Some people think Protestants are less Irish

MÁIRÍA CAHILL, Sunday Independent, September 21st, 2025

In the late 1990s, I was beaten off a road by the RUC while protesting about an Apprentice Boys march and ended up in hospital. During the same period, I travelled regularly to the Garvaghy Road. I also protested at a section of an Orange march that went past Ardoyne, a nationalist north Belfast enclave, where some of my family lived.

It was an ugly time, when sectarianism swirled around us, hanging heavy in the air. My opposition was perhaps not surprising, given my family's background. My uncle Joe founded the Provisional IRA. My great-uncle George cycled to fight in the Rising and ended up in Wormwood Scrubs on hunger strike during the War of Independence.

Like presidential hopeful Heather Humphreys, my mother attended Orange Order parades in the early 1970s.

Her father (whose father drilled old IRA men up the mountains) brought her to see the Whiterock Lodge at the height of the Troubles. He was a chief ranger in the Irish National Foresters, so perhaps understood the allure of tradition and fraternal organisations annually displaying their best colours for their community. He died after having a heart attack while marching in Newry in 1995.

To a small community like Drum, where Humphreys is from, the annual "picnic” event is essential — not only for their Protestant tradition, but to bring the community — Protestant, Catholic and others — together.

It involves several marching bands, mostly children playing the accordion or flute, the same you would see at a St Patrick's Day parade. The lead banner is of the local church. The bands march from the local shop to a field and back again. It's a rural, family day with no alcohol.

Afterwards, though not organised by them, the local orange hall throws open its doors and welcomes all spectators and participants with sandwiches and buns. It's a chance for people to meet, some of whom won't have seen each other since the previous year. There is nothing seditious or seedy about it.

Last week, a controversy arose because journalist John Lee asked Humphreys whether she had attended Orange parades. She explained that as a child she did, but hadn't in years.

‘It was a truthful answer’

It was a truthful answer. Confusion arose because The Irish Mail on Sunday believed the Drum parade, which she has attended in the past, to be an "Orange Parade”, and described it as such in its coverage. It isn't.

Humphreys was also asked whether her husband Eric was a member of the Orange Order. Perhaps surprised by being asked to account for her husband's activities, when she is a politician in her own right, she stumbled, replying: "Not that, no, not that I'm aware of.” She followed up with "You'd have to ask him that. No, he's not a member.”

It later transpired that Eric had been a member 50 years previously, before he and Humphreys had even met. Why this warranted a front-page headline: 'Humphreys Husband's Secret Orange Order Past' is anyone's guess.

Heather Humphreys is a politician with a proven track record in hard work and delivery. She is also an Irish republican who wishes to see an inclusive, united Ireland. None of this matters to those displaying their bile on the internet who only see "Protestant”.

 ‘Not one of us?’

What, precisely, is the issue? Is Humphreys, born and bred in Ireland, not "one of us”, to the sneering social media underbelly who have mocked up pictures of her in a bowler hat? Have a look at her tweet saying her favourite time of the year is the Ploughing Championships, and the sectarian comments underneath, telling her it is July 12, instead. Is she not as Irish as the rest of us because she happens to attend a different church, or is from a small, local community where the Orange Hall is the equivalent of a Catholic parish one?

 Let's call a spade a spade. Her Irishness is shamefully questionable for those who believe that their Catholic Irish upbringing is somehow superior to her Protestant one. That's what it boils down to.

Had she or her husband been a member of the ultra-conservative Catholic Ancient Order of Hibernians and marched on Lady Day, it's hard to see a furore about it.

Some have mentioned that the Orange Order excludes Catholics and women as justification for their own prejudices. Do the same people object to the Catholic Church's exclusion of women from the pulpit, or its refusal to allow marriages to bring up Protestant children? What about the Irish National Foresters? Problematic if a president happened to have a relative as a member? Has anyone asked Jim Gavin or Catherine Connolly whether they ever attended Orange parades? If not, why not?

We are supposed to aspire to a tolerant, inclusive society instead of a toxic, jingoistic nationalist one. In that case, Ireland needs to hold a mirror up to itself and untangle its hypocrisies from its aspirations. Are we pluralist or prejudiced?

