‘There are still victims out there never added to list of the Disappeared'

ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, May 23rd, 2026

FOUR UNACCOUNTED FOR BUT OTHERS ALSO MISSING

There are still victims out there who have never been officially added to the list of the Disappeared.

That's the consensus of sources and those closely involved in the campaign to find those who were subject to one of the most notorious practices of the Troubles — murder and secret burial by republican paramilitaries.

There are 17 official victims who make up the group known as the Disappeared, with the remains of four yet to be recovered. Most murders have been attributed to the IRA.

But there have always been whispers of others lying deep in bogs across rural Ireland, names which have been forgotten to all but those closest to them.

The story of the search for the Disappeared does not begin in backroom negotiations with the republican movement and shadowy interlocutors, or even on the island of Ireland.

It all began in the White House in Washington DC in May 1998, and it all began with a woman.

Her name was Margaret McKinney.

Margaret's 22-year-old son Brian had gone missing from the Andersonstown area of west Belfast along with his friend John McClory (18) in May 1978.

The pair had previously fallen foul of the IRA for using a gun from one of the organisation's arms dumps to rob a local bar.

Years filled with trauma and anger went by, until Margaret no longer wanted revenge — she just wanted her son's body back.

Courageously, both Margaret and Mary McClory, John McClory's mother, spoke out in a newspaper interview in 1994, revealing to the public consciousness for the first time the grim phenomenon of what would become known as the Disappeared.

Letter to the White House

Around this time, Margaret was speaking with those at Wave Trauma Centre, who provide support to those impacted by the Troubles.

In particular, she worked with Sandra Peake, a nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital by profession, who came to Wave in the mid-nineties to help them set up their services.

“I was well aware of the impact of the Troubles — I had seen it day and daily at the Royal,” Sandra said.

“But the issue of the Disappeared, I'd never heard of it. The idea that people simply go missing and that there was absolutely nothing in relation to what had happened to them, it was hard to fathom.”

Wave managed to set up a confidential phone number at Belfast City Hall where people with any information on the missing could call, which received some tips.

But it was a letter Sandra wrote to First Lady Hillary Clinton chancing her arm for a meeting with President Bill Clinton that would be a defining moment.

Amazingly, the letter was received and the meeting set up, with Wave families sitting down with President Clinton in the Oval Office in May 1998, just after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

The issue of the Disappeared was brought up and Clinton was receptive, being particularly impressed by Margaret's testimony.

A transcript of a call the president had with Prime Minister Tony Blair was released years later which lays out the foundations of what would become the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR).

“These women gave me an idea yesterday,” Clinton told Blair on the call, referring to Margaret and others from the Wave delegation.

Clinton speaks of figuring out a way to “work out the legalities so that people would not be prosecuted and the IRA could somehow direct people to the remains, so their families could give them a sanctified burial, that would have a huge psychological impact”.

He added: “I told them I'd try to help, but I'd talk to you about it. They don't want vengeance, they just want their people back.”

Sandra said: “Margaret never forgot President Clinton, because for her he was the man that made the change and he brought change to the issue of the Disappeared.”

In September 1998, the IRA finally admitted it was “responsible for the execution and burial of a small number of people”, which has “caused incalculable anguish and pain to their families”.

The following March, the Provos said they had located the burial sites of nine of those it had murdered — including Brian McKinney and John McClory. It said it had failed to ascertain the grave of Captain Robert Nairac, a British soldier who was abducted and murdered while working undercover in south Armagh in 1977.

Other PIRA victims uncovered

The IRA said it was not responsible for the disappearance of any others, however in the years that followed that would prove to be a lie.

On April 27, 1999 the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains was set up by treaty between the UK and Irish governments, tasked with finding the bodies of the Disappeared and returning them to the families.

As envisaged by Bill Clinton in his phone call with Tony Blair in May 1998, information that is provided to the commission is strictly confidential and evidence gathered cannot be used for criminal prosecutions.

Within days of the ICLVR being set up, the remains of Eamon Molloy, an IRA member who had been abducted from his home in Ardoyne in Belfast in July 1975, were recovered, however not through any concerted search by the commission.

Instead, his remains were left in a new coffin in the ancient Faughart graveyard in Co Louth, placed under a tree draped with rosary beads and miraculous medals beside St Brigid's Well.

After information was passed to the ICLVR, the bodies of John McClory and Brian McKinney were discovered in a bog in Colgagh in Co Monaghan in June 1999 after 30 days of searching.

Margaret McKinney's nightmare was over and her son would have a Christian burial after almost two decades.

“There will be a photo of him on the headstone and an eternal flame so he never gets lonely,” she said ahead of his funeral in September 1999.

Margaret McKinney died in 2017 and was laid to rest beside her beloved 'Bru', as he was known.

The remains of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 who was abducted and killed in December 1972, were discovered by chance on Shelling Hill beach in Co Louth in 2003, however there would be a long wait before any of the other Disappeared were found.

The problem was that, in its early years, the way the ICLVR worked was rather unwieldy and not streamlined, as Jon Hill, a former Met Police officer who joined the commission in 2006 and would later become its lead investigator, explained. “What was happening then was the information was passed through the various sources, through the intermediaries, to the commission, who in turn passed it on to An Garda Síochána, because all of the searches were undertaken in the Republic,” he said.

“And the searches were undertaken by them, and that obviously wasn't going to work very well, because of the barriers between information being passed and information being shared.

“Of course it was very new then, and this work in practice between the police authorities and the republican movement wouldn't have been a very good one, it would have been very difficult, very fractious, with not a lot of trust between each party.”

