Tribunal probes whether PSNI spied on prominent solicitors
CONNLA YOUNG CRIME AND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, Irish News, September 23rd, 2025
A POWERFUL surveillance tribunal is investigating whether the PSNI spied on one of the north’s most prominent solicitors and a colleague.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) examines complaints from people who believe they have been victim to unlawful covert interference by state agencies.
It has now emerged that solicitors Kevin Winters and Barry O’Donnell have been excluded from an unprecedented review into the extent of PSNI spy operations because proceedings are ongoing with the IPT.
The review, headed by Angus McCullough KC, is focused on journalists, lawyers and non-governmental organisations, while the Policing Board and Police Ombudsman also fall under its terms of reference.
Mr Winters and his Belfast-based legal firm, KRW Law, has been involved in some of the most controversial conflict-related cases in the north in recent decades.
It has now emerged that a case involving the two is being considered by the IPT.
As part of his review, Mr McCullough invited submissions from lawyers, solicitors and others who believed they may have been snooped on by police.
As part of the that process Mr Winters and Mr O’Donnell made submissions to both the review and the IPT.
KRW Law spied on by state agencies
Earlier this year Mr McCullough contacted the solicitors to tell them their submissions fell outside the terms of reference of his review as they were subject of ongoing proceedings at the IPT.
Mr McCullough has confirmed that his review received around 50 responses from a variety of individuals and on behalf of two organisations.
He added that a small number of the submissions, around five, fell outside his terms of reference.
Last year the London based tribunal found the PSNI and Metropolitan Police unlawfully spied on Belfast journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney to identify their sources.
Mr Birney was represented by KRW Law.
It later emerged both men and a Police Ombudsman official had been spied on during a PSNI investigation led by Durham Constabulary, known as Operation Yurta, which was linked to the alleged theft of confidential documents used in a film about the 1994 Louginisland massacre.
Newry mortar attack
Durham Constabulary also investigated another alleged leaked document, as part of a second investigation known as Operation Tabist, which was linked to an IRA mortar attack that claimed the life of RUC officer Colleen McMurray (34) in Newry in March 1992.
The IRA attack is thought to have involved an informer.
It is understood a member of Mrs McMurray’s family later provided their legal firm, KRW Law, with a copy of the leaked document.
Ms McMurray’s widower Philip McMurray, himself a former policeman, and his solicitor Barry O’Donnell, of KRW Law, were later both interviewed by police in relation to the sensitive document.
Both men were informed by the Public Prosecution Service that it was not in the public interest to prosecute them.
It is believed the document confirms a second police informer was working at a senior level within the IRA in south Down in the 1990s.
RUC woman Colleen McMurray was killed by the IRA in Newry in 1992
The existence of the document emerged when a former official at the Police Ombudsman’s Office was arrested in Dartford, Kent by PSNI officers investigating the “suspected theft of sensitive documents from within the Office of the Police Ombudsman”.
The document later came into the possession of lawyers for the Ministry of Defence and PSNI as part of a separate case involving British agent Peter Keeley, who is also known as Kevin Fulton.
In 2015 Keeley told BBC Panorama that he helped design the technology used to fire the mortar that killed Ms McMurray.
He also said he had passed that information onto his handlers and told them the IRA was planning an attack.
Keeley has been linked to the death of Newry IPLO member Eoin Morley, who was shot dead by the IRA in April 1990.
In 2006 Keeley was arrested in England and questioned about the Morley killing and the death of British soldier Cyril Smyth, who was killed when the IRA carried out a bomb attack on a checkpoint outside Newry in 1990.
In 2014 Keeley was ordered by a court in Belfast to pay damages to Mrs Morley.
Second informer
The Irish News understands that the secret document does not name the alleged second informer, instead the person is referred to by code.
It is believed an attached intelligence report refers to the second agent, who worked for Special Branch.
It is understood the document reveals the second informer was reporting to his handlers about the activities of Keeley.
A Police Ombudsman’s report into the Newry mortar attack published in 2021 failed to reveal details of the second informer believed to have been working inside the IRA in the area at the time.
In an update circulated by Mr McCullough last week he revealed that four out the potentially relevant submissions are outside” his remit “due to being the subject of ongoing proceedings” before the IPT.
Mr McCullough said he “wrote to the relevant individuals to confirm this” in May and “for those cases I have made a proposal that should enable them to be considered once the IPT proceedings have concluded”.
Mr Winters said his case and that of Mr O’Donnell are among that number.
Solicitor Kevin Winters asked the PSNI to “confirm whether or not our practice was the victim of targeted surveillance”.