Don't preach to us Northerners

 Do we need a president who wraps the green flag around them so tightly that the orange part is hidden from view? Or should we welcome one who will unfurl it in all its glory, understanding and respecting the orange, too?

 In 1998, 100 Orangemen celebrated July 12 in Áras an Uachtaráin as guests of then-president Mary McAleese. The sky did not fall in.

Yet here we are, almost 30 years later, and the fact that one private citizen, who is not even running for election, and his half-century-ago membership of the Orange Order made the front page of a Sunday newspaper should give us all pause for thought. It really is beneath us.

 We trace our history through every bloodline on our family trees, each link like spidery veins branching from one Irish generational crisis to the next. All of us have interesting lineage.

 While we are so interested in people's Orange links, here's mine. My maternal great-uncle Clyde was the secretary of Belfast's Clifton Street Orange lodge.

He was also a freemason and British army captain, who funded the UVF limbs hospital (founded during World War I). Like Humphreys, several of my paternal relatives signed the Ulster Covenant. I want a president who understands why they did so.

 In the current climate, where it is sexy to don a tricolour balaclava in jest, the republican line of my family tree is something for Irish sectarians to celebrate. At the same time, they view Home Rule advocates and Orange Order members as something to renounce or hide from. Wolfe Tone would turn in his grave.

 For all of my teenage angst against them, I was the first nationalist politician to attend a Shankill Road bonfire day in 2015 and a Royal Black Institution parade in 2018. We all must move past our silo mentality.

 After the way Heather Humphreys was treated last week, take the mote from your eye, Ireland.

Don't preach to us Northerners about respecting diversity, or healing hurt, or crossing the divide, or any of the soundbites about "making peace”. We are streets ahead.

'They had guns and we had guitars, we didn't stand a chance'

Stephen Travers, who survived the Miami Showband massacre, recalls how the band were stopped on their way to Dublin at a bogus checkpoint

Sunday Independent and Sunday Life, September 21st, 2025

July 30, 1975, Banbridge in Co Down

As usual, we finished the gig with the audience-participation number Clap Your Hands, Stamp Your Feet and, after the customary autograph signings and a cup of tea, Brian, Fran, Tony, Des and I climbed into our minibus for the relatively short journey back to Dublin.

At first, I sat up front beside Brian, but when I realised that the others had no intention of sleeping, I climbed back through the bus to chat with Tony while Fran and Des played cards. The banter between all five of us, and especially between Fran and Brian, who were just as quick-witted as each other, was hilarious.

As we approached the junction of the main Belfast-Newry road and Buskhill Road, Brian alerted us to a uniformed figure waving a red light in the middle of the road. He knew the drill: turning off the headlights but keeping the sidelights and the interior lights on, he drove slowly towards the soldier.

As usual, he opened his window expecting to show his driving licence and be waved on our way (quite often, the soldiers would recognise us and ask for autographs or even a free record), but this time we were told to "stand out of the bus”.

Brian, almost apologetically, relayed the surprise order to us, saying, "Lads, we've got to get out while these gentlemen do a check on the bus”. First, however, he asked the soldier if he could move the bus off the road on to the hard shoulder because there was a car fast approaching from behind.

The soldier beckoned us in and we duly began to exit the minibus. I was the last to step out, but I had no inkling that I was stepping into a terrible new world where I would never again be just "the bass player”.

As we stepped out of the van in the early hours of July 31, 1975, we were ordered to line up at the side of the road and to face towards the ditch with our hands on our heads. Despite having submachine guns pointed directly at us, the atmosphere was relaxed and there was friendly banter between us and some of the five soldiers that were initially visible to us.

For me, the new bass guitarist, it was just part of a great new adventure. Nevertheless, when I heard the opening click of a guitar case clasp, I instinctively dropped my hands from my head, stepped back from the line-up, walked the two or three paces to the back of the bus and asked the soldiers who were searching the bus to be careful with my bass guitar.

My beloved Dan Armstrong plexiglass bass was an unusual instrument that I didn't want some awkward soldier manhandling. The soldiers seemed unconcerned when I stepped out of line.

‘Something wasn’t right’

Nevertheless, one of them questioned me about the contents of a small brown case beside the guitars. He asked me if there were "any valuables in it”. When I assured him that it only contained my bass guitar effects pedals, one of the other soldiers spun me around by the shoulder and punched me in the lower back, winding me and knocking me back into line between Brian and Des.

