Unionists criticise Catherine Connolly for making first visit to Belfast since landslide victory at Irish-only festival, instead of cross-community event

By Iain Gray, Belfast News Letter, November 2nd, 2025

Unionists have hit out at Ireland’s President-Elect for making her post-landslide Belfast debut at a Gaelic-only festival instead of a cross-community event.

The TUV stated the “promotion of the Irish language has been overwhelmingly associated with one political tradition” in Northern Ireland, while the UUP has reminded there are “protocols and procedures” to be followed by visiting foreign heads of state.

Their statements followed Catherine Connolly’s appearance at the beginning of a five-day Irish language festival on Wednesday night. It was her first trip to Northern Ireland since her landslide election victory, following a campaign in which she was backed by Sinn Fein plus a raft of the Republic’s smaller parties.

She took time to pose for pictures with members of the public at the opening night event of Oireachtas na Samhna in Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, as well as with the city’s SDLP deputy mayor, Paul Doherty.

Only Irish is spoken at the five-day cultural event, and Ms Connolly has stated she wants Gaelic to be the working language of her seven years in office.

During her campaign, she pledged to make her first formal trip as president a journey to Belfast; Wednesday’s appearance wasn’t that. Rather than an official presidential visit, she was there in her previous role as chair of a joint committee on the Irish language in the Republic’s parliament.

Presidential inauguration

Although newly elected head of state, she can’t make a formal visit as president until after her inauguration next weekend.

But it was still her post-election Belfast debut; the TUV’s culture spokesman, Mid and East Antrim councillor Matthew Warwick, hit out at the President-Elect for doing that at something he argued is overwhelmingly aimed at just one of Northern Ireland’s political traditions instead of a cross-community event.

“The attendance, programming and messaging reflects a nationalist-aligned agenda, rather than a festival intended to include and engage the full diversity of Northern Ireland’s communities,” said Mr Warwick. “The attendance of the Sinn Fein-backed candidate for the Irish presidency underscored this point.

“The reality shown by events like this raises serious questions about the claims repeatedly made by Irish language activists that Irish is ‘for everyone’. In practice, the promotion of Irish has been overwhelmingly associated with one political tradition.”

He also argued her presence “raised wider constitutional issues”, as in the Belfast Agreement the Republic ceded its claim that the entire island was one “national territory”.

‘Behaving as though she has jurisdiction’

“Yet here we have an Irish president behaving as though she has jurisdiction or relevance in Northern Ireland,” Mr Warwick said.

The TUV's culture spokesman, councillor Matthew Warwick, hit out at President-Elect Catherine Connolly for having her first Belfast appearance after her landslide victory be at an Irish-only festival.

The TUV's culture spokesman, councillor Matthew Warwick, hit out at President-Elect Catherine Connolly for having her first Belfast appearance after her landslide victory be at an Irish-only festival.

Ulster Unionist MLA Steve Aiken pointed out that foreign heads of state are expected to follow a series of official restrictions when visiting the UK.

“The Irish language is a rich cultural expression that is enjoyed and cherished by many across the islands,” he said. “Events marking it shouldn’t be used for political point-scoring.

“While the Irish President-Elect is welcome in any private capacity, in her role there are protocols and procedures to be followed, including notification to His Majesty’s Government.

“As President of Ireland, like any other head of state such as the President of the United States, she will be made welcome in whichever part of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, she’s invited to attend.”

Sinn Fein confirms it will back a no-confidence motion in Education Minister Paul Givan

By Rebecca Black, PA, Belfast News Letter, November 1st, 2025

Paul Givan has been under fire over his recent trip to Israel during which he visited a school and asked his department to publicise it on their social media channels

Sinn Fein has confirmed it will back a no-confidence motion in Education Minister Paul Givan as crowds gathered to call for his resignation.

Rival politicians have questioned whether it was appropriate to visit Israel at a time when the country is facing international criticism for the conduct of its military offensive in Gaza .

DUP leader Gavin Robinson has defended Mr Givan, and said he had "every entitlement to go to Israel ", after receiving an invitation from the government of Israel .