That request was “subsumed” into the McCullough Review and at the same time “two bespoke applications” were made to the IPT to “investigate our suspicions on wider state surveillance in specific conflict-related litigation by our office”.
“Last year following the out workings of litigation brought by two journalists, myself and another colleague, Barry O’Donnell, filed applications with both The McCullough Review and the IPT to find out if we were surveilled by the PSNI and other state agencies,” he said.
“We have an overriding suspicion that we were spied on given the timing of events linked to PSNI investigations into our legal work and investigative journalism respectively.
Mr Winters said that in 2017 his firm filed a High Court motion “alleging state collusion in the 1990 PIRA murder of Eoin Morley”.
“This triggered an injunction application by PONI (Police Ombudsman) and was also the catalyst for an immediate criminal inquiry by PSNI and Durham Police who took a strategic decision to thematically link their investigation into the use of certain PONI documents in both conflict-related litigation and investigative journalism,” he said.
The solicitor said the McCullough Review later advised that the IPT “would have to investigate our applications”.
“Given the legal density and sensitivities of the tribunals’ work we have to respect their position when they tell us it’s not their practice to issue updates on any cases,” he said.
“However, in saying that we are concerned the NIO (Northern Ireland Office) have taken an inordinately long period of time to advise us on where they are on disclosure.”
The NIO said the matter was one for the Home Office.
A spokesman for the PSNI said: “There is no commentary planned until the publication of the (McCullough) report on Wednesday.”
Sir Declan Morgan, head of the ICRIR, will ‘maximise disclosure’ to files
Financial Times, September 23rd, 2025
Chief of reconciliation body will try to ‘maximise disclosure’ as UK and Ireland overhaul much-criticised legacy law
Sweeping legislative reforms, including new access to sensitive files, could help to finally unlock the “unvarnished truth” of decades-old murders committed during Northern Ireland’s Troubles, a senior legacy official has said.
Sir Declan Morgan, chief of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), said a joint plan between the UK and Ireland to overhaul the former UK Conservative government’s widely criticised approach was “a marked improvement on where we are”.
“What we want to do is to seek to produce the unvarnished truth for victims, survivors and families,” he told the Financial Times. “There are things [in the joint plan] that I think are major changes.”
Morgan’s comments come after London and Dublin announced a partnership approach on Friday that would scrap the 2023 Legacy Act, replace the ICRIR with a stronger Legacy Commission, and restore inquests and civil cases that the legislation had halted.
The measures are intended to boost shaky confidence among many victims and relatives in the ICRIR, which is charged with investigating murders. The Troubles involved republican paramilitaries, often in the IRA, pro-UK loyalists and British security forces, and ended with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
The reforms come amid a race against time to find answers to killings, some of which date back more than half a century.
In particular, Irish foreign minister Simon Harris pledged Dublin’s “fullest co-operation” under the new system. Some unionists criticised what they said was Ireland’s unwillingness to open its files in the past, alleging the Republic had shielded IRA figures.
“I don’t think you can underestimate the effect of the information from Ireland,” said Morgan, a former lord chief justice of Northern Ireland.
The ICRIR is already investigating high-profile atrocities, including the IRA’s Guildford pub bombings in 1974. Of that probe, Morgan said “leads have been uncovered now that were not available before”, including analysis of DNA and forensic evidence.
Since his appointment nearly two and a half years ago, Morgan has been seeking to make the best of what he “always recognised . . . was [an] imperfect” approach to legacy investigations under the 2023 Act.
That legislation united political parties in the region in opposition to it and led to Ireland launching a rare lawsuit against its neighbour at the European Court of Human Rights.
Last year, the High Court in Belfast ruled that an original provision — granting immunity from prosecution for people who co-operated with investigations — violated international rights law and that it had to be disapplied.
Victims fear bias
Some victims had feared the ICRIR was biased. Morgan said a requirement for the chief commissioner to be a senior judicial figure “seemed to me to be bonkers in terms of looking around to find the best chair for the oversight body”.
Nevertheless, he noted that more than 200 people had so far approached the ICRIR and that it now had more than 90 live investigations involving more than 170 deaths. Some of those probes will conclude within months.
“We have had cases dealing with deaths by republicans, loyalists and state representatives. We have had requests from people from a nationalist, unionist and veterans background,” Morgan said.
“We will start to produce reports in a number of cases . . . at the end of this year,” he added. None of those, however, is likely to lead to criminal cases.
Live investigations such as Guildford could pass ‘seamlessly’ into new Legacy Commission
Investigations that are still live — such as the Guildford bombings case — would pass “seamlessly” into the Legacy Commission when it is set up, Morgan said.
The legacy framework will be enshrined in UK draft legislation expected to be submitted next month, as well as in Irish legislation.