For the first time, I felt that something wasn't right.

The soldier who had at first appeared to be in charge ordered another to take our names and addresses in a small notebook.

He began with Fran, but he had barely moved on to Tony when another soldier made his presence felt. I hadn't noticed this man until then. Perhaps he arrived in the fast car that Brian was concerned about earlier and which hadn't driven past when Brian moved the minibus on to the hard shoulder.

Upon this soldier's arrival, there was a palpable change; all banter stopped and the casual atmosphere immediately dissipated. He stood within three feet of me, but spoke only to the soldier who, until then, had appeared to be in charge. He asked what orders had been given to the man with the notebook and, on being told that it was names and addresses, replied, "I want names and dates of birth”. Then, more aggressively, he snapped, "Names and dates of birth”.

I immediately recognised his educated, upper-class English accent from my trainee insurance broker days in the city of London. It reminded me of some of my former bosses and colleagues.

He wore a fawn-coloured beret, his fatigues were a lighter colour than the other soldiers' uniforms. Clearly, a very senior officer was now in charge. Brian McCoy nudged the tip of my elbow with his and said, "Don't worry, Steve, this is British army”. Des turned to me and said, "The British army are usually careful with the instruments”.

Born and reared in Northern Ireland, both Brian and Des could easily distinguish between British soldiers and local UDR men, and so I was content that they would conduct the check quickly and professionally and that we'd be on our way home without undue delay.

However, while we were being questioned, two men were secretly planting a bomb under the driver's seat of our minibus. Their plan was to send us on our way with a hidden bomb on board.

Framed as Terrorists

According to forensic reports, we would all have been blown to pieces within 10 to 15 minutes while passing through Newry, and subsequent examinations would have shown that the Miami Showband had been carrying a large bomb. No one would ever have known about the checkpoint and we would have been framed as terrorists attempting to transport a bomb for the IRA. If the most trusted and beloved commuters in Ireland could have been successfully framed as terrorists, then nobody would have been exempt from their rigorous stop and search policy.

While their false-flag operation would have hampered the activities and movements of the IRA — since the Irish government could no longer reasonably object to Britain's demand to stop and search everyone crossing the Border — the consequences would have been catastrophic and everlasting for us and for our families and future generations.

The Miami Showband would have gone down in history as terrorists and our families tarnished forever.

Suddenly, there was a massive explosion and the whole world turned red. I would find out later that, while setting the bomb in position, the two men inadvertently triggered the wristwatch timing mechanism and instantly detonated 10 pounds of commercial explosives. It was so powerful that it blew the bombers to pieces, ripping off their heads, tearing both arms off one man and a leg off the other. The blast obliterated our bus. The enormous force of the explosion lifted me into the air.

I tried to run, but my feet were off the ground. Stunned and furious, the terrorists opened fire, shooting wildly. As I twisted in mid-air, a dumdum bullet pierced my right side, exploding inside me, into 16 pieces. Part of the shattered bullet continued ripping through my chest, collapsing my left lung before exiting under my left arm. At first, everything felt like slow motion and, as I began to descend through the hedge into the field, I could feel every branch and twig and leaf that touched me. Time slowed to a standstill until I suddenly hit the ground with tremendous force.

Two of my bandmates crashed down on top of me. They quickly got to their feet and one of them tried to pull me across the field, away from the carnage, but I couldn't walk, I was a dead weight. The gunmen jumped into the field, emptying their weapons into my bandmates. Brian, whom they shot in the hands, arms, body and head, was the first to be murdered. They quickly caught Fran, and although I heard him beg for mercy, they shot him 22 times — 13 times in the face. They shot Tony in the back and in the back of the head. We didn't stand a chance. They had guns and we had guitars.

The shooting and screaming eventually gave way to the sound of squelching footsteps making their way through the carnage. Screaming obscenities, one of the gunmen kicked the lifeless bodies, shooting them again. As he approached me he stopped to kick Brian, who was lying beside me. Again and again he kicked, roaring louder each time.

‘Those bastards are dead’

Finally, he stepped towards me. I held my breath. I kept my eyes closed and my face pressed against the ground.

