Can ‘Northern Ireland’ survive in a United Ireland?
Andy Pollock, 2 Irelands Together, April 2024
I’m going to return this month to the theme of my last blog on Northern Ireland’s continued existence in a new or united Ireland, as outlined by SDLP leader Clare Hanna in her essay in the recent publication What Northern Ireland Means to Me. She said then: “Fundamentally – and I think this is really important to say – Northern Ireland’s always going to exist. I think there’s a perception that in a new Ireland – whatever that looks like – that this group of people in this shared identity just dissolves.”
Given that unionist politicians refuse to engage in discussion about what they would demand if there was ever a Border Poll majority for unity – on the understandable basis that turkeys don’t discuss Christmas – nationalists and republicans often ask ‘What do unionists actually want in order to agree to become part of a united Ireland?’
What they want is actually quite straightforward: they want their British and Protestant identity and culture to be respected and protected in a future united state. This is particularly so for those urban working class and rural unionists for whom the Orange Order, parades, bands and bonfires are important (most middle class unionists care much less about these). A young loyalist acquaintance of mine said recently that nationalists’ fear of loyalist violence – or maybe everyone’s fear of such violence – in the event of a narrow vote for unity in a Border poll could be largely assuaged by making legal and constitutional provision for such respect and protection. “That’s a real incentive for nationalists,” he said. “If they can do this properly, they’re not going to have to worry about loyalist violence.”
He cited a 1974 statement by the leadership of the Ulster Volunteer Force: “Our basic objective is to preserve our Protestant liberties and traditions and our British way of life. By that we don’t mean the preservation of the link with Britain (my italics), but of those traditions of religious and civil freedoms which have characterised British democracy. When we talk of the preservation of our Protestant traditions and liberties, we simply mean that we want to ensure that we are able to worship God in the manner of our choice and not according to the ordinance or dictate of any outside organisations such as the Catholic Church.”
Obviously, with the dramatic decline of the all-powerful 20th century Irish Catholic Church and the secularisation of contemporary Irish society, Irish Protestants now have complete freedom to worship, express themselves and live full and equal lives with their Catholic fellow-citizens. Therefore the challenge now is not religious but political. In political terms how can the present Republic, many of whose citizens share an instinctive anti-Britishness, assure the passionately pro-British Northern unionist citizens of a future all-Ireland republic that they will be treated with equality and respect?
There are many ways of doing this, but three possibles immediately come to mind. Change the flag; change the anthem; change the Constitution. The Irish tricolour, with its laudable message of peace between the green and orange traditions on this island, has been irredeemably sullied in the eyes of most Northern Protestants and unionists by its use on the coffins of and in parades to honour dead IRA men, regarded by them as murderers and terrorists.
Militaristic and ultra-nationalistic
‘Amhrán na bFiann’ is a militaristic and ultra-nationalistic 19th century dirge that should not be the national song of a renewed nation based on “harmony and friendship” (in the words of the post-1998 Article 3 of the Irish Constitution) between the opposing and formerly warring ‘tribes’ in Ireland. It is a little known fact that two competitions were held in 1924 and 1925 to try to find a new national anthem, but the standard of entries was so abysmal that the judges (including the poet W.B.Yeats) decided to stick with ‘The Soldier’s Song.’
The Constitution is an altogether more difficult matter. I suggest that one possible change might be to insert a clause recognising and pledging legally to protect the loyalty of a significant minority of the Irish people to the British monarch. Unfortunately, this would have to be put to the Southern electorate in a referendum. Would they pass it? Certainly not. Successive Irish Times/ARINS opinion polls have shown that over 70% of voters in the Republic would not support changing the flag or anthem. A clause recognising the passionate royalism of Northern unionists would be an impossible further step too far for the instinctive republicanism of the Southern electorate. It would be a brave and foolish Southern politician who would even suggest it.
Rejoining the Commonwealth is another suggestion that opinion polls show would be overwhelmingly rejected by the Southern electorate. My young loyalist acquaintance thinks such an action would represent a “massive gesture” of welcome for unionists. To say “No, absolutely not” would be an equally huge gesture of rejection.
Then there are the complex governmental structures that would be required to recognise both the togetherness and (in some respects) the continuing separateness of the two parts of Ireland in a united state. The eminent US-based political scientist Brendan O’Leary, in his 2022 book Making Sense of a United Ireland (required reading for anyone interest in this existential issue), is dismissive of the different types of federalism that might address the concerns of unionists.
There was the Sinn Féin Eire Nua proposal in the early 1970s to reconstitute the four historic provinces: Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. He points out that neither elected republicans nor elected unionists in any party in Ireland are pushing to recreate the historic nine-county province of Ulster.
A new Ireland based on city-regions – in which Northern Ireland could remain a large city-region – is utterly impractical, says O’Leary. “Decomposing the North will be difficult enough without having to re-engineer the South at the same time.” He is similarly dismissive of the future cantonisation of Ireland along Swiss lines – the Helvetic Confederation is largely governed through 26 cantons and some 2,300 communes!
Despite the superficial attraction of a two-unit federation, with the North and the present Republic as the constituent units, O’Leary points to the extraordinarily poor record of two-unit federations internationally. “Think only of Pakistan and Czechoslovakia, and the failure to reunify Cyprus.”
He argues that international evidence suggests that “federations can only cope with genuinely deep communal divisions where there are many units in the federation, preventing domination by one unit, and where a party system develops which provides political linkages across internal regional boundaries.”
O’Leary is kinder to the proposal that Northern Ireland would have ‘home rule’ within a united Ireland, with the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive continuing with its present powers, although these would be granted by Ireland’s parliament rather than Westminster. This model would enable the North to persist with different educational, health and welfare state policies, and to keep its own police service and its own courts. “The continuing existence of Northern Ireland, albeit within a united Ireland, would recognise unionists’ local patriotism towards Northern Ireland, and facilitate numerous ways of enabling Northern Ireland to remain, or become, different from the rest of Ireland, all while being part of a sovereign, united Ireland.”1
O’Leary then lists the difficulties of this model: particularly whether Northern deputies in the Irish parliament could vote on Southern matters and – more importantly – the efficiency losses caused by having two separate health, education, social security, policing systems, and so on. However he concludes that such difficulties would not be impossible to manage. “Such difficulties exist in all polities with what is called ‘asymmetric devolution’, such as the kingdoms of Spain and Denmark [with Greenland], and the United Kingdom.”
Sooner or later
Why are these issues not discussed more in the Republic, outside the rarefied (if admirable) conference rooms of ARINS (Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South) and the Royal Irish Academy? I have one modest suggestion. Why don’t the SDLP and Fianna Fail resurrect their short-lived alliance in order to come up with some serious proposal for an Irish unity which would go out of its way to respect and protect unionist culture and identity? I further suggest that they might involve Micheál Martin’s rather brilliant former adviser, Peter MacDonagh (a grand-nephew of the 1916 leader Thomas MacDonagh), who went off to live in Prague over 20 years ago after he married a Czech woman. I understand that he is still available to do work for Fianna Fail.