In addition to the sharing of Irish intelligence, the framework also proposes reforms to how sensitive UK information will be disclosed.
Two cases now before the UK Supreme Court are expected to clarify rules around the disclosure of information to families.
Morgan said that, where vetoes remained in place, a successful approach used in inquests would involve giving families the essence, or “gist”, of the information in question. “We want to maximise disclosure,” he added.
Asked if he would stay on once the new commission had been set up, Morgan said he had not made up his mind “but I’m not closing the door on anything that I can do to assist”.
Ulster Unionists will ‘ensure that history not rewritten’ under new legacy proposals - Burrows
By David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, September 23rd, 2025
Preventing the rewriting of the history of the Troubles will be one of the guiding principles of the Ulster Unionist Party’s response to the government’s latest legacy proposals, an MLA has said.
The plans were unveiled jointly by the UK and Irish governments on Friday, as the Legacy Act is scrapped and replaced with a new framework – which is closer to the 2014 Stormont House Agreement, which was never implemented.
It will see the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) reformed to become a Legacy Commission, which will investigate Troubles deaths. A separate body will be created to deal with information recovery.
Speaking in the Assembly on Monday, UUP MLA Jon Burrows said his party would give the proposals “serious and solemn reflection” – but would adopt a number of “guiding principles”.
He said the party’s approach would be “informed mostly by victims” – as too often during the peace process, the “needs of perpetrators have come first and those of victims have come second. Blind eyes were turned to violence for the greater good, if you define the ‘greater good’ as ignoring violence”.
The North Antrim MLA said: “Secondly, we will make sure that there is fair treatment for the vast majority of servicemen and police officers who put on a uniform and went out to serve our country with courage and distinction.
“Before any proposals have our support, we will ensure that they recognise fairness for our veterans and police officers.
“Thirdly, we will ensure that history cannot be rewritten. It is the strategic intent of some people, including some in this place, to rewrite history. We will make sure that that does not happen.
“Fourthly, we will uphold the rule of law and justice in our country”.
Mr Burrows also questioned “the belated commitment” of the Irish government to investigate Troubles-related crimes. “Why has it taken until 2025 for them to make a commitment to investigate such crimes? How many people have died who were victims? How many suspects have died who were never brought to justice? How much evidence has been lost?” he said.
DUP attacks SF’s ‘reprehensible’ treatment of victims over removal of word ‘innocent’ in legacy motion
CONOR COYLE, Irish News, September 23rd, 2025
A DISPUTE has broken out between the DUP and Sinn Féin over the wording of an assembly motion to be debated today over the British and Irish government’s new legacy deal.
The governments reached a new agreement on Friday on how killings from the Troubles should be investigated.
The new framework, which includes commitments to fundamentally reform the mechanisms established in the 2023 legacy act, has raised expectations that the Irish government is moving closer to dropping an interstate legal case against the UK.
The motion is critical of the Irish government’s approach to the issue of legacy.
Part of a motion by four DUP MLAs, due to be heard at Stormont today, will seek to “reject the notion of an amnesty for those responsible for wrongdoing during the Troubles; stresses that any revised proposals for dealing with the legacy of the past must be the product of serious and sustained engagement with innocent victims, survivors and their advocates”.
Speaking ahead of the debate, North Belfast DUP MLA Philip Brett said Sinn Féin has introduced an amendment to remove the word “innocent” from the wording of the motion.
“Sinn Féin’s attempt to remove the word ‘innocent’ from the DUP’s motion on holding the Irish government to account over legacy is nothing short of morally reprehensible.
“To deliberately strip that recognition from innocent victims is an insult to their memory and to their families who still carry the pain of loss.
“This is not a matter of political convenience or party interest. It is about the fundamental distinction between those who carried out acts of murder and those who were targeted by them. The word ‘innocent’ is non-negotiable. To erase it is to blur the line between perpetrator and victim – something no MLA should tolerate.”
Secretary of State Hilary Benn, right, with Tánaiste Simon Harris unveiling the new legacy deal last Friday.
O'Neill: I'm happy not to sip bubbly with Trump as Gaza burns
JONATHAN MCCAMBRIDGE, Belfast Telegraph, September 23rd, 2025
Political leaders should not “sell their soul” by sipping champagne with Donald Trump amid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said.
Ms O'Neill told MLAs she was very comfortable not attending a state banquet at Windsor Castle last week during the US president's state visit.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly did attend last week's event and said Ms O'Neill's boycott was a “mistake”.
DUP MLAs questioned the Sinn Fein First Minister on her absence during ministerial question time at the Assembly on Monday.