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll is to bring a no-confidence motion against Mr Givan at the Assembly on Monday.

Speaking at a rally at Belfast City Hall on Saturday afternoon before Palestine solidarity activists, education workers and community groups, Sinn Fein MLA Deirdre Hargey said her party will support the no-confidence motion.

Speakers also included Mr Carroll, Paul Doherty of the SDLP and Anthony Flynn from the Green Party .

"Republicans and Sinn Fein have a long and proud history and tradition of solidarity with the Palestinian people, and we will continue to do so," she said.

‘Grotesque’

"It is grotesque that the Education Minister has decided to visit Israel at this time when they are continuing to commit genocide, I say shame on him.

" Sinn Fein will be raising this on the floor of the Assembly on Monday morning, and holding the Education Minister to account.

"The vice chair of the Education Committee Pat Sheehan has also called for him to appear before the committee urgently to explain his trip and the inappropriate and unacceptable use of departmental resources, and we will look at all options to hold this minister to account.

"This also includes Sinn Fein's support of the motion of no confidence in the minister that is being tabled on Monday morning, and I, along with all Sinn Fein MLAs, will be proudly putting our names to that motion."

Mr Carroll hailed the turnout at the demonstration, and said Mr Givan's actions over the last week was the "last straw".

"He's done a lot of abhorrent and disgusting things, but what he did this week was the last straw, and that's why we're saying today, loudly and clearly, he has to go, his time is clearly up," he said, to applause, and shouts of "out, out".

"I have been inundated with hundreds of emails of constituents who are appalled at what he has done, classroom assistants, teachers, Palestine solidarity people as well.

"I hope that the motion I will propose at Stormont is passed, and he is sanctioned but equally the key thing that will make a difference in my view is not just the motion, is people here mobilising today but also protesting at Stormont on Monday, and every single public engagement he is on."

It's not 'colonised' minds that are the problem — it's narrow ones

MÁIRÍA CAHILL, Sunday Independent, November 2nd, 2025

When will musicians learn that their strength is in music, not political opinions? Fontaines DC bassist Conor Deegan could do with reminding himself of this, given some of the thoughts he proffered during the presidential campaign.

On Instagram, he stated the following: "Catherine Connolly is the candidate of the uncolonised Irish mind; Heather Humphreys is the candidate of the mind colonised by Britain.”

He continued: "Humphreys embodies the old FF/FG Anglo-Irish mentality: an Ireland reshaped in the image of Britishness, governed through the same modes of control and hierarchy... Catherine Connolly, meanwhile, is a gaeilgeoir and a true representative of the Irish spirit.”

Only Deegan knows what he means, but to those of us who appreciate our heritage in all its forms, his argument appears fallacious and his attempt at division as crude as it was crass. It was also historically illiterate. ​

What is ‘Irishness’?

What is a "true” representation of Irishness? Is it Bagenal Harvey, the Protestant barrister and commander of the United Irishmen, hanged on Wexford Bridge in 1798?

His cousin Walter founded Bagenalstown in Carlow — the first Irish town to install dual-language street signs. Is it Robert Emmet, the Anglican son of a physician to the lord lieutenant, whose mind was so "colonised” he was executed in 1803 for leading a rebellion?

Is it Alfred Webb, the Irish Quaker MP known for his anti-colonialist and anti-slavery views? Or Countess Markievicz, an Anglican revolutionary? Or Kathleen Lynn, Church of Ireland doctor and founder of St Ultan's Hospital for infants?

Is it WB Yeats, who said of the Anglo-Irish in a speech to the Seanad in 1925: "We are the people of Burke; we are the people of Grattan; we are the people of Swift; the people of Emmet; the people of Parnell. We have created most of the modern literature of this country. We have created the best of its political intelligence.”

He wasn't joking. Think JM Synge, Oscar Wilde, John Hewitt, CS Lewis, Michael Longley and Louis MacNeice, writers who gifted us an incredible legacy of language through poetry, drama and prose.

Their Protestant heritage gave them a unique vantage point — one that allowed them to critique Ireland with clarity, affection and insight, unshackled for the most part by the limits of the Catholic Church's orthodoxy.