Part of me (the County Antrim Protestant part?) agrees with Public Expenditure Minister, Jack Chambers, when he said in Tralee last month that the government’s Shared Island initiative should not be used to push the cause of unity. He said more than six years of efforts by Irish governments had gone into slowly building support for it and securing “broad and collective engagement,” but that would be put at risk if unionists suspected its motives. He said that “if everything was to be done in the context of a constitutional conversation, we lose people in the room at the very start.”
But the other part of me (the proud, if sometimes critical, Irish citizen part?) says that this conversation will have to start sooner or later and a really imaginative and generous proposal coming from Fianna Fail and the SDLP might go some way to kick-start it by persuading more unionists to engage.
PS Regular readers of this blog know that I have my favourite journalists, north and south, whom I quote regularly: people like Sam McBride, Alex Kane, Allison Morris, Pat Leahy and Fintan O’Toole. I would like to add Mark Hennessy, Ireland and Britain editor of the Irish Times, to that list. That paper’s coverage of Northern and Irish-British affairs has improved enormously thanks to his superb and prolific reports and analysis, including on recent topics as different as the abortive civil case by British IRA victims against Gerry Adams, fading trust between the parties in the Northern Ireland Executive, the views of UCD students on unity and whether the Irish Constitution is a barrier to that unity.
1 Making Sense of a United Ireland, p. 135
Irish Unity or Continued faith in the Union?
Brian Walker responding to the Brian Feeny-Alex Kane debate in yesterday’s Irish News, which can be read on yesterday’s www.truthrecoveryprocess.ie
The story of the struggle for a free Ireland retains great moral force. But today, the dark appeal of history has been overtaken by the stunning revolution of Irish personal freedom and prosperity that leaves unionists green with envy. The boot has been firmly transferred to the other foot. Traditionally "partition," a bogey term, identifies unionists as continuity oppressors, although their power vanished abruptly half a century ago, leaving them cleaving to old tales of wartime heroism and sacrifice. Today they remain largely introverted, many repelled by the cultural ferment of a divided Britain in transition to an unknown destination, and where Nothing Works.
However there's another side to the story. Today historic grievances have eased. We all live in a rights based society shared throughout the island and across the Irish Sea. A great irony of our time is for rights to be asserted, constitutional change is no longer necessary. For nationality, already a matter of individual choice, is finally a matter of territory. A referendum on unity may be democratic but it's still a brutal binary. Brian and Alex are both right.
Has the idea of constitutional change become an anachronism? Has partition acquired a new viability? Let's examine its background.
No Question: colonial government prevailed in Ireland after the Act of Union of 1800 because equal terms for Catholics did not apply until too late. No party including the Irish party was ever committed to integrating Ireland into the Union government, thereby perpetuating colonial rule.
Whatever Republicans believe as the first article of faith, the " colonial " analysis no longer applied after 1921 - north of the border as well as in the liberated south. To unreconstructed nationalists, this seems counterintuitive. But partition domesticated the more intimate functions of government by transferring them to Belfast from remote London and hostile Dublin. Despite furious nationalist denunciation of a rigged state, partition defined a new regime based on the popular will, a process which is fundamental to the legitimacy of any state.
The end of Legitimacy
But there legitimacy ended. The existential failure of partition was the imposition of rule by simple majority which emerged in conditions verging on civil war. Lack of mutual trust at every possible level excluded nationalists from a role in government, or the hope of the alternation of power. Ideas of human rights and proportional government were for foreigners, alien to the British political tradition of " strong government". Complacency and arrogance were embedded in a woefully unresponsive system in an already deeply divided sectarian society that provoked the cataclysm that took most by surprise.
However after nearly eighty years, power sharing with all its flaws within the BGFA structure gives the lie to the assertion that partition is the source of all our ills.
For the simple anti-partitionist argument to succeed, Brian Feeney has to insist that the flaws in power sharing are fatal. To be fair to him, the jury is out on that.
At worst, the NI public as a whole ranges from sceptical to disillusioned about power sharing: at best, a majority across the divide would like to see it function better and would welcome reform.
While growing dramatically and more culturally confident, nationalists are confused as to whether effective power sharing would encourage or frustrate a United Ireland. Among unionists cultural defensiveness has replaced the old triumphalism. Both, in their different ways, are symptoms of the insecurity which in turn feeds both the inevitablist and the determinists’ faith in Unity.
A majority of unionists seem to believe that if they cling together even as a large minority, they can frustrate unity. Although insecurity is a precarious basis for a stable contented society, they may not be wrong, hopeful of frightening off enough nationalists from taking the plunge. They are suspicious of joining the diversity of a modernising Britain. But that's precisely what " the Union" requires. The modern Union does not appreciate or even understand unionists' view of their own exceptionalism.
For some, reality dawns. But most of them have yet to realise how vulnerable defiant insularity leaves them. Instead of sheltering inside a psychological fortress that may be overwhelmed , partition - let's call it by its right name, Northern Ireland - should become the platform for reaching out across the street and beyond to a better political life. Transformed into a mixed polity embracing the totality of relationships, it offers the potential of the best of both worlds and the final rejection of the old zero sum game.
Brian Walker
Lurgan attack shows there are still those who want to terrorise NI: Long
ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, April 2nd, 2026
MINISTER SLAMS 'ABHORRENT' PROXY BOMB INCIDENT AT POLICE STATION
Justice Minister Naomi Long has said the dissident republicans responsible for the attack on Lurgan police station “want Northern Ireland to live under the shadow of terror and violence”.
Monday's proxy bomb attack in the Co Armagh town is set to dominate today's Policing Board meeting, with security already tightened around the station.
Dissident republicans have been blamed for the incident, which saw a food delivery driver hijacked in Kilwilkie estate and forced to drive a “crude but viable” device to the station.
The incident sparked a major security alert, during which around 100 homes were evacuated.
Several streets were cordoned off while bomb disposal experts examined the vehicle.
At around 10.30pm on Monday, a fast-food delivery driver making a delivery in Deramore Drive in the Kilwilkie area of Lurgan was hijacked by two masked men, one of whom was armed with a pistol.
An explosive device was placed in the boot of his white Audi A4 car by the men and he was ordered to drive the bomb to the station, five minutes' drive away.
He drove through the outer security gate and into an inner security area before alerting security staff.
In recent months, the front security door of the heavily fortified station has been left open, with only a limited number of staff on site in the evenings.
Dissident republicans are being blamed for the attack, the first in the Lurgan area in many years.
Republicans are set to gather in the town for a wreath-laying ceremony at the weekend to mark the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
Easter Commemoration
Police have said the improvised explosive device was “crude but viable”.
“As unsophisticated as it was, it posed a significant risk to the life of the terrified delivery driver, our security staff and the local community,” a PSNI spokesperson said.