Recovery methods streamlined

It was decided that a review into the commission would be carried out in a bid to refine the work, led by then lead investigator Geoff Knupfer, a former detective with Greater Manchester Police who in the Eighties helped to head the search for the bodies of the victims of the Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

The review reshaped how the ICLVR would undertake its work going forward.

Now the commission would take part directly in the searches, employing a host of more scientific techniques, including using ground-penetrating radar, aerial photography, Ordnance Survey maps and GPS gridding of search areas.

Searches would employ forensic archaeologists and other specialists, however the task was by no means easy, often spread across hundreds of acres of ever-shifting, inhospitable bogland.

In one case, Jon said the area they were directed to was “essentially a lake”, but looking back at the records, it turned out decades previously a storm had flooded the area, which was once a fairly dry bogland. “We did a mile and a half of clearing a riverway there to get the water off, so that we could undertake the search,” he said.

Initially, Jon said there was a certain level of mistrust when they were liaising with republican intermediaries when information was exchanged.

“Gradually that changed and they realised actually we needed that information purely for the right reasons,” he said.

“They became confident that no information was going to go outside of our circle, and were more willing to speak with more detail around what happened.”

Following the 2007 review into the commission's work, the remains of eight more victims have been found, including some not included in the list provided by the IRA in 1999.

One of the Disappeared, Seamus Ruddy, was not a victim of the IRA, but of the INLA. His remains were recovered from a forest in France, where he had been working, in May 2017.

Even more recently, in 2022, another name was added to the official list of the Disappeared. Seamus Maguire, from Aghagallon near Lurgan, vanished in 1976. It is believed he was murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries, however it is unclear which faction was involved.

More cases?

Asked if there is the potential for other cases to come to light in the future, Jon, who retired last year, said: “There will be.”

Sandra Peake was more equivocal.

“I firmly believe there are others who have been disappeared in the Troubles, whose cases haven't come forward or their cases haven't come to light.

“I think there are other cases that probably should be included. I think the difficulty is that it takes some time to try to get cases included, because if the case isn't addressed or it's not highlighted, it's very hard for this to happen. If there's anybody out there and they believe that their case is well known or that there are issues around their loved one going at that time and have not been recovered and they think that they could be one of the Disappeared, please reach out to us.

“We are working with a number of families impacted in that way.”

The Belfast Telegraph is aware of the names of two men who sources say went missing together from the Andersonstown area of Belfast in 1974 who are suspected of having been abducted, killed and secretly buried by republicans across the border.

It is understood that more definitive information around their disappearances, such as what happened in the case of Seamus Maguire, would have to come to light before the two names could officially be added to the ICLVR's list of the Disappeared.

Last year, Eamonn Henry, a former detective inspector with An Garda Síochána, who previously served as the commission's Garda Liaison before joining the ICLVR's investigation team, took over from Jon Hill as lead investigator.

Currently, the remains of four of the Disappeared have not been recovered: Columba McVeigh (19), missing since 1975; Captain Robert Nairac; Seamus Maguire; and Joe Lynskey, missing since 1972.

“We're going to start from the start and see how far the chain of information brings us along,” Eamonn said.

“There's a lot of gaps in the chain for each case, unfortunately. That's why we haven't found them to be quite honest.”

Asked if there are further searches planned in the near future, Eamonn said: “I'm not going to get into specific cases, but yes, we are planning to do a number of searches by the end of the year.”

‘Underfunding to blame for state of public services’ - O’Neill

Irish News reporter Conor Coyle sat down with First Minister Michelle O’Neill for an extensive interview looking back on the two years since she became the first nationalist to take the role. The Sinn Féin vice president is asked about executive delivery, stalled progress on the A5 and Casement Park and the prospect of a border poll by 2030

Q: Two years on from your arrival as the first nationalist first minister, how would you sum up the performance of the executive and the assembly in that time?

A: Two years ago was a very historic moment for nationalism here whenever we did take the position of first minister. A historic first in the place that was designed that that would never happen. I think that is not lost on people, people still feel that change. I think if I was to sum all of that up, I would say it’s complex but I think people understand that. I think we’ve made good progress across a range of issues but we obviously know that we have an awful lot more to do and I look forward to next year and the last year of this mandate before elections next year to try to deliver even more for people.

Q: Your party often blames British austerity for a lot of the financial problems facing Stormont. A few weeks ago the UK Treasury Open Book Review said that health spending per head in the north is at 152% of that in England, policing at 166%, schools at 140%. Yet in many cases our outcomes are worse in many of those areas. Cancer Research recently stated in Northern Ireland only 31% of patients started treatment within 62 days of an urgent red flag referral. Over 500,000 people are still on waiting lists. Can you really say the executive has delivered in that time when some of those figures are so stark?

A: So I think the starting point for the executive is that we are underfunded. It is unfair in terms of the allocation that we have, so all the money that we have for our public services, whether that be health or education or across every aspect of public service, our starting point is that we are underfunded. If we had the same arrangement they have in Scotland, we would have £3billion more in our coffers to invest in health, in education and everything else. If we had the same arrangement as Wales we would have over £1billion. That tells you the starting point here, which is why we make the case to the Treasury. I’m not apologetic for making that case to the Treasury because what I want is fairness. The people here pay their taxes, they are entitled to get good public services. We can see our waiting lists starting to come down, but we are nowhere near where I want us to be, because I don’t think people should be waiting the length of time that they are currently.

Q: Can I just ask you about those figures from Scotland and Wales, where do they come from because clearly the British government doesn’t agree with that assessment?

A: Yeah, well they are always going to fight back but they have ignored the people here. Westminster never represents our best interests here. So I think that we can stack up the figures, that’s the work we have done within the system itself and we make that case to the Treasury. I’ll never be apologetic whenever people talk about us going over with a begging bowl to Westminster.