He stood over me for what seemed like an eternity. Should I kneel up and beg for mercy or should I remain perfectly still and pretend to be dead? I steeled myself in anticipation. I was determined not to cry out if I were shot again. I told myself it would be quick and painless, but then, miraculously, a voice from the road called out, "Come on, those bastards are dead, I got them with dumdums”.

As the gunman turned and began walking away, I counted every fading step. My concentration was totally focused on not making a sound.

Gradually, as a haunting silence descended upon the field, broken only by the crackling of the burning ditch, I realised that our attackers had left and I tried to make sense of what had just happened. I had never heard of dumdums, so I reasoned that, since I felt no pain, it meant that they were dummy or blank bullets.

At that moment, the worst possible scenario I could envisage was that the band might be off the road for a few days and that we might have to reschedule our gigs for the coming weekend. I recalled that, after a recent gig in the North, Fran and I were talking to a girl who told us that she and her boyfriend were caught in crossfire during a street battle in Belfast. She said they were both hit by stray bullets and that her boyfriend was killed. Fran and I were in awe, fascinated to meet someone who had actually been shot and, when we asked her how it felt, she explained that, because she felt a gentle rain on her face as she lay wounded on the stone steps, she knew she was alive. As I lay in the field under the half-moon in the clear summer sky, I too longed for a gentle rain on my face. But it didn't come.

Drifting through different levels of consciousness, I heard a familiar voice: "Fran... Brian... Tony... Steve... are you okay?”

It was Des, calling out from the ditch close to where he landed after the explosion.

I was the only one to answer, but, not wanting to make a fuss, I replied, "I'm grand”.

This is an extract from 'The Bass Player' by Stephen Travers, published by New Island Books

Sinn Féin to support Catherine Connolly in race to become President

Anthony Neeson, Belfast Media, September 21st, 2025

SINN Féin will support Catherine Connolly in the race for the Presidency, party leader Mary Lou McDonald announced this afternoon.

The Galway West TD has the backing of left leaning parties in the Dáil as well as independents. The backing of Sinn Fein will add a boost to her chances of entering the Áras in November.

Speaking this afternoon Mary Lou McDonald said that following "extensive consultation with our elected representatives and wider party nationally" the party have decided to back Catherine Connolly. 

"We have two priorities to get Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael out of government and to keep them out of the Áras," she said. "Today’s decision allows us to do that. 

"This is a big decision to support a candidate from outside our membership and work with the combined opposition to collectively take on the government. To give people a clear choice. To give hope. It is now game on in the campaign to elect Catherine Connolly as Uachtarán na hÉireann.”

She said the election is happening at an important time for the country. 

"The momentum for reunification is growing by the day. Partition is on borrowed time. Inch by inch, we are getting closer to a united Ireland. Leading the Executive in the north, we champion a united future that belongs to the people regardless of background or tradition. An Ireland where politics is about delivery, where everyone can live a good life and reach their potential. It is wrong that citizens in the North do not have a vote for the President, despite promises from government to move on this issue.

“Uachtarán na hÉireann is President of all of Ireland. The incoming President is likely to be in office when these referenda happen and will play an important role as the transition to unity begins. Of course, for referenda to happen and preparations to begin we need an Irish government who is supportive of that happening. That requires a change of government at the next election."

She added: “And we believe that Catherine can be that Uachtarán”.

Relief in Coalition as Sinn Féin opts to back Connolly

TABITHA MONAHAN AND KEVIN DOYLE, Sunday Independent, September 21st, 2025

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are breathing a sigh of relief after Sinn Féin announced yesterday that it was backing Catherine Connolly, rather than running its own candidate.

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald had hyped up yesterday's announcement as a "game changer” for the race.

"It's hardly a game changer,” one senior Fine Gael figure said. "If they produced their own candidate we'd have needed to react. This means the race stays the same.”

Fianna Fáil also believes the lack of a Sinn Féin candidate will benefit Jim Gavin in Dublin.

Meanwhile, many within Fine Gael pointed to the scenario that Heather Humphreys could win with Mr Gavin's transfers. Ms Connolly lacks a fellow left candidate to benefit from transfers.