“Our investigation is in its early stages but, at this stage, we believe it's highly likely that dissident republican groups are responsible.”
The driver is said to be deeply shocked and is being comforted.
The monthly meeting of the Policing Board, taking place today, had been set aside to cover the ongoing rise in violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Northern Ireland, but is now set to be dominated by the dissident threat.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher is set to give more detail on the threat level, plus any information police have about those responsible.
Justice Minister Naomi Long visited the police station yesterday.
The minister said: “What happened in Lurgan on Monday night is abhorrent and shows a complete disregard for the wellbeing and safety of everyone who lives in the town. Over the years, we have seen how lives have been lost in similar incidents.
“Had the device used in this incident exploded prematurely, it would have resulted in similar devastation.
“My thoughts are with the delivery driver who was caught up in what must have been an absolutely horrific experience. I hope he is able to come to terms with the trauma he has suffered.
Targeting ordinary people
“Targeting people who are simply going about their business shows the mindset of the people behind this attack. They offer nothing to society.
“However, this has undoubtedly been a stark reminder that there are still those who want Northern Ireland to live under the shadow of terror and violence.
“It has also brought to the forefront the fact that police officers continue to face a threat to their lives simply for doing their job.
“The officers who dealt with this incident did so in a professional and swift manner, putting themselves at risk, as they so often do, to ensure the safety of the public.
“I know they will not be deterred from continuing to keep the people of Lurgan safe, and I would like to pay tribute to their ongoing dedication, professionalism and contribution to society.”
During her visit to Lurgan police station, the minister met with Superintendent Brendan Green, District Commander for the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Policing District, and South Area Commander Chief Superintendent Norman Haslett.
Superintendent Green said: “There is no doubt that those responsible for placing the device in an innocent man's car and forcing him to drive it to the police station do not represent the residents of Lurgan, nor do their actions have the support of local people.
“They offer nothing to our community beyond the disruption and distress caused by their pathetic attempt to achieve some kind of relevance.
“We have been heartened by the widespread and unequivocal condemnation of the perpetrators, and the vocal support we have received from across our community, as well as from civic and political representatives.
“We were glad to welcome the Justice Minister to Lurgan today and share with her our pride and gratitude for the commitment of our officers and staff who work tirelessly every day, despite the inherent threat and risk they face to keep local people safe.”
Why are we asking teachers if they are loyalist or republican?
NEWTON EMERSON, Irish News, April 2nd, 2026
WHY is the Education Authority (EA) asking teachers if they are loyalist or republican?
The explanation lies with Northern Ireland’s unique laws on ‘political opinion’ – one of our nine equality categories, alongside religion, race, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, disability, and being with or without dependents.
Political opinion was originally intended as a short-hand for unionist or nationalist, so the law made no attempt to define it, creating an almost limitless legal minefield.
The courts have widened it out to mean any subject of public debate or government policy, apart from advocating violence.
The gay cake case a decade ago demonstrated the implications.
Discrimination was alleged not just against a gay customer but against a customer with an opinion on gay marriage. It could have been any opinion, for or against.
In Britain, the courts have banned political discrimination against people if opinions count as “weighty philosophical beliefs”, but this is an evolution of laws against religious discrimination and sets a much higher bar than the specific law in Northern Ireland.
Stambling into a minefield
The EA has now stumbled into this minefield, dragging the Equality Commission with it.
Teachers and applicants for teaching jobs are being asked if they are loyalist, unionist, nationalist or republican and also if their politics are broadly left, centre or right.
This raised eyebrows and attracted criticism when it came to light last week. The EA responded that it is required by law and Equality Commission guidance to monitor the nine equality categories.
It added that it is having to survey the entire teaching workforce, rather than just new applicants, because teaching was exempt from fair employment law until two years ago to facilitate religious ethos.
It is not quite correct on the monitoring requirements, as some of the equality categories are more equal than others.
Employers must monitor religion and gender by law, but the other seven are optional.
Two of those – political opinion and sexual orientation – are considered sensitive enough to require extra care.
Political opinion has the further problem of being difficult to pin down through standard questions.
This is all acknowledged in the Equality Commission’s guidance. It has tactfully said it will contact the EA “to provide advice on this matter”.
The commission still wants employers to try to record information on political opinion, hence the EA’s confusion. for entire groups.
No individuals would ever be identified by it – a point some of the EA’S critics appear not to realise. Monitoring data is anonymous and only used to analyse trends or flag up problems
“ The Education Authority has further opened the door to teachers and applicants for teaching jobs alleging discrimination on grounds of political opinion
Teachers are being asked by the Education Authority about their political beliefs for the purpose of monitoring
However, in explaining this, the commission’s guidance notes the logical conclusion: the mandatory religious background question will cover political opinion in most cases, by serving as a proxy for unionist or nationalist.
An employer only needs to consider a separate question if they think some other “dimension of political opinion” is relevant to the job.
That means the EA has judged a left-leaning or right-leaning teaching workforce to be worth watching out for – a familiar concern in England, but novel here.
Icing the cake
It has also decided community background should be monitored beyond the usual binary of unionist or nationalist to include loyalist and republican.
Even if this would never identify individuals, it risks politicising public views of the teaching profession.
Survey results will presumably emerge with percentages of loyalists and republicans in staff rooms, or the EA will decline to release this information despite its existence being known. Neither outcome will lower the temperature.
There will certainly be unionist complaints if the profession turns out to be left-leaning, as seems likely.
Monitoring is meant to identify imbalances. What is the correct balance of republicans and loyalists, should left and right always be in balance, and how would any of that be achieved?
Although monitoring occurs under different law to discrimination cases, political opinion is a common concept to both.
So the EA has further opened the door to teachers and applicants for teaching jobs alleging discrimination on grounds of political opinion – potentially, any political opinion.
The best way to clear this minefield is to accept our laws on political opinion are a mistake and move to the system in Britain.
Unfortunately, they are written into the foundations of the Good Friday Agreement and would be almost as hard to unpick as the Human Rights Act. We are stuck with them.
On the plus side, now this has become a political issue in its own right, nobody can deny you employment for any view you hold on it.
You can also have it iced on a cake.
From William III to David Irvine - New Mural to mark 250th anniversary of USA
'Mural art has always been central to how our community expresses its history, culture and sense of place':
Unique new work showcasing unionist customs and heritage to tour US with nationalist counterpart
By Iain Gray, Belfast News Letter, April 1st, 2026
A unique mural unveiled this week gives the history of the Ulster Scots people and unionist culture in their own words – part of two huge works commissioned by an American businessman, philanthropist and art collector intended to show both sides of the coin in Northern Ireland.
Peering back more than a millennium and half into the past, the mural covers the full sweep from early Scots crossing the sea to the Protestant Reformation and the Ulster Plantation, and on through the centuries to the Somme and the Belfast Blitz, to the tragedies of the Troubles and modern peace.