Q: Just to be clear, those figures from Scotland and Wales, can you tell us exactly where they came from?

A: Yes, so when we look at the funding models and our relative need, that’s your starting point so we can stack up those figures. I can stand over them and they are from the Department of Finance here.

Q: Sinn Féin has held the infrastructure portfolio since the executive returned and the reality is that despite plenty of comments from your own party about a commitment to build the A5, it’s still not built and, if anything, looks less likely to be built now than when the executive returned. That’s also having a major knock on effect on other infrastructure projects. Will your party push to amend those climate change targets that have held up that road?

A: I’ll be more optimistic. The A5 will be built. I am absolutely determined, (Infrastructure Minister) Liz Kimmins is determined that road will be built. Unfortunately we are dealing with a legal challenge and we’re hopeful that will come to an end point very soon so that we can get the A5 built and then all the other projects. So we need this case to be dealt with and let’s move on. This has been going on for far too long and people are dying on that stretch of road. I’m open to anything that gets this done. I think that we all want to fulfil our climate targets and make sure that we fulfil our commitments to creating a good environment for people here for future generations. And I think we can do the two things at the same time.

Q: Another big ticket item which Sinn Féin has committed to repeatedly is the redevelopment of Casement Park. Granted, you don’t hold the relevant department in this case. But the argument over funding is still not finished. How do you see that progressing and have you had any conversations with the hierarchy of the GAA in order to potentially look at alternatives to the current plans in place?

A: I think the positivity that we see now there’s actually diggers in the ground, work has actually commenced and I continue to work with the GAA to make sure we move on to the next stage, but Casement Park must be delivered. It’s the remaining stadium to be built, we’ve seen the delivery in rugby, we’ve seen the delivery in soccer. Now in terms of the GAA, it’s come so far down the tracks much later than I would want to see it delivered, but we will get Casement Park delivered and I will work with the GAA to ensure that’s the case.

Q: Are you satisfied that the work that is ongoing at the minute to clear the site is enough that it doesn’t allow the planning permission that is on the site to lapse?

A: Yes, I’m confident that everybody is pulling in the same direction.

BORDER POLL

Q: Unionists have consistently accused Sinn Féin of kicking the can down the road in terms of any prospect of a border poll. How do you respond to that and do you believe it’s conceivable that would take place by 2030?

A: Yeah, I really do. I never in my lifetime have seen the conversations that are happening right now. I think the fact that it’s happening organically right across our communities, more and more people are entering into the conversation, including people from a unionist background, people with a British identity, because this has to work for all of us. So, yes, 2030 is absolutely achievable. Why not 2030? My big issue is that the Irish government are dragging their heels and actually ignoring the fact that we are all talking about this.

Q: You talk about the Irish government, particularly, and even the British government need to do more in terms of planning for that potential border poll. Do you think Sinn Féin has done enough to prepare itself? Can you point to detailed proposals on what the health service will look like, what the education system will look like, what currency we will use, what flag this new Ireland will be represented by? A: Down through the years we have published many, many papers around all these topics around health, around education. We want to have those conversations because I think the flags issue and the symbolism, that needs to come at the end of the conversation. For me up front needs to be: How do we improve people’s standard of living? What is better for people? We have our own commission actually out and about, constantly engaging. Thousands of people have participated in those over the last year, and that’s a really healthy spot. I think we should embrace the conversation, and we bring our contribution to the table. But, of course, it’s not just about our view. It’s about everybody’s view because this is our home. This is our society. This is our Ireland that we’re trying to build.

Q: You’re now one of three nationalist first ministers in Scotland and Wales and you and your party have talked up the significance of that. In reality, how does it further the cause of reunification?

A: So, I think the fact that it’s a historical first again, you know, my election as first minister was a historic moment, as too is the elections in Scotland and Wales and as first ministers we have committed to working together because our common ground is obviously in terms of independence. I think that’s such an exciting journey for us all. I’ve spoken with John (Swinney, Scottish first minister), I’ve spoken with Rhun (ap Iorwerth, Welsh first minister) and we have committed to working together, and we’re going to further this partnership and actually work collectively to bring about selfdetermination for all of our people.

Q: Part of reform proposals put forward by the Alliance Party a number of weeks ago, one of their proposals was the Office of First and Deputy First Minister change to joint first ministers. Is that something that you personally and the party would accept or be amenable to?

A: I think that’s window dressing to be quite frank. I think when people talk about reform what they mean is they want, not the window dressing, they actually want meaningful things that’ll make a difference, that’ll make politics work better for them. So, when I talk about reform, I’m talking about things that actually do make the whole system work better. We will launch your reform proposals in the next two weeks, and one of the factors that I want to speak about is, for example, around the role of Speaker. How can that role be more transparent because currently the speaker can take decisions, doesn’t have to explain that to people, and then that really angers people because they can’t understand then why decisions are made in a certain way.

Q: I presume you’re speaking about Edwin Poots’ decision to take out an amendment from the Mother and Baby Homes law?

A: I’m very clear that the Speaker’s role should be transparent, and I think decisions made by Speakers should be transparent. That’s the only way people will have confidence in terms of decisions that are made.

Q: Do you enjoy being first minister?

A: I love it. It’s a very challenging role. There’s no doubt about it. It’s a very complex political arrangement. It’s very frustrating at times in terms of being able to get delivery, and especially whenever you’re working with people that don’t want to work in partnership. When I said I’d be first minister, I said I’d be a first minister for all. I am as committed to that today as I was on day one.