Ms O'Neill previously said she would not attend in response to the US role in Israel's war in Gaza.
She told MLAs: “I very much value our Irish-American links.
“Indeed, successive American administrations have been very much part of bringing about our peace process.
“You are referring to a banquet last week which I chose not to attend, and rightly so.
“I don't see how a benefit was going to be gained from attending a state banquet when the children of Gaza are starved to death.
“I made my view known on that issue. I've not blocked the Deputy First Minister from attending, she went to the thing and that was her call.
“I'm very comfortable with my decision.”
Still open for business
When she faced further questioning, Ms O'Neill said it was important to send out the message that Northern Ireland is open for business.
She said: “That's the continued message we have when we engage with many.
“I think that's the appropriate approach from us as an Executive Office, but also from the Economy Minister.
“I noted earlier the level of engagement we have had with all different international investors, with all different people from all different countries in terms of the big players, in terms of investment.
“But don't sell your soul just in terms of short-termism just to go to banquets and sip champagne while people in Gaza are starving.”
Ms Little-Pengelly previously told the Assembly that she would attend the event because “that is what leadership is about”.
Ms O'Neill also stayed away from events earlier this year attended by Ms Little-Pengelly in the White House on St Patrick's Day in protest at Mr Trump's stance on the conflict in Gaza and his support for Israel.
Protesters plan to block north’s airports scrapped
CONOR COYLE, Irish News, September 23rd, 2025
A PLAN from far-right anti-immigration protesters to “block” Northern Ireland’s main airports next month was scrapped less than an hour after it was reported to the PSNI.
A wave of protests against what organisers refer to “illegal immigration” have sparked across the north in recent months, including 15 small protests with total numbers of around 200 dubbed “Operation Shutdown” taking place last Thursday.
A follow-up “Operation Airplanes” was announced by a group known as the Official Protestant Coalition on social media on Saturday.
The group has links to those who organised flag protests in Belfast in 2012 following a decision to fly the Union flag on selected days at Belfast City Hall.
The group advertised a two-day protest beginning on October 17 which included instructions to “block” both Belfast International and Belfast City Airport.
Instructions to followers said that it expected the airports to be blocked for precisely “1 hour and 23 minutes”. Plans also included “blocking” Larne harbour overnight between 2am and 6am.
Protesters aimed to “target freight trucks delivering to specific supermarkets to maximise disruption”.The organisers said everyone was welcome to participate in the blocking of the airports, “no matter your race, creed or colour”.
However, shortly after “Operation Airplanes” was announced, the group faced an online backlash from other prominent anti-immigration groups while the PSNI was also informed of the plans.
It’s understood the PSNI received a complaint shortly after 5pm regarding the operation, with detectives making enquiries over the next hour.
Official Protestant Coaltion
A public post from the Official Protestant Coalition announced the Operation had been cancelled less than an hour later.
All posts providing details on the botched plans were later removed from social media.
The Irish News asked the PSNI what, if any, engagement it had with the organisers of the protest in the time between it being publicly announced and subsequently cancelled.
Thursday’s protests saw a number of buses diverted due to protests at 15 locations across the north after a sustained effort was made in order to drum up support for the protests.
Organisers had called for roads to be blocked in effort to “take our country back” and highlight the consequences of “mass migration”.
One group representing migrants advised its members to avoid a long list of locations across the north where it was believed protests were going to take place.
Elsewhere, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust issued advice to pregnant mothers who may have been fearful of attending hospital due to the protests.
Epping ‘Pink Ladies’ anti-migrant group starts an NI branch
CONOR SHEILS, Irish News, September 23rd, 2025
A WOMEN’S anti-migrant group which gained notoriety during the Epping hotel protests has started a branch in Northern Ireland.
The Pink Ladies group has surfaced in recent days and as of yesterday had more than 700 social media members.
It is directly linked to the group that took part in the protests at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex in recent months.
The protesters in England originally got the name ‘pink ladies’ thanks to pink T-shirts they wore at the Epping protests.
They have been accused of being far-right, although the group denies the claims.
The offshoot of the group uses the slogan “Ulster Women First” and says it is a sister group of the English organisation.
‘Tersea Moon’ one of the women involved with the original English group has posted on the Northern Irish group’s page in recent days saying “nothing will stop us”.
“Whereever you are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland we stand in Unity! We stand with our heads held high with strength and resilience, nothing will stop us defending our rights as British Citizens,” she wrote.
One of the Northern Irish group’s organisers also echoed the close links between the groups.