Where would Yeats have been without his English Romanticist references? Where would Dublin writing be without its references to Georgian brickwork? Where would Irish literature be without Alfred Perceval Graves, author of the well-known song Father O'Flynn and founding member of London's Irish Literary Society?

We are a nation forged from blended heritages. We should not only recognise that — we should celebrate it.

One wonders how Deegan views the creative minds of Samuel Beckett and George Bernard Shaw. His band has previously tipped their hat to Patrick Kavanagh, James Joyce and WB Yeats — none of whom were gaeilgeoirí.

No single truth

If we base the Irish mindset solely on fluency in Irish, our country becomes very small indeed. There is no single "true” Irishness for those who refuse to define it so narrowly. Irishness is not a purity test. An enriched mind fuses cultures, is curious about their various origins and appreciates the enrichment that such diversity brings.

We can thank Douglas Hyde — purist though he was — and Henry Cooke and Robert Allen, among many others, for our flourishing language, and their commitment to its revival. Today, places like Skainos in loyalist east Belfast, run by the East Belfast Mission, provide opportunities for Belfast citizens not only to learn Irish but also to learn the origins of the place names around them.

Lots of them define themselves as British, Irish, or both, as allowed under the Belfast Agreement. How do we fit all this into Deegan's apparent view of Irishness? The list goes on. Edward Bunting had the foresight to preserve Irish harp music; Sam Henry collected a vast repertoire of Ulster folk songs; and Belfast man Davy Hammond did much to promote our music and culture. So-called "colonised minds” aren't that bad, after all.

Deegan's remarks aside, an Irish cultural resurgence is under way. Writing, music and language are rightly celebrated. With that comes a danger: that a narrow brand of political nationalism is co-opting this revival. A collective mindset is awash in sections of our society — echoing one that has more in common with early Irish revivalists who sought to keep Irish culture "undefiled”, rather than accept that culture and languages evolve.

But it does. That's why Chaucer's Middle English diverges from our own, and why most gaeilgeoirí cannot write Ogham. It's also why Riverdance danced past rigidity with its rippling shirts and liberated arms — holding up a mirror to a modern Ireland proud of its roots, prouder yet of new saplings growing from them.

We need to take care that our culture reflects all of the people who live on this island, and that we banish words like "colonised” and ditch the notion of "true” representation of Irishness. Otherwise, we are heading down a dangerous road of weaponised identity.

No one has the right to own Irishness. There is no "true representation”. No one's tongue, class, creed or political leanings make them any more or less Irish than the next person.

We are not a petty people. Time to stop acting like it.

Dissident republicans must wish Blue Lights had never been made

Sam McBride, Sunday Independent and Sunday Life, November 2nd, 2025

Ten years ago, a Sinn Fein politician's son joined the PSNI, yet when the young man was taking part in his passing out parade, the politician attended in secret.

Even when that was reported by the BBC last year, both father and son asked to remain anonymous.

That story encapsulates the shadowlands in which the PSNI still exists.

Publicly, Sinn Fein has supported the police since 2007, but openly enthusiastic support is another thing — it wasn't until last year that Michelle O'Neill became the first Sinn Fein figure to openly attend a PSNI graduation ceremony.

The anonymous Sinn Fein politician said he was “very proud” to see his son in a police uniform “but I couldn't tell anyone”.

He acknowledged that for others in the party, there remains a “lukewarm approach” to backing the PSNI which is “far short of what is needed”.

Sleeper

For years, the British Government poured millions into strategies to build nationalist support for the police. There were new policies, symbolic and substantive changes, public relations campaigns, and a glut of political speeches.

To an extent, it worked. More than 30 per cent of officers are now from a Catholic background — still not perfectly balanced but vastly better than what went before.

Yet, something over which the authorities have had no control has done far more to humanise the PSNI than any of their costly campaigns.

Blue Lights, the BBC drama set in Belfast, has been a stunning success.

