However, as unionism turned against the Agreement, his support slid. By the time Ervine died suddenly in 2007, the party's influence had waned but his funeral was attended by senior figures from across the political spectrum, among whom were top republicans.
Campaigners concerned over lack of urgency in tackling Lough Neagh crisis
Letter in Irish News, April 23rd, 2025
THE blue-green algae has returned to Lough Neagh and this year it has returned earlier. The first sightings happened after a good spell of weather and the conditions allowed the algae to bloom and, as Minister Muir rightfully stated, this is what we should expect. However, what many campaigners are increasingly concerned by is the lack of urgency and decisive action from our departments and government when tackling the Lough Neagh crisis. The most glaring issue for many is the urgent need to update all wastewater infrastructure in the north.
Community groups, fishing groups, environmental campaigners and locals have been working tirelessly to raise awareness on the scale of the crisis since the story broke in 2023. They understand the core issues and are aware of the scale of the crisis, yet the responses from government do not reflect this knowledge. In 2024 the Lough Neagh Action Plan was published but many of us know that the plan produced does not reflect the actions needed to tackle this issue sufficiently and meaningfully.
“ The most glaring issue for many is the urgent need to update all wastewater infrastructure in the north
Water pollution is not only an issue for the people who live around the lough or the 40 per cent of the population who use it domestically, it impacts everyone on the island. Water quality all over Ireland is poor and this is arguably the most pressing and urgent issue for both populations as it relates to the health of everyone. An all-island water quality agreement would help tackle the crisis of Lough Neagh and help improve water quality standards throughout the island. This would require both governments working together and this has not been happening.
The Republic should be involved in resolving the Lough Neagh crisis as counties Monaghan and Cavan are within the catchment area. Yet, the Lough Neagh Action Plan does not mention cross-border collaboration and cooperation needed to remedy this problem.
The action plan published last year focused on agriculture and farming but largely ignored the elephant in the room, which is the enormous amount of untreated sewage entering Lough Neagh. Campaign groups have been tasked with continuing to raise awareness on the issue. They have been keeping the pressure on government because they understand these problems need to be addressed urgently.
The lough and our rivers have been treated like a sewer for decades and now is the time to seriously consider how we are going to tackle this colossal public health and environmental disaster.
In relation to Lough Neagh the minister for infrastructure has been largely silent and not visibly involved in this process.
How can we stop the vast amounts of pollution entering the lough immediately without updating all wastewater infrastructure? We can’t.
I was recently at an event funded by the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs on citizen science. It was part of the Lough Neagh Action Plan. My concerns are that while local people may reap some benefits from becoming amateur water scientists, it may not be particularly good for their mental health and wellbeing to keep collecting samples that show that the lough is being increasingly polluted because too little is being done to protect it. We need billions of pounds to update wastewater infrastructure, and our departments need to start taking this issue seriously and being honest about what is needed. We also need both governments working together.
DR LOUISE TAYLOR Love Our Lough
DUP slams 'disgraceful' comments by NIO minister on Irish unity vote
Amy Cochrane, Belfast Telegraph, April 23rd, 2025
MCILVEEN HITS BACK AFTER ANDERSON HINT OPINION POLLS COULD TRIGGER REFERENDUM
A senior DUP figure has criticised “disgraceful” comments by a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) minister about opinion polls playing a role in calling a border referendum.
Michelle McIlveen was speaking after Fleur Anderson indicated that the criteria for when a vote would be triggered would be “based on opinion polls”.
Ms Anderson's comments appeared in an AgendaNI article at the weekend.
Ms McIlveen, the DUP's deputy leader, said that a border poll is “divisive” and that “most people living here just want to make Northern Ireland work”.
She said Ms Anderson's comments were “ill-considered”.
Under the Good Friday Agreement, the power to call a border poll rests with the Secretary of State.
However, they have consistently refused to outline what exactly would be required.
On Sunday night, the NIO appeared to distance itself from Ms Anderson's comments, saying: “Responsibility for a referendum sits solely with the Secretary of State.
“This is clearly set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which gives effect to the Good Friday Agreement and the principle of consent,” a spokesperson said.
“This has been — and remains — the only condition. The Secretary of State has been clear that there is no evidence that this condition has been met.”
It came on a weekend which saw Sinn Fein renew calls for a border poll by 2030.
Tightening electoral margins
Ms McIlveen claimed support for nationalist, pro-border poll parties has remained static since 1998.
“The combined support for the SDLP and Sinn Fein in 1998 was 39.6% and in 2022 was 38.1%,” she added.
“The suggestion by Minister Fleur Anderson that opinion polls could dictate the timing of a border poll is ill-judged. The Agreement makes clear that such a decision rests with the Secretary of State, based on clear evidence of a likely majority for constitutional change, not some haphazard opinion poll.
“That a minister in His Majesty's Government seems ambivalent and so uncertain about maintaining the Union is quite disgraceful.
“Last Friday, it was the Secretary of State who shared his irrelevant musings that we are ignorant of the law and how Northern Ireland is governed. Today, it's the Minister of State. Collectively, the NIO ministers need better counsel. They must do better.”
In last year's Westminster election the nationalist vote increased from 40.1% to 40.4% while the unionist vote fell from 43.2% to 43.1%.
The NIO has been contacted for comment on Ms McIlveen's remarks.
The legislation states that the Secretary of State should call a referendum on Irish unity “if it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the UK and form part of united Ireland”.
Earlier this year, a LucidTalk poll published by the Belfast Telegraph found 48% of NI voters want to stay in the UK, whilst 41% favour of constitutional change.
The margins on the constitutional status have narrowed slightly, according to polls for this newspaper.