Q: Do you ever get time to switch off?

A: It’s very hard, it’s a bit 24/7 but yes, I do like to switch off. I have a polytunnel, and I like to grow my own vegetables. I like to do things like that. I am a granny as well, so time with grandkids, cooking and having family time.

STORMONT IN 32 CO STATE

Q: In a statement from Sinn Féin in response to the reform proposals from Alliance, it welcomed the publication of those proposals, but it made the point that the most important reform of all is the constitutional question. How does the party square that circle of, on the one hand wanting to fix Stormont and make it work better and on the other hand ultimately removing it? Would you, for example, or would Sinn Féin be in favour of retaining Stormont in some form after any reunification?

A: I think at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement is the principle of consent, so only the people will get to decide whenever we change the constitutional position. That’s what I work for every day, and in the Good Friday Agreement you can do the two things at once, so you can try to make the assembly work as best you can. That includes some of the reform work to try and make it work better and turn up every day, despite the frustrations and the limitations of the institution. At the same time, my equally legitimate political aspiration is for Irish unity, and I think we can do both things at once. I have an open mind actually in terms of the political arrangements on the other side of that.

Q: Just to be clear, you would be open to the prospect of that?

A: I’m open to the prospect of looking at all these, because I think that it’s important that none of us have a fixed agenda.

DUP

Q: How would you describe the relationships between Sinn Féin and the DUP in the executive at the moment?

A: I think people can see that the DUP’s approach in the executive is that they don’t do partnership. They don’t do equality. They don’t do respect. They attack Irish national identity at every turn, and people can see that for what it is. I’m not there to change the DUP. I’m there to do my best for people in this arrangement, this complex arrangement.

Q: What do you think is behind what you yourself describe as DUP attacks on Irish language and identity? Where do you think that comes from?

A: I don’t speak for the DUP, but I do think that there’s an increase in anger at the fact that they do attack Irish national identity at every turn, and I think that’s really unfortunate. Yesterday, there was a visit from King Charles and Camilla.

They were there meeting the organisers of the Fleadh, a celebration, a huge celebration of Irish culture, playing the bodhrán, listening to some traditional music. That in itself is creating an environment of respect and inclusion. And the Fleadh themselves, creating an opportunity for the Bands Forum to come in, and people understand that culture more. We have to create that space for each other, so the DUP really need to stop looking backwards and start looking forward and actually trying to create an inclusive society.

Q: One of the most recent disagreements between the parties came in Belfast recently in Twinbrook over the erection of the Bobby Sands statue. Do you think unionism will ever be able to make a distinction between the IRA of the past and the Sinn Féin of the present? Do you see any problem at all with the Sinn Féin position as of now, that this new generation of republicans are different and unconnected to the conflict?

A: We’ve had a very complex past. There’s no doubt about it, you can’t escape from it. There were many tragedies and injustices in the past as well, but my whole adult life has been about the peace process, and I think that we have to create the space for each other to understand that we have very different views on the past, but the first step to reconciliation is acknowledging that. We also have to create the space to allow each other to remember our dead in a very dignified way and be respectful of all those families out there that lost people in the conflict.

MOVING ON

Q: Would you agree with Scottish First Minister John Swinney’s comments recently that people should “move on”?

A: Whenever I became first minister, I was very clear on this that I would never, I don’t ask people to move on. What I do is I ask people to look towards the future. Let’s try and build a more positive and better future. Let’s ensure that we never have those dark days again. That’s the job of political leadership here in 2026.

Q: Many will welcome the focus both yourself and the deputy first minister brought to the issue of violence against women and girls. What do you see as the key elements of tackling this problem, and how can we determine whether it’s working or not?

A: Ireland’s got a shameful history in terms of how women have been treated down through the decades. Whether that’s been in mother and baby homes, the Magdalene laundries and everything that we’ve come through. Our focus is around prevention, really speaking to young people. At the moment our whole focus is around how we speak to young men in particular around, how we challenge misogyny, how we challenge those everyday behaviours that actually lead to violence against women and girls.

Q: A former junior minister and colleague of yours within the Executive Office, Pam Cameron, said a social media video posted by the youth wing of Sinn Féin was an attempt to humiliate and intimidate her. Do you think the posting of that video went against your message that you’ve just described of trying to tackle misogyny?

A: Firstly, I welcome the fact that Ógra (Shinn Féin) have taken the video down. I think that was important, and it was never their intention, of course, to target Pam in that way. But I also think what they were trying to relay was that there’s a frustration in terms of Gordon Lyons and his constant attack on Irish national identity and Irish language in particular. But I think all political parties need to be very mindful of the fact that some of the imagery that’s being created online is quite ugly. I’ve seen some of my own colleagues, whether it be Liz Kimmins’ head in a pothole or a whole raft of other examples. So, I think all parties need to heed the same advice. I think in this instance Ógra responded appropriately.

Q: A year out from elections in the assembly and local councils. What does a good result look like for Sinn Féin at those elections?

A: We take nothing for granted. We will work hard. We will be, as we are constantly, in the middle of our communities, standing up for people, trying to deliver on the things that matter most to people. This time next year the election will be come and gone, but we will work hard in that election to deliver people for a stronger mandate so we can deliver more change.

Please, Mr British government, can we have more cake?

NEWTON EMERSON, Irish News, May 23rd, 2026

TRANSLINK has warned it must cut services and end discounts for young people and families because Stormont keeps freezing its fares.

There have been five freezes in the past nine years, mostly justified by the pandemic and cost of living emergencies.

Fares were raised 7% after the pandemic, yet over those nine years as a whole fares have risen just 20% while inflation has totalled 40%.