It's “still the best drama on the BBC”, according to The Daily Telegraph; “one of the BBC's most acclaimed dramas”, in the words of the Sydney Morning Herald; and “a sleeper BBC hit that everyone's suddenly talking about” according to the Daily Mail.

The show is being watched around the world, making it a financial hit for a broadcaster under financial pressure.

But far more importantly, this show has been a success for the organisation which holds Northern Ireland together when politics fails.

Blue Lights, which has just finished its third series, must be cursed by dissident republicans every time they see it on their televisions.

The futility and the immorality of their campaign to kill young officers, which specifically targets Catholics, is exposed by showing that these are disarmingly normal people.

Declan Lawn, the Belfast-based former investigative journalist who co-wrote the drama, said recently the team had a complex relationship with the PSNI, deliberately keeping the police at arms-length, as an independent journalist would do. This independence makes the drama so devastatingly effective.

Katherine Devlin, the Cookstown-born actress who stars as Catholic constable Annie, described it as “a police show that isn't copaganda, that isn't sleek and sexy”.

Many of the show's stars are Ulster Catholics who intuitively know why this matters. When Annie has to hide her work from her GAA club, or misses her mother's funeral due to a specific dissident republican threat, the viewer sees the sacrifices such brave young officers make for limited reward.

Blue Lights undermines dissident propaganda because it so self-evidently isn't propaganda. It shows what the police wouldn't choose to publicise — the thuggish senior officer attacking his wife, the ethical quagmire of running agents in criminal gangs who save lives but may also take lives, and the way in which lies can be told and backs scratched by officers who believe themselves untouchable.

But the viewer knows this is true across society, and when police misbehaviour is exposed, it — rightly — gets massive publicity.

What many viewers won't have considered as deeply is the human cost of joining an organisation which makes you a target for murder.

Even if that threat remains hypothetical, it's life-altering, sundering relationships, disrupting families, and requiring a complex web of lies, as well as discreet daily checks beneath cars for booby-trap devices of the sort which in 2010 cost PSNI GAA team captain Peadar Heffron a leg.

Complacency

Simultaneously, those officers cope with a critical lack of resources. PSNI staffing is at an all-time low. Young, inexperienced constables are left dealing with sectarian disorder, crime gangs, sexual assaults, fatal road deaths, suicides and almost every traumatic experience known to man.

For now, the dissidents have been so crushed by MI5 and the PSNI that their violent threat has been drastically curtailed. In this lies the potential for complacency. What lives on is an ideology far harder to extinguish.

Saordah, the legal wing of the illegal New IRA, continues to describe the PSNI as “the agents of occupation”. Last month, it denounced a PSNI community event, describing it as “the armed wing of British imperialism in Ireland” and “a force rooted in repression, collusion, and the systematic harassment of the republican people”.

The fundamental weakness for such groups is their lack of any credible alternative. Who do they want women to phone when they're raped? Who do they propose should arrive at the scene where a dead body has been found to determine whether it was likely suicide or murder? Who do they think could investigate a complex child sexual abuse case?

The closest you'd get to an answer to those questions is 'Shoot them in the knees', with more emphasis on the shooting than the process whereby it was decided by the unelected and unaccountable that the individual being shot was even involved in the crime.

Any civilised society needs police, as any reasonable person can immediately appreciate. Those who choose this career when they know that means ostracisation and potential death deserve the highest respect.

Blue Lights is driven by an appreciation of how deeply the darkest aspects of the human condition impact on those who deal with these issues so that we don't have to think about them too deeply.

But it's about something else. Despite the scale of the challenges pressing in on PSNI officers, Blue Lights contains a universal truth about personal responsibility. It shows that in a world where chaos sometimes seems unstoppable, one imperfect person can make something better for someone.

That's true in the PSNI, and it's true for those who'd seek to kill PSNI officers. We all have choices, and we're all accountable for those choices.

Gavin Robinson says teaching unions not speaking for members on Givan's Israeli visit

By David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, November 1st, 2025

​The DUP leader has hit out at teaching unions over their criticism of Paul Givan’s visit to a school in Jerusalem – saying they are speaking for themselves and not their members.