The Pink Ladies NI group has formed in recent days and, as of yesterday, the anti-migrant group had more than 700 social media members
“Big shoutout to our amazing sister group on the mainland Without their drive and dedication, this movement wouldn’t even exist – and we wouldn’t have been able to bring it over here to Northern Ireland. We’re so grateful for their inspiration and proud to walk this journey together,” one of the organisers said.
A series of posts can be found outlining upcoming anti-immigrant protests outside hotels and in loyalist areas across the north.
Complaints on the group’s page include criticising the sale of Halal nappies at a supermarket in the north.
Underneath the post, which included various angry emojis, one woman commented “British standards need to give their head a bloody wobble”
Another post on the page, shows photos of a group of brown skinned men and women talking to each other as they walk on a public road.
One commenter underneath said: “A male in Ballymena met this group of roma gypsies this morning at 9.15 am. This is why no woman or child in our town should ever be out and about on their own.”
The Irish News contacted the organisers of the group but last night had yet to receive a response.
O'Neill gives MLA 'biology lesson' during Assembly row over gender
LIAM TUNNEY, Belfast Telegraph, September 23rd, 2025
The First Minister has offered a TUV MLA a “biology lesson” after he again asked her to define what a woman is during Question Time in the Assembly.
The exchange between Michelle O'Neill and North Antrim representative Timothy Gaston took place toward the end of the session yesterday.
Mr Gaston asked the Sinn Fein vice-president whether a woman can have a penis.
Ms O'Neill said the question was “absolutely ridiculous”.
“You are making a show of yourself,” she added. “You are fascinated with the definition of a woman. I think that says a lot about you.
“I think I'm going to have to help you out with a wee bit of a biology lesson.
“I was born a biological baby girl. I grew into a teenager and I am now a fully fledged woman.
“There are also trans women in our community. If women can be supportive and inclusive of trans women, then you should also.
“But I fear, like the trans community fear, all you are interested in is stoking up fear and tension and hurt. Have a bit of sensitivity. Have a bit of decency.”
Mr Gaston asked Ms O'Neill the same question during a recent meeting of the Executive Office Committee.
On that occasion, his question related to the NI Equality Commission's response to a recent Supreme Court ruling on gender recognition certificates.
Ms O'Neill suggested Mr Gaston was not “genuinely interested in the topic”.
“You're here to cause division, and so be it, but that's on you, not on the rest of us. Stop showboating,” she added.
Derry and British Army
Yesterday, Ms O'Neill also faced a question from DUP MLA Gary Middleton over her support for a decision taken by councillors in Derry City and Strabane District Council not to permit an Armed Forces stand at a local jobs fair.
Mr Middleton suggested the support was at odds with her promise to be a “First Minister for all”.
“You are unwilling to allow citizens within my community to engage with the Armed Forces within their council. Do you not see the hypocrisy of that?” he asked.
Ms O'Neill said she stood over her comments.
“I think the democratically elected local councillors know best what is good in their own community,” she said.
“Given the history of the British Army in Derry, I stand over that that was the right call for them to make in terms of what happens at a jobs fair.
“If anybody wants to join any of the British military, they can do it anywhere else. They can go online and apply in whatever way they wish.
“Do you not see the hypocrisy going against the democratically elected local councillors' decision? I back the councillors in their decision.”
Irish News Letter writers comments on mandatory power sharing contunue to be critical
Stormont won’t collapse because it suits those in charge to keep it afloat
BRIAN Feeney argued last week that it is only a matter of time before the Northern Ireland Assembly collapses. I disagree. A recent interview of Gavin Robinson and a newspaper article by Gerry Adams points to one and the same thing. For all its dysfunction and lack of delivery, the Assembly will endure for the simple reason that it suits both Sinn Féin and the DUP to keep it going.
Collapse would mean risk. Neither party wants to carry the blame for pulling the plug. Each has suffered electorally in the past when they have been blamed for collapsing the institutions. Both need to present themselves as ‘responsible’ to the growing middle ground, and both know that walking away from government would alienate voters they hope to attract. By keeping Stormont alive, however dysfunctional, they can claim to be “doing their best” while ensuring that other parties share in the failures.
Power itself also matters. Holding ministerial posts, directing funding and maintaining networks of advisers and patronage are privileges the DUP and Sinn Féin will not lightly surrender. To give them up would be to lose control of the narrative as well as the levers of government.
Each party has found a way to use the current paralysis to its advantage. Sinn Féin can present itself as the party of change within the system, while simultaneously arguing that the system itself is broken and that only Irish unity will resolve it. The DUP, conversely, can tell its base that it is standing firm against creeping all-Ireland integration, while quietly exercising power within the very structures it criticises.
The biggest benefit to both, however, is that dysfunction preserves the old binary. When government fails, voters retreat to their respective blocs. If Stormont were to reform and actually deliver, the political centre ground would strengthen – and that is precisely what neither of the two largest parties want.