It is the same story with tuition fees. They had paced inflation until 2011 but have since been allowed to fall about 10 points behind, equivalent to around £1,000 per student per year. Ulster University is now cutting jobs, Queen’s is wrestling with a similar deficit and there is a chronic shortage of places for local undergraduates.

Stormont is capable of inflationary discipline, just about. It has usually raised domestic rates in line with prices, it raised them a little above last year and it is planning to do the same in its latest attempt at a budget.

But its general approach is cakeism. Stormont insists the block grant must match or exceed inflation and its wish has invariably been granted: funding from London is up 30% since 2022, compared to price rises of 20%.

Stormont accepts that public sector workers must have inflationary increases – their pay is where most of its money goes.

But ministers balk at raising a handful of totemic charges and populist discounts, such as tuition fees. Although these account for a small fraction of its budget, neglecting them for years has gradually built up into a permanent financial crisis.

Nationalist ministers had been most at fault, but over the course of this decade unionist parties have given up even pretending to be any more responsible.

They all agree London should simply give them more cake. So far, in the end, London always has – but who can look at the state of our public services and call this chaotic brinkmanship a success?

400,000 on antidepressants — the price of political failure in The North

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph, May 23rd, 2026

Is anyone shocked by the revelation that more than a quarter of adults here take antidepressants? What's really surprising is the numbers aren't higher. This place grinds people down in unique and awful ways.

The Troubles ended 30 years ago but the violence just took another form — a kind of emotional abuse inflicted every single day upon a traumatised population.

Our civil war is far from over. Our mindset has not changed. It continues to be largely controlled by what happened decades ago. It is still 'them' and 'us'.

The prevailing mood remains oppressive, tense, easily roused to anger, combative, disappointed. We have our own locked-in syndrome. We do not want to go back but we are unable to move forwards.

Healing? Reconciliation? Forget it. Chuck those onto our already big bonfire of empty soundbites and cliches.

The conflict still dominates the news agenda. Murder bids, attempted bombings, legacy cases, public inquiries, anniversaries of massacres, sectarian baiting... round and round the cycle spins. This is continuity Troubles. It never ends.

This is where you keep it going. You refight the gun battles. You pull the victims out of the rubble again.

The damage done by warfare or sustained traumatic violence to succeeding generations is well-known throughout the world. That around 400,000 people here can't face the day without Sertraline or Citalopram is no surprise.

Of course, the numbers on antidepressants here are going to be higher than in Britain. Look at what happened to us.

It was the late Lyra McKee who most eloquently put the case for how local suicide rates were connected to the aftermath of the Troubles and the failure to keep the promises of the Good Friday Agreement.

Forget about all the ones people relish not being able to agree on like legacy, compensation, hierarchy of victims, cultural squabbles about language and parades.

Lost opportunities

Now what we are talking about is standard of living, educational opportunities, good, meaningful, decently paid jobs, getting off social welfare, starting to live like 21st century people rather than like cosplayers in some 1970s theme park for social anthropologists to come and visit and look at the murals and the peace walls and sigh deeply and leave.

Lyra named something which was ongoing inherited psychological injuries — the 'Ceasefire Babies' born after the 1998 peace deal but bequeathed the trauma of the conflict.

We also know of the corrosive impact of the Troubles on those generations who lived through them. The relatives of those murdered and maimed. The first responders in the police, fire and health services who were eyewitnesses to horror. The children living in a highly abnormal society who grew up into anxious, hypervigilant adults.

So many people neglected. The bereaved effectively told to forget about justice or any sense of a reckoning. So many with post-traumatic stress disorder left to muddle through.

At one point suicide awareness was the policy choice of a very feeble Executive trying to acknowledge the political failures which had abandoned so many young people to drugs, drink and prescription medication as well as self-harm.

We haven't heard as much about that recently because another statistic has nudged into view — the appalling data on violence against women and girls. Described as an 'epidemic', it has put Northern Ireland back on the European map as a blackspot of social behaviour. Once again, we lead the way.

So, no, the fact that 26.5% of people here are on antidepressants is no mystery — and that is only the visible outward signs of collapse. The unseen collapses are happening in homes all around Northern Ireland, including expensive houses where isolation can be just as big a problem.

Yes, there will be other causes beyond the Troubles. The highest levels of prescribing were in females aged 45 to 64, with figures of up to 40% reported. Menopause could be a factor.

Dysfunctional society

But, so is living somewhere that is totally dysfunctional.

Our health service is in crisis. More than half a million people on waiting lists to see a consultant. People unable to get a GP appointment or afford dental treatment. Warzone A&Es. Scandals — the Southern Trust's cervical smear failings, disgraced neurologist Michael Watt, take your pick — that run on for years.

Our justice system lets down victims. Cases take years to come to court. Sex offenders 'escape' jail sentences.

Our road deaths rise again yet our most notoriously dangerous roads cannot be made safer.

Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles, is famous now not for its eels and economic value and natural beauty, but because it's a seeping ulcer of toxic blue-green algae.

Our high streets are dying, the last few valiant independent traders keeping going amid boulevards of shuttered shopfronts and 'To Let' signs. Where's the rescue plan?

Our infrastructure crumbles but we cannot consider even modest revenue raising measures like water charges to fund improvements.

Our people struggle in a cost-of-living crisis while our MLAs pocket a pay rise of more than £14,000.

Our largest city, Belfast, has wastelands littered with used syringes, and hard drug addiction is a problem for towns and non-urban areas too.

Rural isolation leaves people lonely and abandoned and has taken a significant toll on the farming community.

These areas were among the heaviest hit during the Troubles. Some of the most fearful populations were in small isolated communities. That's also what is inherited with the farm.