Gavin Robinson has described their statements as “loud and excitable screeching” – and slammed criticism from political opponents over the education minister’s Israel trip, saying his party “will not bend to it”.

Mr Givan has been under fire from nationalist and Alliance politicians this week over a trip to the Middle East funded by the Israeli government.

Other DUP politicians, as well as UUP and TUV representatives joined Welsh politicians on a trip to the Holy Land, meeting various communities and paying respects at the site of the October 7 Nova festival massacre. Palestinian Islamists killed 1,139 people and took around 250 hostages in the 2023 attack.

The Department of Education promoted Minister Givan’s trip Ofek School in Jerusalem on social media, saying it was “to learn more about Israel’s innovative approaches to gifted education and inclusive learning”.

Teachers’ unions criticised the visit, with the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council claiming the department’s promotion of the school visit was an “overtly political and divisive act” and urging that the post be deleted.

In an email to party members, Gavin Robinson said: “We have heard the loud and excitable screeching from representatives of some teaching unions against Paul Givan with a co-ordinated political campaign by others calling for his resignation.

“Some of these Union representatives are out speaking for themselves and not the many hard-working dedicated teachers within their organisations.

“These representatives involve themselves in public commentary and expressions that have not been put before their members and in many instances, it is simply a hatred of all things Israel that is seeping through.

“We see it and we hear it but we will not bend to it. In fact, we will stand strong and not be cowered by it”.

The DUP leader also condemned “the onslaught of republican representatives and their online trolls”, who he said “have been busy attacking our colleagues for going to Israel and seeing first-hand the terror that Israeli communities were subjected to on October 7th 2023”.

“There are some in the media who cannot hide their anti-Israel bias and who salivate at the opportunity to attack the DUP.

“Little do they write about Hamas terrorists and the jack-boot they have placed on poor Palestinian people or the impact of terror on isolated Israeli Jews. Their reports and commentary musings have long since been disregarded by the vast majority of our citizens and it is little wonder trust in some media output is at an all-time low”, the East Belfast MP told party members.

He said he was “delighted” that Paul Givan, alongside Sammy Wilson MP and David Brooks MLA were able to travel to Israel.

“The pan-Republican front of Sinn Fein, People Before Profit, SDLP all supported by the Alliance Party is actively at work.

“We will call them out and resist their hard left-wing, anti-Nato, anti-British, anti-common-sense philosophy. Given a freehand they want to destroy Northern Ireland and separate us from the rest of the United Kingdom”, he added.

Prosecutions for domestic violence down - but reported incidents up

NOEL MCADAM, Sunday Life, November 2nd, 2025

Domestic violence prosecutions have fallen by almost 10 per cent in the past year, even though the number of reported incidents is increasing.

According to the latest official statistics, 2,501 domestic abuse cases were dealt with by the courts in 2024/25, down by 8.5 per cent on the previous year.

The rate of successful convictions rose slightly to just over 56 per cent.

Justice Minister Naomi Long said: “While these figures provide important insight into trends in how the justice system is dealing with domestic abuse cases, it would not be appropriate for me to speculate on the reasons for the reduction in prosecutions.

“Decisions on whether or not to prosecute in any individual case are a matter for the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), which operates independently of my department. It is important that the independence of the PPS is fully respected.

“However, my department will continue to work closely with criminal justice partners, including the PPS and the PSNI, to ensure victims of domestic abuse are supported to engage with the justice process and that cases are handled as effectively and sensitively as possible.”

The SDLP's Cara Hunter said it was disappointing the minister had “deflected” and the reasons for the fall should be investigated.

The East Londonderry MLA added: “An 8.3 per cent drop in prosecutions for domestic abuse is stark, and it's disappointing that the justice minister deflected on such an important issue, instead of addressing the real concerns the public will have after learning these figures.

“We need to understand the exact reasons behind this fall and whether victims need greater support to empower them to come forward and navigate the justice system.

“It's the minister's responsibility to work with the PPS and the PSNI to make sure victims get the help they deserve.