Major historical figures are represented such as King William III, Edward Carson and James Craig, while notable twentieth century politicians Ian Paisley, David Trimble and David Ervine mark recent developments.
It also highlights important elements of unionist culture including bonfires, marching bands and the Orange Order, plus landmarks such as the Ulster Tower.
The mural covers major events of the modern era, from the Belfast Blitz and the Troubles to peace accords at Stormont.
From noted mural artist Dee Craig, the work was shown to the public for the first time in east Belfast’s Ballymac Friendship Centre.
US Art Collector
In a statement that accompanied the mural unveiling, Dee said he’d been in touch with American art collector Darius Anderson, who had “seen the scale and impact of murals across Belfast, but what stood out was his genuine curiosity about both sides of the community.”
The US businessman had visited Northern Ireland several times, he said, and challenged both unionist and republican Belfast mural artists to create a full size piece on canvas instead of a gable wall.
He stated: “It wasn’t something you’d have seen much of in the past, parallel works from different traditions created as part of the same exhibition, but that was exactly what made it interesting.
The mural was unveiled in Ballymac Friendship Centre in east Belfast this week.
“Mural art has always been central to how our community expresses its history, culture and sense of place.
“[The exhibition] places different narratives side by side, allowing people to see, reflect and maybe understand a bit more about the histories and identities that shape this place.”
According to historical consultant Quentin Dougan, both the unionist and nationalist murals are intended to tour the US as a pair, showing the long histories and perspectives of both communities.
Stated Quentin: “Some time ago a California-based collector of art from ‘conflict zones’ commissioned a piece of art in the form of a mural, representing an Irish republican perspective of history. Usually that’s where Americans and Ulster end – not this time, he wanted the loyalist side too and for that engaged Dee.”
It was, “An amazing piece, there are over 40 different scenes and individuals from across Irish history featured. Each was deliberately picked to try to best tell the story of a people, giving their perspective on their origins and evolution into what we are today.”
The touring murals will be accompanied by a book detailing some of the tales behind the featured figures and events.
'We'll stay open; we've always been a safe space for people'
GABRIELLE SWAN, Belfast Telegraph, April 2nd, 2026
TRADERS WEIGH UP SATURDAY OPENING AS ANTI-IMMIGRATION RALLY TO TAKE PLACE
Some businesses in Coleraine are unsure about opening on Easter Saturday due to fears over a planned anti-immigration protest set to hit the town.
One shop, Hare and Hawthorn, will close for the day, while others, such as Gordons Chemists, Silver Spirit Jewellers and Man 1984, are contemplating changing their opening hours or closing altogether.
Coming out of the winter period, Easter marks a turning point for the town in terms of footfall, with Easter Saturday being a key trading day for local businesses as day-trippers flock to the North Coast.
A counter-protest has also been planned in the town on Saturday, and concerns over disruption and potential disorder have put a spanner in the works for some traders.
Others, such as Rocca, a restaurant in the town centre, intend to remain open, along with the neighbouring Infuse Tea Bar.
Concerned about the potential for trouble, Infuse intends to act as a “safe space” for those who need it during the demonstration.
The main protest has been organised by the group Our Northern Ireland Voice (ONIV). Gathering at The Diamond in the centre of town from 2pm to 4.30pm, it intends to be a “launch rally” for the group, said a spokesperson for ONIV.
One organiser is convicted rioter Daniel Douglas, who also goes by the surname Grundlé. The father-of-three was jailed for a year and given two years on licence at Antrim Crown Court in 2023, having been convicted of rioting in Coleraine in April 2021.
Tommy Robinson supporter Richard Inman is a featured speaker at the event, while a “moment of prayer” is also scheduled.
A counter-protest by Causeway Trade Union Council is also planned.
The latest ONIV demonstration comes off the back of a number of smaller gatherings over the past few weekends. One took place outside the Northern Regional College on Union Street, protesting against HMOs (houses in multiple occupation), which have been used to house asylum seekers and migrants.
Taking to social media, Áine Davis, co-owner of Infuse Tea Bar, posted a video voicing concerns over the anti-immigration rally.
The local businesswoman said she feels “compassion” for those traders who feel forced to close.
‘Just not worth the risk’
“They feel like it is just not worth the risk. I can't help but feel compassion for that, because the North Coast is so seasonal. Easter should have been such an amazing weekend for people, and now they are losing that,” she said.
“It is something that is pretty vital for this time of year, so I am very frustrated about it. Our stance is that we have always been a safe space for people. We want to stay open in case anyone who didn't necessarily realise it was on gets caught [up in the crowd] — they [will] have somewhere they can turn to.
“We have shutters for the windows so that [damage] is not an issue. [Should demonstrators kick off, they] are limited as to what they can do. They can target the outside of the building, but our windows would be protected. But I am a little bit on edge about it,” Áine said.
She added that “it's important for us to show that we care”.
“We have never been afraid of losing custom for what we stand up for. We have taken that stand through multiple occasions. We want this space to be a safe space for all,” she said.
“You can have different opinions, but we won't accept behaviour that will accept racism.
“We won't accept any of that. People will be asked to leave if they come in and kick off. Then obviously we will have to get the police involved.
“There are other places to go, as people say. There are plenty of cafés in Coleraine. If we are not for them, that's OK.”
Trouble makers
DUP MLA for East Londonderry Maurice Bradley said he is “confident” that both the protest and counter-protest will go ahead peacefully, unless there are “unknown people travelling to Coleraine with the intent to stir up a bit of trouble”.
“Police have been around the business district in the town warning of a protest and counter-protest happening on Saturday,” he said.
“This is Easter weekend, so it is quite busy. So I will expect there will be an awful lot of shoppers in the town this weekend.
“However, the day [scheduled] for the protests was more by accident than design. I am quite confident that this protest will go off peacefully. And I am quite confident that the counter-protest will go off peacefully.
“But I do worry that there may be some unknown people travelling to Coleraine with the intent to stir up a bit of trouble.
“But I am confident the organisers of both the protest and the counter-protest have got their end well organised, and it will be peaceful on their part.”
A police spokesperson has denied that officers have encouraged businesses to alter their opening hours in light of demonstrations.
“Police are aware of a planned protest and counter-protest in Coleraine town centre on Saturday, April 4, and an appropriate and proportionate policing operation will be in place,” said a spokesperson.
“Officers understand the concerns that have been raised and have engaged with businesses in the town and all policing partners.
“Police have not advised businesses to alter their normal opening hours.”
BELFAST will be an open city for August Fleadh but at a price
CONOR SHEILS, Irish News, April 2nd, 2026
Apartment owners are already seeking almost £6,000 for the week – almost double their normal rates.
The city will host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann for the first time this summer, with over 800,000 visitors expected to attend gigs, competitions and workshops from Sunday August 2 to Sunday August 9.
An Irish News investigation found properties across the city charging thousands of pounds for a stay when the event is taking place.
However, the same listings are available for a fraction of the price just a few weeks earlier.