In a survey last year, there was a 10-point gap between the two sides, with 49% supporting staying in the UK and 39% wanting Irish unity.
In our most recent survey, 10% of people said they were unsure how they would vote, while 1% said they would abstain or spoil their ballot.
UUP leader Mike Nesbitt warns against relying 'exclusively' on opinion polls for border referendum decision
By David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, April 23rd, 2025
The Ulster Unionist leader has warned that it would be “brave” for any Secretary of State to rely “exclusively” on opinion polls in deciding when a border poll should be called.
Mike Nesbitt’s warning comes after comments from NIO minister Fleur Anderson said a decision to call a vote on whether to end the Union “would be based” on the voter attitude surveys.
While the NIO declined to be drawn on the methodology a Secretary of State would use to make that assessment, a spokesperson said that Hilary Benn “has been clear that there is no evidence that this condition has been met”. The UUP leader told the News Letter: “Schedule One of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 makes clear the Secretary of State can only call a referendum if they believe a majority would vote in favour of constitutional change.
“It would be a brave Secretary who would rely exclusively on opinion polls for that evidence, given people might well vote aspirationally in opinion polls, but more cautiously come the real thing. "Let’s focus on making people prosperous and content rather than continuously speculating on the uncertainty of change.”
The Belfast Agreement, which Mr Nesbitt’s party helped craft, said that “Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom and shall not cease to be so without the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland voting in a poll”.
It says that the Secretary of State will allow for a referendum “if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland”.
However, it does not elaborate on how he or she would come to that decision. Nationalists have sought clarity on how the government would reach that conclusion.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: “The responsibility for a referendum sits solely with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. This is clearly set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which gives effect to the Good Friday Agreement and the principle of consent. This has been - and remains - the only condition. The Secretary of State has been clear that there is no evidence that this condition has been met.”
New regional flag doesn’t have to conflict with desire for Irish unity says academic
John Manley, Political Correspondent, Irish News, April 23rd, 2025
SUPPORT for a new flag for Northern Ireland – and the north of Ireland – shouldn’t necessarily conflict with a desire for constitutional change, according to an academic who’s advocating for a new unifying symbol for the region.
Professor David Mitchell, an associate professor in Trinity College Dublin’s School of Religion, Theology and Peace Studies, says the example of Cornwall in the south-west of England offers an illustration of how a flag can be an expression of civic and regional identity, without being overtly political.
“I’ve been researching Northern Ireland and peace building here and elsewhere for 20 years, so I’d always been aware of all the flags and symbols issues but I hadn’t really thought much about an actual Northern Irish flag,” he recalls.
“When I went to Cornwall for the first time I discovered it has its own flag, which you see everywhere, sometimes in official settings, sometimes informally displayed on people’s houses, sometimes with the English flag or with the Union flag, and sometimes just on its own.”
In a recently-published paper, he cites remarks last year by Conal Heatley, chief executive of Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland.
‘Flag shaped hole’ in Ulster
Much to the chagrin of unionists, Mr Heatley suggested the Ulster Banner – or what is often incorrectly referred to as the Northern Ireland flag – should no longer be used to represent athletes from the north, beginning with next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
He argued that the Ulster Banner never had any official status and that it had been used recently in incidents of racist intimidation.
He argued that the Ulster Banner never had any official status and that it had been used recently in incidents of racist intimidation.
Prof Mitchell says Mr Heatley’s remarks “shows that we have a lack of flags to choose from here and that one of the solutions might be to expand the repertoire of flags”.
“I understand that there have been other priorities over the last 27 years but itseems apparent that even though people are thinking of constitutional change, we’re going to have the political arrangements that came out of the Good Friday Agreement for the foreseeable future, so why not have a symbol that could represent the agreement, and also the diversity of society?
His paper – The Flag that Does Not Exist – Yet? Imagining a New Symbol in Northern Ireland – looks at other flags that have succeeded in securing widespread support in the region or country they represent, including Cornwall, Denmark and South Africa.
“I think there’s a gap in the market for a flag – there’s a flag-shaped hole in the north of Ireland,” he says.
Community cohesion and tourism
The benefits, according to the academic, would be a degree of community cohesion and brand that the tourism sector could support.
“I think if people got off the plane or off the boat and saw this novel, new flag, it sort of communicates that there’s something special here, it’s not just another part of the UK or another part of Ireland, that there’s something unique to be discovered,” he says.
He believes the Stormont executive should ultimately endorse the new flag, with the process of design most likely oversaw by the new Commission for Cultural Expression.
In terms of the flag’s composition, Prof Mitchell has no preferences but notes that “there’s a shared affection for place in the Northern Ireland, or the north of Ireland: the landscape, the climate and the coastline, the people, the humour, the food, the influence of Scotland and Britain and Ireland all together in this place”.
“So I think a flag could be a kind of expression of this regional identification which everybody shares.”
He notes that while the red hand is “probably the only thing on which there is common affinity” its previous use “in different contexts” means it’s a likely non-starter.
Prof Mitchell also stresses that creating a new flag “doesn’t mean taking away anybody’s flag or even limiting necessarily the use of flags”.
The Trinity academic argues that nationalists shouldn’t regard a flag that celebrates regional identity as incompatible with their aspirations for constitutional change.
“I believe there are regional identities in other parts of Ireland, so we could have a flag to express a kind of a broadly northern identity also,” he says.
“I mean, the tricolour isn’t particularly visible in Northern Ireland, so in a sense having a new flag might actually be something that the nationals can identify with.”
He suggests that once the design is agreed, public acceptance of the new flag should follow.
“I think it would become part of the furniture quite quickly and would start to become uncontroversial, like the PSNI badge, or the NI Assembly logo, for example.”