“A slight increase in convictions is welcome, but from my own engagement with victims, many still lack confidence in our justice system and remain silent rather than face the personal toll, lengthy delays and challenges involved in securing a conviction.”

Domestic violence part of the ‘fabric of society’

Between July last year and the end of June this year, 29,740 domestic abuse incidents, or 15 for every 1,000 people, were reported in Northern Ireland.

The Alliance Party's Connie Egan said: “Startling as they are, we know these numbers are not a true reflection of the scale of domestic violence.

“So many victims and survivors refuse to come forward out of shame or fear.

“It is an inescapable fact that domestic violence has permeated the fabric of our society, be it physical, psychological or financial abuse, coercive control, sexual violence or any other intimidation or threat.”

Support services including Women's Aid, Nexus and the Men's Advisory Project are often left to “pick up the pieces” in the aftermath of an incident, the North Down MLA added.

A candlelit vigil for victims of domestic violence was recently held in Lisburn, along with a panel event discussing the impact of the crime.

Treasury’s refusal to fund £120m PSNI compensation bill ‘reckless’ says Long

DAVID YOUNG, Irish News, November 1st, 2025

THE Treasury’s refusal to fund a potential £120 million compensation payout for police officers in Northern Ireland has been described as “reckless” by Stormont’s justice minister.

Naomi Long said public services would suffer if the money to compensate officers affected by a major data breach within the PSNI had to be sourced from the devolved executive’s existing budget.

Ms Long also said that PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has written to the Treasury to restate the case for reserve funding.

Reserve funding can be used to cover unforeseen, unavoidable and unaffordable spending pressures facing the devolved administrations in the UK.

However, the Treasury has turned down a Stormont bid for reserve funding to pay the estimated £120 million compensation bill for the 2023 data breach, saying that it is the executive’s responsibility to find the money.

“I was very clear that I believe Treasury are wrong,” Ms Long told BBC Radio Ulster.

“I think that this meets their own criteria of being something that could not have been predicted, could not have been planned for, and is exceptional and unaffordable.

“So I think it meets the criteria for a call on reserve, and I think that it’s wrong that we’ve been denied that, because it’s clearly completely unaffordable from within the PSNI’s own budget.

“It’s not affordable from within the Department of Justice’s budget and I would argue, as did the finance minister (John O’Dowd), that it isn’t affordable from within the executive’s budget either.

PSNI facing ‘exceptional pressures’

“There are exceptional pressures that we are facing and trying to balance my budget each year is one of the hardest jobs in the Department of Justice.”

DUP leader Gavin Robinson raised the issue with Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions at Westminster on Wednesday.

Sir Keir said he was in “regular contact” with Mr Boutcher on the issue of PSNI funding.

He said the government had allocated the executive a “record settlement” of £19.3 billion per year on average across the next three years and had also invested £113 million in additional security funding for the PSNI.

The PSNI breach happened in August 2023 when a spreadsheet released as part of a freedom of information request held hidden data with the initials, surname, rank and role of PSNI officers and staff.

Police later said the information had got into the hands of dissident republicans.

In the aftermath of the leak, some officers chose to move house and change daily routines.

The PSNI accepted liability for the data breach and negotiations about settlements continues.

The justice minister said the PSNI and executive were still pressing the Treasury to change its stance.

“We haven’t obviously had a response to the letter which the chief constable sent, so I don’t know if there’s any movement, there’s certainly still discussion taking place,” she said.

“We continue to press this as an executive through the finance minister, it’s been raised in Parliament.

“However, just to be clear, if and when these cases are settled, the money will have to be found, and the issue in that case then is which services we will not be able to provide as an executive in order to do that.

“And I do think the Treasury are being reckless in placing us in that position.”

Muir 'must change course' on farming says DUP predecessor 

By Adam Kula, Belfast News Letter, October 31st October 2025

The agriculture and environment minister Andrew Muir has been given a stark message that he “must change course” on his approch to farmers, one of his predecessors has said.

Michelle McIlveen, who held the post in 2016/17, added her voice to a unionist chorus of opposition to the direction of Mr Muir’s department.