The listings, many on the listing service Airbnb, are dotted across Belfast, with many properties located miles away from the sites where the Fleadh is taking place.
The Irish News found a two-bedroom property close to the Ormeau Road charging
£5382 to stay for the week of the Fleadh – but the same property was available for £2532 less than a month earlier.
That’s a jump of just under 90% in a matter of weeks.
Meanwhile, a two-bed property in the Castlereagh area of east Belfast is available for £4015 between August 2 and 9, compared with just £1714 on the same dates in July.
‘It’s disappointing to think anyone would take advantage’
This represents a rise of 134%.
One two-bed property in the Titanic Quarter is available for £5852 during the week of the Fleadh – a significant jump on its usual weekly asking price of less than £3000.
The cost of a room in a shared property for the week has also gone through the roof.
Wrong message
A room along east Belfast’s Holywood Road costs just under £1400 for the week of the Fleadh compared to just £578 for a week in regular times.
Elsewhere in the city, a room off the Antrim Road is listed at £1507 for the first week in August, more than double its usual price.
South Belfast SDLP councillor Gary McKeown said the price rises send out the wrong message to visitors.
“We want the Fleadh to showcase the very best that this city has to offer, but reports of price-gouging send out a signal that visitors are being seen as an opportunity to make a quick buck,” he said.
“This highlights the problem that I have been raising for a number of years around the absence of any proper regulation of these types of accommodation.
“The council’s planning enforcement team is investigating hundreds of properties, and no doubt there are hundreds more that aren’t on their radar yet – this number is likely to rocket further during the Fleadh.
“The absence of regulation not only has an impact on communities whose lives are made a misery by residential homes being transformed into party houses without authorisation, but there’s also a risk to tourists who book them in good faith without realising that they may not have planning approval or other checks.”
Former Belfast Lord Mayor Micky Murray described the price hikes as “disappointing”.
“The Fleadh coming to Belfast is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our city, celebrate the rich cultural offering we have, and to bring an audience to Belfast who may have never been to the city before,” he said.
“It’s disappointing to think anyone would take advantage of tourists coming to the city to celebrate and participate in the Fleadh by increasing prices of holiday lets.
“Unfortunately, without the appropriate legislation in place to prevent these price hikes, the responsibility around this ultimately lies with property owners.
“I’d encourage anyone who is renting out properties for this purpose to engage with Visit Belfast and Tourism NI to ensure that they’re following appropriate regulations and have all the licensing requirements.”
PSNI officer charged over theft of ammo dismissed
CONNLA YOUNG, Irish News, April 2nd, 2026
A PSNI officer charged in connection with the theft of ammunition from a police training facility has been dismissed from the force.
The former officer was dismissed without notice for gross misconduct by chief constable Jon Boutcher last month.
Last December, PSNI officer Robert Charles Rodgers (63) appeared in court accused of stealing ammunition and abusing his position of trust within the PSNI.
The officer, who faces eight charges and had been suspended, was later released on his own bail of £500.
In a statement, the PSNI confirmed “that an officer has been dismissed without notice for gross misconduct from the Police Service of Northern Ireland following an internal misconduct investigation.
“This matter was heard by the Chief Constable in a Special Case Hearing on Friday March 13.
“A criminal investigation is continuing and we will not be making any further comment at this time.”
Last month, The Irish News revealed that a 68-year-old man was detained in the Banbridge area in late January on suspicion of theft and aiding and abetting theft.
The PSNI has not responded directly when asked if he is a serving or former PSNI officer or current or ex-civilian staff member.
The PSNI launched a major investigation last year after an anonymous tip-off.
It is linked to the alleged theft of equipment from a PSNI training college at Steeple in Antrim.
Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton declared a ‘critical incident’ after a Heckler and Koch submachine gun, 27 legally held weapons, and 25,000 rounds of ammunition were found during searches at a police officer’s home and the PSNI’s Steeple complex.
A deactivated AK variant, believed to have been seized from republicans by the British army in the late 1980s, was found in a storage room behind a stack of targets at Steeple during a search.
A “large quantity of ammunition” found in the Moyola River in Co Derry in November has also been linked to the Steeple investigation.
As part of the probe, the PSNI carried out “intelligence research” on individuals and the “wider membership” of two gun clubs with links to a suspect in the case.
Meanwhile, the Police Ombudsman has launched an investigation into the PSNI’s response to initial allegations about the theft of material from Steeple.
In a statement, the ombudsman’s office said it “is currently investigating the PSNI’s response to initial allegations it received that a serving police officer was stealing material from PSNI premises”.
It is understood the probe was launched in January after the ombudsman’s office called itself in.
It is believed the probe relates only to the PSNI’s response to the initial allegations and does not relate to the ongoing police investigation.
In December, The Irish News reported that a whistleblower had claimed that over “this past few years” they had informed the office of the Chief Constable, the Policing Board and Department of Justice about the alleged theft of ammunition, targets and other equipment from the PSNI’s Steeple facility and that previous contact was ignored.
GAA members to hold vigil for 75,000 Palestinian dead
Irish News, April 2nd, 2026
Gaels against Genocide in Gaza will congregate outside Belfast City Hall on Good Friday
GAA MEMBERS across the north are to gather in Belfast on Good Friday to remember around 75,000 Palestinians killed by Israel.
Thousands of women and children are among the dead since Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza more than two years ago, following the Palestinian attack of October 7.
Gaels against Genocide in Gaza organiser Michael Doherty said that with attacks on Iran and Lebanon ongoing, “genocide continues in Gaza with little or no media coverage”.
He added that since the ceasefire announced last year, 700 Palestinians have been killed by Israel.
“Whilst we are looking forward to spending time with our loved ones at Easter, we should remember the current plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” he said.
“Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza are freezing in tents as thin as a sheet of paper.”
Mr Doherty highlighted the humanitarian crisis faced by many in the region.
“Thousands of Palestinian children with amputated limbs are hobbling on crutches to seek education in tents in the rubble of their schools,” he said.
“Hundreds of pregnant mothers are giving birth in flooded tents whilst Mobile Maternity Units are waiting at the Egyptian border to be allowed by the Israelis into Gaza to provide medical care to expectant mothers and new-born infants.”
Tomorrow’s vigil will take place at Belfast City Hall at 12.30pm.
Meanwhile, the fallout from the GAA’s confiscation of Palestinian flags at Croke Park last weekend is continuing.
Flags seized
The association later said the flags were taken from fans attending the National Football League Division Three and Four finals due to a “long-established” health and safety policy.
Footage later emerged of GAA fans holding flags being escorted from the ground during the Division One decider the following day.
It has been claimed that people who displayed ‘drop Allianz’ lettering were also removed.
The GAA said, “flags, banners and flagpoles are prohibited on health and safety grounds”, with smaller flags “generally permitted, provided they do not obstruct views or cause a nuisance to other spectators”.
The association added that “Ireland recognises the state of Palestine, and the GAA has no issue with the national flag of any recognised state being displayed at matches”.