If proposed cuts to an already poor public transport network go ahead, they'll be even more cut off.

Small towns offer limited prospects. Career development is an alien concept. You'll have to endure a long commute on gridlocked roads to Belfast for that.

People need to be able to see pathways forward so that their lives are not on a very narrow track of disappointment, making do, being overlooked. There need to be off-ramps for our young people who want to alter their way of life, improve their chances.

Of course, antidepressant medication is important. But many of the problems are not going to be solved by vast container ships carrying packets of pills to boost serotonin levels.

Diane Dodds, a DUP MLA, provided a valuable service by asking the Assembly questions that revealed how many take antidepressants. She herself knows only too well the trauma the Troubles inflicted, narrowly surviving an IRA murder bid visiting her son in hospital.

Mrs Dodds is right to say that health authorities “need to get prescribing under control”.

But to do that we need to find different solutions because as a people we have had enough crisis and collapse and breakdown and deadlock and stalemate and stand-off and face-off.

That means creative, immediate solutions to mental ill-health.

It's to do with NHS, public transport, proper roads, localised services, specialist mental health provision in care and community settings — in fact, everything that Stormont has carefully dismantled over the last 25 years.

These are the building blocks that require serious policy action, something the Assembly seems incapable of achieving.

For now, this is our dysfunctional government's gift to us — blister packs of tablets being popped in hundreds of thousands of homes here every single day.

But what is astonishing is that people managed to get through on the phone to their GP to get a prescription in the first place.

UDA and bonfire flags put up near contentious pyre

JOHN BRESLIN, Irish News, May 23rd, 2026

FLAGS celebrating the UDA have appeared alongside others erected by the organisers of a contentious bonfire set to be lit next to a north Belfast peace line.

Organisers of the Tiger’s Bay bonfire announced on Thursday the “lads were out decorating” the area with new bonfire flags, weeks before it will be torched on July 11 near the interface with the nationalist New Lodge.

Among the flags flying in the area are ones that overtly declare support for the UDA, the banned loyalist paramilitary organisation.

UDA flags have appeared recently in the other parts of the city, including along the Cregagh and Rosetta Roads in east Belfast.

One councillor condemned the display of the flags as “deeply sinister”.

The ‘bonfire’ flags were put up ahead of a parade around the Duncairn area last night, led by Tiger’s Bay Loyal Flute Band. It began at North Belfast Orange Hall.

“The lads were out yesterday decorating some of the area with our new bonfire flags getting ready for the big season ahead. Also big thank you to everyone from the community who donated for us to get these,” Tigers Bay Bonfire, one of the organisers, wrote on social media.

Suitable material

“Also a big thank you to Patriots Prints for designing and making the flags for us much appreciated and we will be definitely use again.”

The flags include ones with a clenched fist inside a star and then inside a circle. ‘Loyalist Tigers Bay Bonfire’ is written inside an outer circle.

Controversy has surrounded the bonfire in the past with calls for it to be moved from Adam Street as it borders the New Lodge.

Two years ago, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive appointed a housing association to run what it described as a “residential-led regeneration scheme” on the site, but no on the ground work has yet happened.

However, the organisers of the bonfire in Tiger’s Bay have flagged a major problem at the site – fly tipping.

“We’ve had lot of people fly tipping at the bonfire which is leaving us to have to then lift it all inside and try keep the place tidy,” wrote the administrator of Tigers Bay Bonfire page.

“From now on we’re just taking pallets, wood and any sofas that are being given,” they added.

“Also when dropping them off could you please ask someone who is there if it’s suitable for you to drop it off.”

Firefighters tackle blaze at bonfire site

PAUL AINSWORTH, Irish News, May 23rd, 2026

FIREFIGHTERS were last night tackling an ongoing blaze at a bonfire site in east Belfast. Material at the site beside the Connswater Greenway, and yards from homes in the Flora Street area, went on fire yesterday afternoon. Four fire appliances from Knock, Whitla and Cadogan Fire Stations arrived at the scene. Police also attended the scene, closing nearby Foxglove Street as firefighters accessed mains water to fight the blaze. A Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue

Service spokesperson said: “The incident is ongoing.” A PSNI spokesperson said: “Officers attended in order to assist colleagues from Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service with traffic management. “No reports have been received of damage to property or injury to persons.” Bonfire material has been collected beside the Connswater Greenway site since February, ahead of the Eleventh Night celebrations in July. A large quantity of pallets to the side of the material on fire yesterday remained untouched as the emergency services operation continued.

Loyal orders object to Irish street signs near Orange hall

FRANCOIS VINCENT, Irish News, May 23rd, 2026

A successful legal challenge by Woodside Hill resident Iris Hagan against Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council led to bilingual signage overwhelmingly backed by residents to finally be ratified

MEMBERS of a loyal order have warned that bilingual signs with Irish in Portadown streets where over two-thirds of residents in each want it would leave people “intimidated and threatened”.

The newly formed Reformation Defenders RBP 1517 meet in Corcrain Orange Hall, on a main road close to two streets where the majority of residents in both have backed the application for dual English/Irish signs.

Twelve out of 16 residents in Corcrain Gardens supported the application, while in Ballyronan Hill, 25 out of 35 indicated they wanted the new signage.

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council’s threshold for a successful application is two-thirds of residents.

However, in an email to the Planning & Regulatory Services Committee, the Royal Black Preceptory members said they chose Corcrain Orange Hall for their meetings “due to the now peaceful atmosphere in the locality”.

“Our members – particularly our elder members – now felt safe entering an area where once they would have felt unsafe,” the email stated.