So while commentators see inevitable collapse, what we actually have is managed dysfunction – a zombie Assembly, alive but hollow. It staggers on, projecting the appearance of government while leaving our health service, education system, housing and infrastructure to deteriorate. People despair at the farce on the hill, but Sinn Féin and the DUP quietly pocket the advantages of a system that entrenches their dominance.
Collapse would at least bring clarity. It would force London and Dublin to step in, and it might open the space for a new conversation about reform, and/or joint authority. But collapse does not serve the big two. Far better for them to preside over failure than risk a future where their control is weakened.
The tragedy is that Northern Ireland is stuck with this spectacle – government in name only, with delivery sacrificed to political gamesmanship. Far from teetering on the edge of collapse, the Assembly is more likely to limp on indefinitely, because its failure suits those who lead it.
EUGENE REID Ballymena, Co Antrim
‘Think tanks’ and a novel suggestion on how Stormont paralysis could be resolved
PATRICK MURPHY doesn’t miss and hit the wall (‘Stormont isn’t working’, Irish News, September 6).
But his analysis prompts some simple observations.
(1) Think tanks are not blameless. For over a century pamphleteers were the norm for driving policy changes in British politics. The internet has made digital publishing the norm and today’s ‘think tanks’ are largely hybrids run by university departments seeking grant funding but without ever proposing any workable, real-life solutions.
If you doubt this analysis then consider this: Northern Ireland has two universities for a population 1.8 million and if they are so expert in their fields of research, then the region should be a shining beacon to the world.
The NI Civil Service is arguably the biggest alumni organisation for both universities and the state of public services reflects directly back on the two universities.
And so it can be argued that to reform NI, it is first necessary to reform these universities.
(2) Patrick writes that ‘Without any reward for non-sectarian politics’, but is he right to do so?
The results of the 2022 NI Assembly elections: Sinn Féin 27 seats, DUP 25, Alliance 17, UUP 9, SDLP 8, TUV 1, PBP 1, Independent 2, albeit both designated as ‘unionist’.
At the time I argued that if the SDLP and UUP switched to designate as ‘Other’ then, as this designation outnumbered designated ‘unionists’ the largest party, Alliance could get to nominate the Deputy First Minister.
Instead of getting down to pork-barrel politics to negotiate a rotating DFM, much as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have done with the role of Taoiseach, the then SDLP leader nixed the proposal with a bad-tempered rebuttal.
However, had he done so then today there could have been a SDLP DFM for perhaps a two-year stint, and the party could also have negotiated rotating ministerial seats with the other two parties as a reward for non-sectarian politics.
DR BERNARD MULHOLLAND Belfast BT9.
September 23rd, 2025
In Heather Humphreys country: ‘It was hard to find a Protestant not in the Orange Order’
Mark Hennessy, Irish Times, September 23rd, 2025
Monaghan folk shy away from questions about identity but a leading Orangeman is not afraid to give his verdict on Michael D Higgins
Walter Pringle was just three when his Protestant farmer father, Joseph, died in 1951, leaving his mother, Isabella, to rear six children and manage the family farm outside Clones in Co Monaghan, just a mile and a half from the Border.
The family’s neighbours, all of them Catholics, were the difference between disaster and survival, remembers the 77-year-old Pringle, who is now a lay Church of Ireland preacher in the Clogher diocese.
“The Johnny McGurks, the Paddy McGurks – different families – the Paddy Beggans, the Daltons, the Duffys, the Sreenans, the McKennas – they treated our farm work the same as their own.
“Pringle’s hay needed to be saved, Pringle’s potatoes needed to be set, they helped with it all, did it all,” he goes on, noting how the kindness of neighbours then influenced the later lives of all of Joseph Pringle’s children.
Ten per cent Presbyterian
The Pringles’ story is far from unusual in the Border counties and especially in Heather Humphreys’ own county of Monaghan. The county is home to a 10th of the State’s Presbyterians, of whom the Fine Gael presidential candidate is one.
Today, Pringle is pleased that a fellow county woman is running, hoping that her candidacy will help increase understanding of the different traditions on the island.
If Pringle is happy to talk, however, there is a caution in others left over from the Troubles, where Border people – not just Presbyterians and Church of Ireland – recoil from intrusive questioning about identity.
“Religion isn’t an issue for the vast majority. The only question is whether someone is a good neighbour, or not, but we’re private people here,” said one person who preferred to speak anonymously.
So far, the presidential campaign has not ignited, though there is a quiet support in the Cavan/Monaghan constituency for the woman who served as a Fine Gael TD for 13 years, regardless of political allegiances, or religion.