It has now emerged that in 2024 GAA president Jarlath Burns wrote to Dublin GAA member Hughie Cullen, who is involved in the Dubs for Palestine group.
In the correspondence, Mr Burns said: “For the record, we have not instructed any stewards or match day officials to remove any Palestinian flags at our games and have no plans to do so.”
When asked about the correspondence, the GAA did not respond directly.
Beattie urges a rethink of Spitfire 'snubs' NI
BRETT CAMPBELL, Belfast Telegraph, April 2nd, 2026
90TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIONS CONFINED TO BRITAIN FOR 'SAFETY' REASONS
An MLA has called on organisers of celebrations to mark the 90th anniversary of the first Spitfire flight to “rethink” plans which exclude Northern Ireland.
Nine commemorative flights will see a two-seater training version of the famous fighter travel between airfields in Britain this month, with members of the public given the chance to hop aboard by bidding in a charity auction.
The RAF is supporting the “nationwide tour” of the aircraft, which has been painted in the colours of the original prototype K5054 flown by test pilot Joseph 'Mutt' Summers on March 5, 1936.
The civilian-owned Spitfire will take to the skies between April 7 and 17, touching down at RAF stations and airports linked to the aircraft, with each flight representing a decade of its history.
Former Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said it was “disappointing” we will not be part of the celebrations after organisers cited safety concerns.
The decorated Army veteran said: “I know regulations are very specific in flying this ageing aircraft, but given that it is flying from Prestwick, it is difficult to see why it could not have done a stopover at Aldergrove before flying on to RAF Valley.
“Given the last surviving Battle of Britain pilot came from the island of Ireland, it would be fitting that the Spitfire could fly from Aldergrove, skirting the Irish coast until it crossed the Irish Sea to RAF Valley.
“I'd implore the organisers to rethink their route.”
John Hemingway, who was 105 when he passed away last year in Foxrock, Co Dublin, was the last of the “Few” immortalised by Winston Churchill during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
A total of 17 of the fighters were purchased with funds raised by the Belfast Telegraph Spitfire Appeal from 1940-41, with readers of this newspaper donating £88,633 — the equivalent of over £3m in today's money.
Minister of Aircraft Production Lord Beaverbrook launched the initiative to allow the public to fund purchases of the Spitfire, which was manufactured by the Supermarine company.
‘Enniskillen’ saw the most action
Business leaders, shipyard workers and school children contributed, and each plane was given a name associated with the region. The first was called 'Londonderry', with others named 'Belfast', 'Harlandic' and 'Down'.
'Enniskillen' saw the most action, and was one of only two to survive the war along with 'Fermanagh'.
The route of the commemorative flights, which encompasses the coastlines of England, Scotland and Wales, was designed to include key locations with historic connections to the 'Spit'.
Some local social media users have accused Spitfires.com, which planned the itinerary, of a “snub”, as the aircraft operated out of RAF Aldergrove, RAF Ballyhalbert and RAF Eglinton.
It's understood the plane has to stay within a certain distance of the coastline in case of an emergency.
A place aboard is currently being offered through an online auction for one leg of the tour, with proceeds going to the Mark Long Trust and the RAF Benevolent Fund.
Spitfires.com has been contacted for comment.
Victims’ group: ‘Horrific ordeal’ for driver of bomb
JOHN BRESLIN, Irish News, April 2nd, 2026
THE families of people who faced similar “frightening” experiences to the driver forced to deliver the explosive device to a Lurgan PSNI station have been in contact with a leading victims’ group.
Forcing someone at gunpoint to deliver such a device is “deeply traumatising for the person directly involved”, a spokesperson for WAVE said.
“It also has a huge impact on their family and their work colleagues who would understandably fear they could also be terrorised in this way,” the organisation said.
“Our thoughts are with the delivery driver and his family who have been subjected to this horrific ordeal.”
A fast-food delivery driver was held up at gunpoint in the Kilwilke estate in the Co Armagh town, then forced to drive into the local police station.
The device, described as “crude but viable”, was placed in the boot of the white Audi A4.
One of WAVE’s most prominent members is Kathleen Gillespie from Derry, the widow of Patsy Gillespie who was used as a “human bomb” by the IRA.
He was strapped into a van and forced to drive a bomb into a British Army checkpoint on the border between Derry and Donegal on 24 October 1990. He was killed along with five soldiers.
Kathleen has become a well known campaigner for reconciliation, including working with former IRA prisoners.
Media outlets that champion free speech deserve your support
By Ruth Dudley Edwards, Belfast News Letter, April 2nd, 2026
The new LGBTQIA+ Hub is to be on the first floor of 2 Royal Avenue in Belfast; whoever uses the ground floor must be ‘compatible’ with the hub
Before getting stuck into the latest threat to free speech, I should declare that I’m on the Northern Ireland advisory council of the Free Speech Union (FSU) and a News Letter columnist.
Yes, I was born and reared a (sceptical) Roman Catholic in the Republic of Ireland and have lived almost all my adult life in England, but it is Northern Ireland that became my main focus as a political journalist from the early 1990s.
I came to love the Protestant people of NI for their courage, their resilience, their honesty, their common sense, and their intolerance of bullsh*t.
As most of my tribe rejected the religion they had adhered to unquestioningly for centuries, many filled the god-shaped hole with progressive ideologies that have become a horrific threat to Irish society throughout the island.
People who care about the stark truth of what is going on under most people’s unconscious gaze should read Gript — a Dublin-based online daily publication countering secular extremism — and the News Letter, to see the stories most of the media ignore and progressives hate to see exposed.
This week, for instance, the News Letter’s Adam Kula wrote of a clash on BBC Talkback between SDLP Belfast councillor Seamas de Faoite, a seemingly hardline progressive activist, and Jeff Dudgeon, a voice of sanity who is greatly missed since he lost his UUP council seat.
The issue was de Faoite’s justification of Belfast City Council’s demand that any group wishing to be part of the planned LGBTQ+ hub in the newly-acquired community resource of 2 Royal Avenue must be “compatible and complementary”.
(Adam Kula had broken the story about the council requirement on the front page of Monday’s News Letter, “Council ‘could break law’ at its LGBT hub” – to read the article, click here).
Free speech warrior
Jeff is a friend, an FSU board member and a free speech warrior I’ve admired for decades.
It was he who brought about the legitimising of homosexuality in NI more than fifty years ago.
“I campaign for equal rights, equal opportunity, but I didn't campaign for privilege," he says now.
I listened to almost an hour of debate, as to de Faoite’s discomfort, lesbian Nora Calder, who like Jeff has been a vocal opponent of aggressive trans activism that seeks to close down criticism, joined in crisply and eloquently to spell out the threat.
Like all my gay friends, they have lives that are not curtailed or driven by the issue of their sexual identity.
Meanwhile, Gript freezes the blood with an article about how Ireland has been a key driver of gender identity politics which, as part of its agenda for its presidency of the EU from July, is pushing the whole trans agenda maniacally with the support of the left.