“This is a tribute to the people of the Corcrain/Ballyoran area that they have built a truly shared space after decades of division and violence in this area of Portadown.”

They urged councillors to “not to allow the permanent marking of territory by one section of the community” by granting the applications.

They said having bilingual signs were “an attempt to mark territory and to claim it as Irish, rather than a shared space that both sections of our community can enjoy”.

“It is our position that English street signs can be read by everyone in our community without feeling intimidated or threatened, unlike with Irish signage.”

They said bilingual signs “would have the effect of saying Protestants and unionists are no longer welcome”.

The Worshipful Master of RBP 141, which also uses the hall, said in separate correspondence: “We feel these signs are divisive, with the motive being to make Protestants/unionists/loyalists feel unwelcome in the area, in the hope they will stay away.”

Objections were also submitted by the Corcrain Cultural and Development Association and Corcrain Purple Rocket Orange Lodge.

Ratepayers rights

At May’s committee meeting, Sinn Féin councillor Paul Duffy said the residents of both streets “are ratepayers within this borough” and were entitled to “apply for dual language signage if they wish”.

Stating the objections were “based on intolerance” he said: “We are not looking to do away with the English language signage here. It is just blatant anti-Irish.”

Alliance councillor Peter Lavery said the loyal orders’ claims of marking territory were “disappointing”.

“My own view is that this has clearly met the policy. The residents have made their views clear, and that 75% want these signs,” he said.

The DUP’s Kyle Moutray said members needed to “take a step back and recognise the historical context of the area”.

“This is an Orange hall that has been here for over a century. Through that time, and more recently, there has been relative stability and a sense of peace.

“They feel this has the potential for that, and that it could contribute to a sense of alienation and tension within the local community. So, I have to apply weight to that.”

Referring to the objection over cost, Sinn Féin’s Paul Duffy highlighted how the council faced a bill of over £90,000 in a legal battle after councillors objected to bilingual signage at Woodside Hill in the nationalist Garvaghy Road area, where 64 residents backed the application, and just three objected.

The signs were finally ratified after a two-year High Court battle that ended earlier this year.

“These arguments are a waste of time. And if another case comes further down the line, it will cost another £90,000,” Mr Duffy said.

“It’s not the ratepayers of this borough that’s winning, it is the lawyers, the barristers.”

In separate votes, each application was passed, with seven in favour, and five against.

Beattie and Burrows at loggerheads on Stormont Justice Bill

SUZANNE BREEN, Belfast Telegraph, May 23rd, 2026

UUP BOSS 'LIVID' OVER MLA'S AMENDMENT TO RAISE CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY AGE

UUP leader Jon Burrows and his Upper Bann MLA Doug Beattie appear to be on a collision course over an amendment to Naomi Long's Justice Bill.

Mr Beattie is proposing that the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) here is raised to 12, while his party leader is insisting it must remain at 10.

UUP sources said that Mr Burrows is livid that Mr Beattie, who is the UUP's justice spokesperson, tabled the amendment and demanded that he immediately withdraw it.

The Upper Bann representative has so far refused to do so, and his proposal is among the tabled amendments published on the Assembly website, which are set to be discussed early next month.

Mr Burrows and Mr Beattie do not enjoy a warm relationship. The UUP leader is popular with the party's members and councillors, while the former leader enjoys the support of its Assembly team.

Over half of DUP MLAs back Beattie’s motion

More than half of the party's MLAs are backing Mr Beattie on the MACR issue. An insider said: “Jon has gone through the roof over Doug's amendment. Doug hasn't backed down.

“Doug had set out the party's position on raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 before Jon became leader. Jon was at the meeting then as an MLA, and he didn't raise any objections.

“After becoming leader, Jon told the media that he doesn't support any change in the law. Doug tabled the amendment earlier this week. He has refused to withdraw it.”

In an internal discussion, the UUP Stormont team failed to reach an agreement. The insider said Mr Beattie was supported by a majority of the party's nine MLAs, which other sources have confirmed.

Lagan Valley MLA Robbie Butler, who previously applied for the position of Children's Commissioner, would be expected to be sympathetic to the idea of raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12.

UUP peer and party chairman Tom Elliott spoke in the House of Lords on Wednesday in favour of retaining the current age of 10.

Debate on amendments to Mrs Long's legislation is due to begin in the Assembly on June 2 and last for a fortnight.

Unless Mr Beattie withdraws his proposal, UUP MLAs are set to make conflicting contributions on the issue in the chamber.

A party spokesman said: “Policy development within the UUP involves discussion, scrutiny and a range of views.

“That is a normal and healthy part of any democratic political party and is entirely consistent with the party's structures and decision-making processes as set out in our rules and standing orders.

“As a matter of principle, we do not provide a running commentary on internal discussions or deliberations.

“Our focus remains on ensuring that any legislation is properly scrutinised, workable in practice, and supports a fair and effective justice system for everyone in Northern Ireland, and in particular the victims of crime.”

A senior source played down the conflict: “Robust debate is heard in any organisation. I can't characterise any particular discussion, but everyone is very calm and collected. Everyone respects different viewpoints.”

The source held out the possibility that Mr Beattie's amendment may not be progressed.

“This all comes to the Assembly on June 2. The amendment is currently just sitting on file — on the back-burner — until then. It doesn't have to be moved by the member. It's not concrete,” he added.

Mr Beattie had been under threat of deselection by his local constituency association. However, it met on Wednesday night and decided to run two candidates instead of one after a request from the party centrally to revisit its original decision.

The former UUP leader and councillor Kyle Savage are tipped to be chosen. The party had only 0.9 of a quota in Upper Bann in the last Assembly election.