It was sparked by a landmark vote of no confidence in the Department of Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Affairs, taken by the UFU.

The party’s roughly 150-strong executive committee, chaired by UFU president William Irvine, passed the motion on Wednesday at its monthly meeting at the Loughry campus of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise near Cookstown.

Deputy DUP leader Michelle McIlveen has added her voice to the chorus of complaints about minister Andrew Muir

Tonight, Mr Irvine told the News Letter that UFU officials will continue to take part in meetings with DAERA officials.

Asked if the vote amounts to a call for Alliance minister Mr Muir to step down, he said “we haven’t personalised this”, adding the problem is “across the board” at DAERA.

He told the News Letter that the mood among rank-and-file members is that, if anything, the vote was “overdue”.

The UFU had complained about DAERA’s approach to bovine TB, ammonia controls, and planning over the Nutrients Action Programme (NAP), an “unjustified focus on agriculture regarding climate change and Lough Neagh”, and more.

Michelle McIlveen, the DUP’s deputy leader and farming spokeswoman, told the News Letter: “We have long argued that DAERA, under the Alliance minister’s direction, has been pursuing an agenda that is hugely damaging to the industry and threatens the very fabric of our rural economy and community.

“The minister needs to change course – he must work in genuine partnership with the sector and recognise that his environmental crusade cannot be one pursued at the expense of farming.”

TUV leader Jim Allister meanwhile said today the vote had been “wholly understandable and appropriate”.

“The litany of issues recited in the UFU statement demonstrates there is not a single significant responsibility of the department and minister where there remains any confidence in them,” he said.

“Whether it’s NAP, ammonia, TB, net zero, this is an out -of-touch minister, whose ideology, not farming needs, shapes his every disastrous approach.

“Minister Muir has had his chance. He has failed.

"In any other system of government he would be gone, but, sadly, in Stormont failure is the order of the day!”

UUP MLA Robbie Butler, chairman of Stormont’s farming committee, said: “This is not just a warning shot, it is a seismic moment.

"The UFU, an organisation with a long and respected history of constructive engagement, has taken an extraordinary step that confirms what many in rural communities have long feared: the agriculture minister has, in practice, become the environment minister.”

“Counterproductive and disingenuous”

Responding to the growing criticism, Alliance DAERA spokesman John Blair called the UFU move “counterproductive and disingenuous”.

He added: “Under Alliance minister Andrew Muir’s leadership, DAERA is committed to working with others to deliver a successful future for agriculture alongside the much-needed restoration of our environment.

“This latest move is neither constructive nor acting in the interests of the farming community longer term, especially given that many of these challenges have mounted under previous inaction by former DAERA ministers,” he said.

“Minister Muir has fought for funding for agriculture, ring-fencing over £300m for the sector, as well as securing £12.3m for a Just Transition Fund. He is rolling out our new Sustainable Agricultural Programme and has been engaging with the finance minister for further financial support for the industry.

“However, the Minister also has a duty to everyone in Northern Ireland to protect our environment, and Alliance makes no apologies for that. It would be better if the UFU worked with DAERA to identify solutions to the problems we collectively face.”

DAERA meanwhile has said: “The department is disappointed to learn of the UFU vote. Our door is always open to discuss issues with them.”

How the hourly Enterprise has made its mark in 12 months

Mark Hennessy, Common Ground, Irish Times, November 1st, 2025

Passenger numbers using the Dublin to Belfast service are up 40% in a year

Train driver Les Besagni, who has worked for nearly 30 years on the Dublin-Belfast service, remembers conversations with colleagues early last year about whether there would be a demand for hourly services.

This week, the Enterprise service celebrates the first anniversary of the hourly service with record numbers travelling, backed by a €25 million subsidy over 2½ years from Dublin and Stormont, but mostly from Dublin.

Today, Besagni laughs about his past doubts. “We thought that there’d never be a demand, never. It has doubled my expectations,” he says.

So far, passenger numbers are up by 40.4 per cent, with nearly 200,000 people each month travelling all or part of the route during the height of the summer season.