Under the leadership of Leo Varadkar, now a “human rights” activist, in his new incarnation, Ireland will be pushing a well-resourced agenda called “Follow the Rainbow”, which will be doing everything to legitimise a child’s right to live in their chosen gender at will while denying the truth that while a man should be free to live as a woman, he cannot turn into one.
As well as assailing women’s rights, issues like surrogacy are being driven by the fanatical male sexual rights movement.
If you can afford it, in the interests of a healthy and sane society, I suggest you subscribe to the News Letter, Gript and the FSU.
l Ruth Dudley Edwards is the author of The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait of the Loyal Institutions and also of Aftermath: the Omagh bombing and the families’ pursuit of justice
Paedophile Priest’s mephitic presence lingers
JOHN LAVERTY, Belfast Telegraph, April 2nd, 2026
It was my mother who ushered me away from childhood sectarian leanings in bigotry-blighted Ballymena during the mid-1970s. She was, not surprisingly, an influential role model.
This is the woman whom I once saw embrace both the Rev Ian Paisley (our family home was next door to his father's church and backed onto the manse) and Cardinal Cahal Daly (her childhood friend from Loughguile) on the same day.
She brought us up to believe you can be devout within your own particular strand of Christianity, while displaying empathy and respect to those espousing a different one.
Unfortunately for her, any devotion this one-time altar boy had garnered as a kid lapsed long before my teenage years ended, partly fuelled by rumours of paedophilic priests supposedly operating in places far enough away from Ballymena.
One of these cockroaches, however, crawled into our home after my mother's passing and prior to conducting her funeral.
Obviously we didn't know it at the time; the trauma came four months later when this debauched, depraved creature — that's you, Daniel Curran — was charged with indecently assaulting two young boys at his house.
This was followed by similar charges involving nine others aged between 11 and 14, and a subsequent seven-year jail sentence — the first of several convictions as the poisonous, Savile-style drip-feed gamut of Curran's depravity over several decades emerged.
None of that relatively welcome news removed the psychological stain this deviant left on us but, frankly, it's nothing in comparison to what Curran's many victims suffered, and has no doubt continued to haunt them.
There remains, nevertheless, an indelible feeling of violation, even for those like me who wouldn't think of placing themselves anywhere near the same level of victimhood as those who suffered sexual abuse, yet can still feel duped and maligned by creeps like Curran.
Mephitic dog
That mephitic dog in a dog collar was in our midst at my family's most vulnerable time, offering sympathy, piety and prayers for the repose of a decent, respectable, popular and God-fearing woman, even when he was busy wrecking young lives elsewhere.
It's something I recall with remorse when my mum's anniversary comes round every November, but it also came to mind last week when reading about how Stephen McCullagh had been a regular visitor to the shattered home of Natalie McNally's dignified, grieving family, having brutally murdered the 32-year-old.
He inveigled himself into their irreversibly devastated lives, being unwittingly welcomed as the father of pregnant girlfriend Natalie's child and therefore someone supposedly suffering similar loss and anguish.
By appearing heartbroken, these debased fiends install themselves as victims rather than suspects, with appearances at wakes, vigils and funerals part of their sociopathic, de haut en bas pursuit of control.
As someone with a daughter I love more than life itself, I can only begin to imagine what the McNallys were already going through, without having to subsequently deal with the callous, murdering b*****d himself hiding in plain sight — and lurking, knowingly, in their house.
These rancid individuals are the dregs of the sewers, and McCullagh's hardly the first to prey on a victim's family for his own depraved ends.
Think, for instance, of the recently deceased Ian Huntley, murderer of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman and who, as school caretaker, engaged with the national media, purporting to be a concerned member of a shocked community, having already disposed of the bodies of his innocent young victims in the most undignified of ways.
Perhaps, in the throes of the brutal and ultimately lethal attack on him in HMP Frankland last month, that scumbag finally grasped the profound meaning in Matthew 26:52: “all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword”.
The UK's most prolific serial killer, Dr Harold Shipman, took morbid pleasure in exploiting the grief of his victims' families.
Alcoholic narcissist
He was an insatiable narcissist who enjoyed playing God, often killing patients before 'comforting' their relatives, having insisted on being the one to inform them of the death.
In keeping with that 'spirit', police ensured that those bereaved by Shipman's breathtaking litany of crime were among the first to be told that this cold-blooded impenitent monster had hanged himself in Wakefield Prison.
Daniel Curran wasn't a murderer, but nevertheless revealed himself to be an arrogant, apathetic, emotionless destroyer of people's lives.
Those who knew this lowlife described him as a loner who rarely associated with fellow clergy — apart from another notorious paedophile priest, Brendan Smyth — but preferred to regularly feed both his alcohol habit and voracious sexual appetite for vulnerable young boys.
He told police that, due to heavy drinking sessions, he struggled to remember who many of his victims were.
Unfortunately, they will never forget him.
Neither did my father, who'd already gone off “Fr Curran” long before my mum's funeral, following what he saw as the priest's agitated, apathetic emergency bedside performance of the last rites to his beloved wife of 40 years.
As Dad would later ask: “I'm wondering what other plans he was forced to cancel that night.”
Three quarters of schools in north running out of money
CONOR SHEILS, Irish News, April 2nd, 2026
ALMOST three quarters of Northern Ireland’s mainstream schools are running over budget, according to latest figures.
Statistics from the Department of Education, show 765 out of 1,053 schools are either in deficit or have needed emergency financial bailouts from the Education Authority. This is equivalent to 73% of all mainstream schools.
Just 288 schools were operating within their budget as of March 2025.
The figures, obtained through an Assembly question to the Education Minister Paul Givan, cover controlled, maintained, voluntary gram-mar and grant-maintained integrated schools across Northern Ireland.
The crisis is most acute among Controlled and Maintained schools, where 754 out of 964 — more than three in every four — are over budget or in deficit.
Among voluntary grammar and grant-maintained integrated schools the picture is somewhat better, with 11 out of 89 in financial difficulty.
This represents one in every eight schools in that category.
SDLP Opposition Education Spokesperson Cara Hunter said the figures were stark but not surprising.
“Our schools are over budget in unprecedented numbers and facing financial pressures that have been building for years. The risks are clear: shorter school days, fewer subjects on offer, and an education system that is increasingly impoverished,” she said.
Almost three quarters of the north’s mainstream schools are running over budget
“At the same time, suspensions in post-primary schools have ris-en by 50% over the last decade, teacher retention is increasingly difficult, and fewer educators are willing to take on senior management roles, all signs of a system at breaking point.
“Whilst the minister tries to rush through major reforms like TransformEd at breakneck speed, he must also focus on ensuring a well-resourced and balanced school system. How the minister reconciles delivering a school system that protects pupils’ learning, improves educational outcomes, and supports teachers, remains a challenge with no clear plan.”