The decision by Sinn Féin is being viewed as a bid to turn the presidential election into a referendum on the government parties.

"Our job is to get Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael out of government and to keep them out of the Áras,” Ms McDonald said yesterday. She also said Ms Connolly backs their desire for a united Ireland, even though she is not a member of Sinn Féin.

Other presidential hopefuls Gareth Sheridan and Maria Steen will make their last-ditch efforts tomorrow to get on the ballot, but it is now possible that voters will be left to choose between just three candidates.

In a hard-hitting article for today's Sunday Independent, Mr Sheridan claims Fianna Fáil has been working behind the scenes to thwart his chances.

Unlike Fine Gael, Micheál Martin's party did not issue a public diktat telling councillors to oppose non-party candidates.

However, Mr Sheridan writes: "I firmly believe that the Fianna Fáil leadership has encouraged its councillors to block my path, in exactly the same way as Fine Gael did. The only difference is that Fine Gael did so openly, whereas Fianna Fáil have been more covert.”

The businessman said he was "crestfallen” after failing to secure the support of Carlow County Council on Friday evening. He had hoped it would become the third local authority to back his nomination, which would have left him needing just one more ahead of Wednesday's deadline.

Mr Sheridan says that as he left the meeting, he overheard a group of Fianna Fáil people joking about the outcome and one "whooping” that they had "put a stop to his gallop”.

"Now we have what is effectively a three-horse race, with two of the horses from the government stable.

"The electorate — seeking a proper choice on the ballot and a robust and respectful presidential election — are the losers. This interference is unhealthy and undermines our democratic process and is an affront to the spirit of the Constitution.”

Fianna Fáil said it had asked councillors "to do everything they can to support the candidacy and campaign” of Jim Gavin. However, no specific instructions on how to do this were given.

Twelve local authorities to decide tomorrow

Twelve local authorities will convene tomorrow to decide whether to nominate a candidate. With Kerry and Tipperary secured, Mr Sheridan needs two more to get on the ballot paper.

However, he has decided to focus all his energy on three out of the 12 — Offaly, Meath and Louth.

Ms Steen will meet with Independent Ireland TDs tomorrow in the hope of getting their backing.

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said he hopes Ms Steen would have the support of 18 TDs and senators by the end of tomorrow, but it remains unclear where she might pick up the two other nominations needed to reach the qualifying threshold of 20.

Sinn Féin will give financial support to Ms Connolly's campaign, but has not yet quantified how much that might be.

Its TDs, senators and local representatives will be expected to canvass for her around the country alongside members of the Labour Party, Social Democrats, People Before Profit-Solidarity and the Green Party.

"This is a game-changer. This is a very, very significant decision on our part. I think from here, it's now game on,” Ms McDonald said.

"We come together with the combined opposition behind the candidacy of Catherine Connolly, and I think that this is a really special moment, potentially, in Irish politics and how it evolves.”

Asked about several controversies that Ms Connolly has had to address since announcing her candidacy, including the nomination of Gemma O'Doherty in the last presidential election and Ms Connolly's trip to Syria in 2018, Ms McDonald said the candidate has already answered those questions.

She said she believed Ms Connolly would be "a very powerful advocate of Irish reunification”, particularly because she was not a member of Sinn Féin.

"I think Catherine is like lots of Irish people — I would say a majority of Irish people — who instinctively know and believe that partition is wrong, that reunification is the best plan for our future,” she said.

"Catherine is not a Sinn Féiner. She's not a member of Sinn Féin, but I certainly think her commitment — to Gaeilge, to language, to culture, her deep appreciation of Irish history, of our place in the world, our future and our destiny — all indicate her as a very, very powerful advocate of Irish reunification.”

Leading the Opposition

Ms McDonald said the party made the decision to support Ms Connolly "knowing full well” that they had numerous people within the party that could contest the election and win.

"That wasn't a question for us. But we also believe that our primary tasks remain leading the opposition here in Dublin, with a view to changing government at the general election.”

Ms Connolly has been running very close to her two rivals in opinion polls, but it is reasonable to expect the backing of Sinn Féin pushes her into a lead on first preferences. However, transfers will be key to the overall result.

In a statement, Ms Connolly said she was "heartened” by Sinn Féin's support.