The nervousness this week is partially explained by a newspaper report that made much of Humphreys’ husband Eric’s past membership of the Orange Order – something once almost obligatory for Protestants living in the Border counties.
“I was born in ’53 – if you weren’t in the Orange Order in my youth, you were the odd man out,” says local historian Noel Carney, whose Catholic father worked closely with Humphreys’ father, Freddie Stewart, to develop Monaghan Co-Op and Creamery.
‘It was an accepted thing’
“It was an accepted thing that Protestants would stay together and marry each other. The same on the Catholic side. Thankfully, that’s all changing now. In the past, it was difficult to find a Protestant who wasn’t a member of the Orange Order,” he said.
Humphreys was born and raised just outside Drum village in Co Monaghan, about 6km from Cootehill – a place often described as “the most Protestant village” in the State, though other faiths and none live there now.
The Protestant primary school in the village where Humphreys spent her early years is now home to the Wee Drummers preschool, with the playground filled with the voices of children from faith and non-faith backgrounds.
The name harks back to the village’s Protestant heritage, where each year a number of bands – many of whom also turn out for local St Patrick’s Day parades – play in what is locally called “The Picnic”.
It is not, however, an Orange parade, and this is important in Border terminology, even if the distinction confuses some. The only Orange parade in the Republic occurs annually in Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal, taking place on the Saturday before the Twelfth.
In fact, there has not been an Orange parade in Monaghan since 1931 after a series of attacks by republicans took place in Leitrim and Cavan, with one attack prompting the penning of a poem remembering “The Battle of Ardrum Hill”.
The Picnic in Drum
“The Picnic in Drum has nothing to do with the Orange Order. It’s run by the accordion band, it’s a community event, open to the public. Everybody’s welcome. The Orange Order are not running it,” says Angela Graham, a lifelong friend of Humphreys.
Éamon Ó Cuív, then minister for community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs, came one year, Graham remembers. “He was up on the 40-foot trailer, and he addressed everyone, got a great welcome. It was a big evening for us and such excitement,” she recalls.
A return of Orange marches in Monaghan was urged, however, by Sinn Féin councillor Vincent Conlon, who was also a former IRA volunteer. Mr Conlon died last summer. So far, one has not happened.
Graham went to primary school in Drum alongside Humphreys, and later the two were sent by their parents to St Aidan’s Comprehensive School in Cootehill – which took in pupils from all faiths long before it was common elsewhere.
Noel Carney was a pupil there, too, though a decade before: “It was wonderful. We were all integrated and we were great friends with each other. We played together at break-time and we didn’t see the differences between us.”
Humphreys’ political career was fostered by a fellow Presbyterian politician, Fine Gael’s Seymour Crawford, who was the only Ulster Protestant to serve in Dáil Éireann during his time as a TD for Cavan/Monaghan between 1997 and 2011.
She took his place on Monaghan County Council when he was elected as a TD and, later, ascended to the Dáil when Crawford stepped away before the 2011 general election because of ill-health.
‘Not seen as Cabinet material’
Her appointment three years later as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht stunned Fine Gael colleagues. “She would not have been seen then as cabinet material,” said one colleague of the time.
The post began badly after she was embroiled in a controversy about the appointment of John McNulty to the Irish Museum of Modern Art board, especially when he ran to fill a byelection vacancy in the Seanad later.
In truth, Humphreys, just days in office, had been instructed to make the appointment, since McNulty could not run for the Seanad panel vacancy unless he could show a connection with cultural matters.
“It just goes to show that Presbyterians are lousy liars. She could not say that she was told to appoint him, and then she could not think of anything else to say,” says one close observer of the time, not unkindly.
The experience left her badly bruised and, equally, left with her a jaundiced view of the Fourth Estate. “I see the vultures are already here,” she told a local in Monaghan at a function at the height of the controversy.
However, she gained in experience and confidence in the roles she enjoyed in the years afterwards, including Rural and Community Development, Social Protection and Business, Enterprise and Innovation.
For nine months, she filled Helen McEntee’s place in Justice during her maternity leave, along with her other ministerial roles. “She has a capacity for hard work, and for making decisions. She’s not afraid of either,” said one official.
In Social Protection, she drew heavily on her experience as the manager of the Cootehill credit union, constantly framing actions against the backdrop of cases she dealt with during the post-2008 financial crisis.
Today, the credit union has three branches in Kingscourt, Bailieborough and Cootehill and 24,000 members. Wishing her well, its chief executive, Angela Rice, said she was “instrumental” in its growth and had provided “steady leadership”.