Fifteen trains run daily, with stops in Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry and Portadown, compared with just eight before the extra subsidy.

The service arrives in Belfast’s new Grand Central Station, rather than its previous terminus at Lanyon Place.

Move to Lanyon Place crucial

“There are only four platforms in Lanyon, while there are eight at Grand Central, so that has been critical. We couldn’t have done this before,” says Billy Gilpin, Irish Rail’s director of train operations.

So far, the hourly service is proving popular – too popular at the busiest times, often – with daily commuters, though the numbers of tourists visiting Dublin or Belfast has jumped significantly. Often, visitors are making the journey for the first time.

Northern-bound passengers from Dublin frequently go on beyond Belfast, using train and bus connections offered by Grand Central, says Gilpin.

Currently, the service is given by three different types of trains – the De Detrichs, bought in 1997, which are generally understood as “the Enterprise trains”, but also by two Intercity trains and one Translink.

Quality varies

The quality varies between the three, with the De Detrichs able to offer first class and a dining car, while Translink has standard class only, with a trolley service for food and drinks during the journey of two hours and five minutes.Success has brought its own issues. David Robinson, who travels regularly from Lisburn to Dublin, often buys first-class tickets to be sure of getting a seat, since standard class frequently books out on the busiest services.

However, Robinson appreciates that there are limitations on Irish Rail and Translink: “I am not sure that they can make the service any more frequent than they are doing, to be fair to them.” However, new hybrid electric/diesel trains are on the way in four years’ time, with a purchase finally set to be made early next year. Extremely pleased by the first year, Translink’s chief executive Chris Conway says: “Demand is way up and we can only see that growing.”

The ability to travel onwards from Connolly or Grand Central is being taken up, he says, noting that action was taken to ensure that arrival times in Belfast worked for connections on to Derry.

Teething problems caused delays for Dublin-bound commuter services from Dundalk and Drogheda in the opening weeks, but they have been overcome, says Gilpin. Likewise, complaints about barriers blocking road traffic at Lurgan have eased.

“You are trying to run fast trains in between slow trains. So, the only way you can keep the fast train fast is to separate out the slower trains,” Gilpin says, adding that timetabling changes have worked.

‘Journey times’

“The timetables from Portadown into Belfast and from Dundalk into Dublin are busy. We’re pleased with the journey times that we have got right now,” says Conway, who steps down next year as Translink chief executive after 10 years in the role.The mix of trains brought into service reflected the speed with which the upgraded service was put in place once support from the Irish Government’s Shared Island Fund came: “That was a big opportunity,” he says.

The 2029 deadline for the new trains is simply part of the business.

“These are complex pieces of equipment. They’re largely bespoke. The suppliers have manufacturing windows. That’s the normal lead time for a train, unfortunately.”

Passengers value the hourly availability above everything else, he believes. “Most say, ‘Look, the fact that I can turn up, and even if I am a little bit late and I’ve missed that train, I know I don’t have a long wait for the next one.’

“That hourly frequency is the biggest benefit to our passengers. They do want to see the same fleet across the network and the same quality of service, but most understand that we got this opportunity, and that we have made it work.”

Before the hourly change, the majority of the Enterprise passengers came from Northern Ireland. “Now, though, it is pretty equal. There are more people coming from the South, including a lot of tourists,” Conway says.

Besagni agrees. “It’s fantastic. People have realised that they can get on in Connolly, sit in comfort and a bit of heat and get a hot meal, or whatever, and walk out on to Great Victoria Street in two hours and five minutes,” the train driver says.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Karl Allen was a cabin crew member for the Cityjet airline, before he joined Irish Rail as a customer service officer three years ago. “The increase over the last year has been incredible,” he says.

Not only is the service popular with passengers in Dublin and Belfast, it is increasingly so with those in Drogheda and Dundalk, and in Newry and Portadown because it offers express services into both cities “in two stops”.

Over the year, Enterprise staff have learned the faces of the new regulars, says Allen. “The nurses or doctors, sometimes in their uniforms. You get to know the regulars running for the 15:50 or the 16:50 to get back to Drogheda and Dundalk.”