"I believe the coalition of left, centre-left parties and independents backing my run for president is a welcome change for Irish politics,” she said.

"However, if I am to be successful, I will be a president for all Irish people, of all political persuasions or none.”

New Troubles legacy deal will help break cycle of generational trauma

SIMON HARRIS, Sunday Independent, September 21st, 2025

There were more than 3,500 men, women and ­children killed in the Troubles. And thousands more were maimed and injured. The legacy of this brutal violence continues to cast a long shadow over this island.

Hundreds of families still do not know who killed their loved ones — or even why they were targeted. Despite the successes of the peace process, we have never comprehensively addressed this legacy of the Troubles.

The 2014 Stormont House Agreement, negotiated by the British and Irish governments and the Northern Ireland political parties, contained provisions on legacy that offered a way forward, but these were never implemented.

Then in 2023, the then British government reneged on previous commitments and introduced the Legacy Act. It was opposed by all political parties in Northern Ireland. It was also found by the Northern Ireland courts to be in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights.

This is what UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government inherited on taking office last July. When I met him in Chequers shortly after his election, we committed to a fundamental reset of the UK-Ireland relationship.

At the heart of that was our roles as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement — and our first and most urgent task was to find a joint way forward to comprehensively address the legacy of the Troubles.

When in January, I became Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, one of my first calls was to the Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, to try and move this process forward as quickly as possible.

After months of engagement, last week we launched a new Joint Framework on legacy. Once implemented, it will fundamentally reform legacy processes and move us toward our shared goal of securing truth, accountability and — as far as possible — justice for victims, families and survivors.

It will bring about root and branch reform of the current Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Retrieval. It will be more independent, and visibly so. The 2023 Legacy Act provided for effective immunity from criminal prosecution for gross violations of human rights, including murder. This will be reversed. The prohibition on legacy inquests will removed.

Where the Legacy Act shut down criminal investigations into many Troubles-related crimes, the Joint Framework ensures that investigations will be provided to UK-wide standards, with an obligation to explore and exhaust investigative leads.

A new judge-led inquisitorial mechanism will be able to look at complex cases. This will draw closely on the UK Inquiries Act 2005, as a tried-and-tested model, and will have the power to hold public hearings and provide for effective next-of-kin participation.

The 2014 Stormont House Agreement provided for a new cross-border body enabling victims and survivors to seek and privately receive information about the deaths of their next of kin. In 2015, both governments signed an agreement to establish this body. We will now fulfil that commitment and establish the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, a jointly funded cross-border body.

A new unit will be established in An Garda Síochána as a central point of contact for cross-border cooperation, and for victims and families in relation to investigations. We will also make funding available to support participation and representation of victims, survivors and next of kin in legacy processes in Northern Ireland.

We can only comprehensively address legacy issues if we do it together.

These are very real and substantive improvements. They will make a real and tangible difference to the people of these islands. They will ensure that all investigations will be effective, independent, and, most importantly, compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Since the beginning of the year, as I have spoken to victims, families and survivors, one consistent theme has emerged. People do not want to continue to pass their trauma on to their children and grandchildren.

This deal is our chance to stop this cycle. We are determined to do so. People have waited far too long for truth and accountability.

Simon Harris is a Fine Gael TD, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

Robinson admits trust in DUP damaged by party's pledges on sea border

ADRIAN RUTHERFORD, Sunday Life, September 21st, 2025

PARTY LEADER TELLS CONFERENCE THEY SHOULD'VE BEEN CLEARER ABOUT DEALS

DUP leader Gavin Robinson has expressed “regret” that the party wasn't clearer in setting out the shortcomings of deals around the Irish Sea border.

However, he said successive governments must shoulder much of the blame where expectations have not been delivered on.

Mr Robinson was addressing the DUP conference at the La Mon Hotel in Co Down.

It is the second conference since the party's return to Stormont in February last year following a two-year boycott in protest at post-Brexit trade rules.

In his keynote address, Mr Robinson said trust was broken when the Irish Sea border was imposed.

He said successive governments had failed to address concerns, and that had affected the DUP.

There has been criticism that the deal to restore Stormont — negotiated by predecessor Jeffrey Donaldson — has fallen short on addressing key issues.