The proposal to raise MACR is in an amendment to Mrs Long's legislation from Alliance MLA Sian Mulholland.

She wants to increase the threshold when children face the full force of the law when they commit serious crime by four years. Alliance has cited the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's that the MACR should be at least 14 years of age. The party believes that 10-year-olds lack the emotional maturity and intellectual capacity to understand the consequences of their actions.

Mr Burrows has argued that while children over the age of 10 can be investigated and prosecuted, the latter is unlikely.

Mr Beattie's proposal is seen as a potential compromise. The DUP has said that children aged 10 and over are capable of distinguishing between right and wrong, and understanding the seriousness of criminal behaviour.

Sunday trading hours to be extended over two weekends of Fleadh

AMY COCHRANE, Belfast Telegraph, May 23rd, 2026

Sunday trading hours in Belfast are likely to be extended during two weekends this summer rather than the original proposal of 18, in what has been described as a “compromise option”.

Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts was at the council meeting yesterday where it was decided that Sunday opening restrictions will be relaxed between August 2 to 9 during Fleadh Cheoil.

The event is the world's largest festival of Irish music and dance and is expected to attract more than 700,000 visitors.

It comes as a survey has revealed the majority in the city are in favour of a relaxation of the restrictions over Sunday trading.

Currently, large shops can only open in the afternoons between 1pm and 6pm.

Mr Roberts said it was a “useful engagement” with the council and they welcomed the decision, but that to deregulate Sunday trading and create another normal shopping day shows a “poverty of ambition” for Belfast.

He also recommended that the council establish a “Sunday morning working group” made up of business representatives, trade unions, arts groups and other key stakeholders to “agree an inclusive way forward and a plan for the summer months.”

“The remit of this group should be wider than just the city centre and include all parts of the city in a new plan for Sunday morning,” said Mr Roberts.

“To completely deregulate Sunday trading and create another normal shopping day shows a poverty of ambition and ideas for the city.

“We need new thinking to animate Sunday morning and offer shoppers and visitors something different.

“Retail NI also urged the council to create a Small Shop Sunday Campaign to highlight the choice and diversity that Belfast's independent retailers can provide to shoppers and visitors.”

Shoppers want Sunday trading

A recent survey by the council revealed that the majority of people in Belfast are in favour of extending Sunday trading hours during the summer months.

The poll by Belfast City Council found eight out of ten people are supportive of the change.

Belfast City Council carried out an eight-week public consultation on Sunday opening hours earlier this year.

In total there were 5,701 responses to the individual survey, including 3,773 in Belfast.

The results, which were published on Thursday, suggest a large majority of people in Belfast are in favour of extending the opening hours — 82pc compared to 16pc, with 2pc neutral.

However, retail workers were split, with only a slight majority of 48pc compared to 47pc in favour.

A large store is defined as having a floor space of more than 280 square metres, which is slightly bigger than a tennis court.

Overall, in terms of positive feedback about extended Sunday opening based on religious background, the results were that 91pc of those from a Catholic background were positive and 64pc from Protestant background.

The findings also found that of those who identified as being from neither religious background, 85pc of responses were positive.

Five arrested by undercover police who lay in wait for dissident suspects

ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, May 23rd, 2026

Suspected members of a dissident republican breakaway group have been arrested by undercover armed police who lay in wait for them during a planned sting in west Belfast.

Five men were arrested during an operation involving undercover officers in the Poleglass area on Thursday night.

Following the arrest part of a laneway close to the Good Shepherd Primary School was closed off and police search teams and a drone were deployed.

The area remained closed off yesterday with the investigation ongoing.

Those arrested are said to be members of Glor na hOglaigh, a recently formed political group, aligned to a faction of armed dissident group Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH).

The group was responsible for the attempted murder of Republican Network for Unity member Sean O'Reilly in February last year.

O'Reilly (49) was shot twice as part of an internal feud that led to a split in the group, as he sat inside his taxi in the Bell Steel Manor in Poleglass .

Glór na hÓglaigh claims to be a “revolutionary republican party that's for a 32-county socialist republic”.

Earlier this year they issued a statement threatening to kill drug dealers.

Some of the officers involved in the undercover operation were heard to have English accents, leading to speculation that it was a joint MI5/PSNI operation.

Plain clothes officers wearing balaclavas, and in unmarked cars, were seen in the area shortly after the arrests.

Up to seven unmarked police cars were also involved in the sting, which appeared to have been based on prior intelligence.

The five men aged between 26 and 51 were taken to Musgrave Street station for questioning by the PSNI's Terrorism Unit.

Yesterday morning the operation continued as police TSG teams searched along the path and most of the main road.

The PSNI plane also circled for most of the morning.

Substantial threat remains

The current threat level in Northern Ireland in relation to terrorist attacks remains substantial, meaning an “attack is likely”.

The breakaway ONH group is one of two active armed dissident republican organisations.

The New IRA was responsible for a firebomb attack on Dunmurry police station in April.

A delivery driver's car was hijacked and fitted with a gas cylinder device. He then was forced to drive it to the police station where it exploded.

No one was hurt in the attack and one man has been charged with attempted murder.

The attack in Dunmurry came just weeks after a similar incident at Lurgan police station.

In that incident, a controlled explosion was carried out on the bomb. A man and woman have been charged with offences alleged to be linked to that attack.

A police spokesperson said: “Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Terrorism Investigation Unit investigating violent dissident republican activity have made five arrests.

“The men aged 26, 27, 38, 44 and 51 were arrested in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on Thursday evening, 21st May, under the Terrorism Act.

“They have been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Musgrave Police Station in Belfast for questioning. The investigation is ongoing.”