For now, there are concerns in Monaghan – to say that it is a fear would be overstating it – that Humphreys’ Presbyterian background will be used against her to stoke division.
Local Presbyterian minister Rev Daryl Edwards thinks carefully before making a public comment. “On a personal level, I know Heather Humphreys very well, so it is exciting to know a presidential candidate first hand.”
Though an official Presbyterian comment “wouldn’t be appropriate”, he encouraged his congregation “to prayerfully consider” who they will support, and to “pray for those in authority, and those who seek elected office, at whatever level in the country”.
Meanwhile, the Belfast-based grand secretary of the Orange Order, Mervyn Gibson, is keen to emphasise that the choice of the next president is a matter for voters south of the Border.
Pressed, however, to offer his view, he says: “Personally, I think Michael D Higgins has been horrendous for community relations. I’m looking for a president who will build on what Mary McAleese did to grow relationships with Northern Ireland.
“Look at all the good work she did over the years, which was forgotten about during his term in office. He didn’t go down well with people, period. He had no rapport with people in Northern Ireland.”
‘No other candidate able to bring people together’
Understandably, given her long friendship with Humphreys, Angela Graham is thinking positively: “If elected, I know she will follow in the footsteps of those amazing women, the two Marys there before, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese.”
Humpheys’ campaign slogan is “Community, Unity and Opportunity”, though the unity referred to is not the unity of the island, but, rather, the need for a president who will be “a unifying force to bring people together”.
Nevertheless, Humphreys does favour a united Ireland. “I definitely do, I have committed to that, but only through working with people and bringing them together,” she said at her Monaghan campaign launch last week.
If elected, she would be able to offer a hand of friendship across the Border in a way that no other president has been able to do, Graham argues.
“She’s lived it. She understands. It’s in her DNA. That’s what’s so important,” she says. “No other candidate will bring that. She has that unique ability to cross community divides. She wouldn’t just be talking the talk.”
Jail dogfight is move ‘to embarrass the governor'
JESSICA RICE, Belfast Telegraph, September 23rd, 2025
'STAND' IS TAKEN OUTSIDE MAGILLIGAN RELATING TO BAILEY'S USE IN BLOCK H2
A number of protesters gathered outside Magilligan Prison to voice their concerns over the use of therapy dogs and to “stand up for Bailey” yesterday.
It comes as the NI Prison Service confirmed the three-and-a-half-year-old spaniel at the centre of the row was removed from the facility due to a “callous and calculated threat”.
The demonstration was organised by animal welfare group, Causeway Coast Dog Rescue, which expressed concerns about the use of untrained canines in the prison.
Campaigner Tara Cunningham said: “Our priority is about the animal welfare of Bailey and other dogs in our prisons in Northern Ireland.
“We have identified that there is no policy framework to support dogs in Northern Ireland, we have no regulation and we have no legislation and our issue is about looking at the long-term projects that are being run in our prisons and how we protect our animals.”
Bailey was controversially housed at the jail before being placed in temporary care.
The now famous pooch had been used to help rehabilitate inmates in block H2 of the jail where some of NI's most violent prisoners, including sex offenders, killers, and animal abusers are kept.
In a statement issued to BBC News NI, a Prison Service spokesperson said “the perfectly happy and well looked after dog” had to be moved after the PSNI “made us aware of a callous and calculated external threat to say that Bailey was going to be harmed in an attempt to embarrass the governor”. The spokesperson said the welfare of Bailey has and will always be the main priority.
‘Safe and cared for’
“He was safe and cared for when he was living at Magilligan, he is safe and being cared for now,” they added.
It comes a day after UUP MLA Jon Burrows confirmed that “Bailey is now out of prison”.
Organisers decided to go ahead with the demonstration amid speculation the dog had been rehomed due to concerns about all animals in prisons.
Activists gathered at the facility near Limavady at 11am and dispersed at around 2pm.
Mr Burrows had earlier said the full circumstances of Bailey leaving prison “will have to be examined”.
“But Bailey is out of that environment, is now in a family home, with someone who's trained to look after him, and there's going to be an effort I hope made to try and find Bailey a permanent home to live in,” he added.
Major concerns about the welfare of the comfort dog had been raised after the canine was alleged to have developed a limp.
In a letter to Magilligan Governor David Milling, dated September 18, 2025, Mr Burrows expressed concern over the lack of a clear framework governing animals in prisons and requested a formal site visit.
He also warned charities feared Bailey's situation reflected deeper failings in policy and transparency within the justice system.
The Department of Justice has rejected allegations of neglect, with a statement saying: “Bailey is registered with a local veterinary practice and is in good health.
The Prison Service also defended the benefits of dogs providing emotional support.