Mr Robinson said some of the party's messaging should have been clearer.

He added: “It was the last government that made commitments to restore Northern Ireland's place in the UK internal market. To remove barriers to trade, and to secure our full constitutional rights. And it was the current Labour government's failure to implement many of those commitments.

“Whether we like it or not, we must face up to the reality: that has impacted trust in this party too.

Challenges

“I regret some of our commentary did not spell out plainly the difference between what had been resolved, what could be achieved through faithful government implementation, and the fundamental challenges that remained.

“Our choice was not between perfection and betrayal. It was between progress or paralysis.

“We chose to return to Stormont to deliver for our people. To keep unionism strong where it matters most: in a position of leadership where we can effect change.

“Sadly, the protocol arrangements are still there. The internal border in our own country will never be acceptable and it must go.”

The conference comes amid wider struggles for unionism, with a splintered voter base.

A recent LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph suggested the TUV had overtaken Alliance and the Ulster Unionists to become Northern Ireland's third most popular party.

Mr Robinson, echoing comments from a series of DUP speakers at the conference, called for greater cooperation ahead of the next Assembly vote in 2027.

“When unionism is divided, our opponents prosper,” he told the audience.

“As we look to 2027 and beyond, unionist parties must reflect the desire of pro-Union people to see us working together to maximise the number of unionist seats in both the Assembly and in councils.”

The East Belfast MP also dismissed calls for a border poll in the next five years, saying: “In no circumstance do I envisage the break-up of our Union in my lifetime, but frankly, that isn't ambitious enough.”

Earlier, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly acknowledged that relations can be strained at the Stormont Executive.

She added: “I believe the future is bright. Unionism is strong, but we must be united.

“Northern Ireland is a great place, but we can be even better.

“Potential will only become reality if we seize those opportunities. For that we need an Executive that is working for you.

“I doubt anyone in this room underestimates the challenges of a mandatory coalition government.

“It is not always smooth sailing. It means on occasion there will be disagreements, frustrations and fallouts.”

Police in renewed appeal to public over disappearance of schoolboys in 1969

REBECCA BLACK, Sunday Life, September 21st, 2025

A fresh appeal for information has been made about two young boys who disappeared almost 60 years ago.

David Leckey (11) and 14-year-old Jonathan Aven were last seen in east Belfast in September 1969.

Police said their families have suffered “unimaginable pain” since they went missing.

They believe the boys may have got on the train to Bangor and have urged anyone who may have encountered them in any circumstances or location over the past 56 years to come forward to police.

They said the family of David, from Memel Street, had “no indication that he was unhappy or in trouble of any kind and didn't think he would ever have left home” when he went missing.

Jonathan, from Sydenham Drive, was described by his father as a “happy little boy” who attended Ashfield Boys' School, “which he seemed to like and appeared to be doing well at”.

“More than 50 years have now passed since both David and Jonathan went missing, their families have suffered over these years not knowing what happened to them on the day they left their home addresses,” a police spokesperson said.

“The pain and suffering of not knowing throughout the years must be unimaginable. Our thoughts very much remain with the families of both David and Jonathan at this time.

“This remains an open missing persons case with the circumstances around their disappearance still unexplained.

“Detectives will consider all investigative opportunities and follow all lines of inquiry as part of the review and will consider any potential criminal offences that may be linked to their disappearance.”

They added: “If anyone has any information in relation to the disappearance of David and Jonathan, we would ask them to contact Legacy Investigation Branch where all information will be assessed.”

2023 documentary Lost Boys: Belfast's Missing Children linked their disappearances to members of a paedophile ring based at the notorious Kincora Boys' Home in east Belfast which allegedly operated with the knowledge of MI5 and involved some of its agents.

Dismembered

It also looked at possible links with the disappearances of Thomas Spence (11) and John Rodgers (13), who were last seen at a bus stop on the Falls Road, west Belfast, in 1974, and the murder of Brian McDermott (10), who was last seen at Ormeau Park on September 2, 1973.

His dismembered body was found a week later in bags found in the River Lagan. Police also recently issued a new appeal about the murder.

Detectives can be contacted on 101 or by emailing LIBEnquiries@psni.pnn.police.uk quoting reference RM14009442. A report can also be made online using the non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/

Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.