A Department of Education spokesperson said the education system was under severe and sustained strain.
“Years of underfunding and limited structural reform in service delivery have combined to create a financial crisis in education,” the spokesperson said.
“On February 4, the minister published a Five-Year Education Budget Strategy, which is now out for consultation. This strategy seeks to address the structural funding challenges facing Northern Ireland’s Education sector by identifying sustainable and long-term solutions.
“Reform proposals have been guided by the clear principle of protecting teaching and learning while we put education on a sustainable financial footing.”
UN officials express concern over PSNI snooping on solicitors
CONNLA YOUNG CRIME and SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, Irish News, April 2nd, 2026
Surveillance operations ‘may amount to a violation of international standards’
UNITED Nations officials have expressed concern over unlawful PSNI spy operations targeting two of the north’s best known lawyers.
Darragh Mackin and Peter Corrigan, of Phoenix Law, were told last year that authorisation was given to obtain their communications data in 2013.
It was already known that both lawyers were placed under surveillance by police while meeting a key witness more than a decade ago.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy, Ana Brian Nougrères, have now issued a formal communication to British authorities seeking immediate action in the case.
Details of the police intrusion were confirmed to the solicitors by Angus McCullough KC last year.
The London-based barrister was appointed to carry out a review into PSNI surveillance of journalists, lawyers and others, by chief constable Jon Boutcher.
In his report Mr McCullough also revealed the PSNI carried out two identified ‘defensive operations’ involving hundreds of journalists between 2011 and 2024.
The review also confirmed 21 unlawful uses of covert powers to identify journalists’ sources.
Apology
Mr Boutcher has since apologised to Mr Mackin and Mr Corrigan.
In his report, Mr McCullough sets out concerns about the consideration of ‘legally professional privilege’ (LPP) in relation to communication data authorisations.
Revelations that the solicitors were under surveillance have led to renewed concerns about the safety of the convictions of two men jailed for killing a police officer.
Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton were convicted for the murder of PSNI man Stephen Carroll in Craigavon in March 2009.
Mr Mackin and Mr Corrigan represented McConville at the time.
It emerged last month that both lawyers were placed under PSNI surveillance in the run-up to an appeal in 2013, which ultimately failed to overturn their convictions.
In correspondence the UN officials have expressed their “concern regarding indications of a pattern of communications data authorizations that seem to coincide with Mr Mack-in and Mr Corrigan’s representation of clients bringing allegations against the PSNI”.
They added: “To the extent that any surveillance measures were undertaken, or continue to be undertaken, as a reprisal for their clients bringing challenges to PSNI activity or raising other human rights concerns, such actions may amount to a violation of international standards protecting the right of lawyers to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.”
The UN officials added that the “allegations raise serious concerns regarding the integrity of the confidential lawyer–client relationship and the broader guarantees essential to the independent and unhindered exercise of the legal profession”.
The UN has now demanded urgent action on the steps being taken “to convey to Mr Mackin and Mr Corrigan information about the factual and legal basis for their surveillance, the time periods during which they were subject to covert surveillance measures, what information was collected, what has been done with that data and whether they are presently subject to surveillance”.
British authorities have also been asked to confirm what measures have been taken to implement the recommendations in the Mc-Cullough review, and identify steps taken ‘to prevent the further unlawful surveillance of lawyers in violation of international legal rights to confidentiality of communications between lawyers and clients and as a reprisal for their human rights defence work”.
They have also asked for confirmation on what is in place to ensure lawyers are “free from interference and harassment, in line with international human rights standards”.
Abuse of power
Mr Corrigan said the UN intervention is a welcome step “in supporting us as lawyers following the unlawful spying by the PSNI.
“The police are entrusted to uphold the law, but instead they have broken the law,” he said.
“Our families and our rights were expendable, as simple pawns in their wider game, of achieving convictions and winning cases at all costs.”
Mr Corrigan added that the UN input “makes clear that no longer will the international human rights community accept the misuse of power directed at lawyers, simply because of the cases they do, or the clients they represent”.
He said: “For too long the state has wrongly targeted lawyers in this jurisdiction for simply doing their job.
“Today marks another step in the fight back against abuse of power and misuse of surveillance.”
Mr Mackin referred to solicitor Rosemary Nelson, who was murdered by loyalists in 1999 and who spoke about the role of lawyers defending their clients.
“Today’s communication is a landmark indication that the international human rights community will no longer sit back and tolerate misuse of state powers deployed in a ‘reprisal’ against lawyers simply by virtue of the cases they bring,” he said.
“Today marks an end to the culture of tolerating the intolerable abusive actions of those who are meant to guard the rule of law, abuse the rule of law.”
Irish News Letters: Book adds fresh weight to local history of Carrickmore Garden of Remembrance
THE reprint of Red Bricks and Green Bushes: The Story of the County Tyrone Society (New York) has added fresh weight to the history of the Garden of Remembrance in Carrickmore.
It was first published in 1955 by Clogher-born James McElroy, chief of staff of the New York Police Department and a member of the society.
His book informs us that “the erection of a suitable memorial to the republican dead in County Tyrone” was frequently discussed by the County Tyrone Society in the 1920s. In 1928, a decision was made to “study ways and means of erecting a suitable memorial”. A committee consisting of New York-based society members was appointed to act.
A suitable site was identified, “located about 100 yards from the village of Carrickmore at the junction of the Omagh, Dungannon and Mullanmore roads”. A local committee was formed, the ‘Carrickmore Memorial Committee’, which included republicans Patrick Morrow, John Duggan, Christy Meenagh, James Nugent, Bartley McElroy, James Toal and Michael McCartan, who were the first trustees of this piece of ground.
“The Stormont government issued an order prohibiting ‘the erection of any monument or other memorial calculated to promote an illegal association, or prejudicial to peace or maintenance of order’
At a County Tyrone Society meeting in January 1929, president Patrick McKenna read a letter from Patrick Morrow enclosing the deeds for the site. A specification for the memorial was decided upon: “On a granite base five foot high, a traditional round tower, surmounted by a Celtic Cross, eight feet high, guarded by a republican soldier figure, life size, and on the base panels the names of the martyred dead inscribed.”
Patrick Maxwell, Armagh, won the contract.
However, a front-page headline in The Irish News of August 8 1931 stated that the Stormont government had issued an order prohibiting “the erection of any monument or other memorial calculated to promote an illegal association, or prejudicial to peace, or the maintenance of order”. This brought construction to an end.
Following a long series of legal proceedings, Maxwell was paid, in full, by the society in New York. The unfinished memorial remained and was “a keen disappointment to the Tyrone Society”.
Despite the sterling efforts of local republicans through the 1940s and 1950s, very little would change at the site until the formation in 1967 of the ‘Tyrone Republican Memorial Committee’. Monies for the new project were raised by the Tyrone branch of the National Graves Association, with the surviving original trustees legally transferring their position to a new group including Frank McElroy, Carrickmore; Paddy Coyle, Greencastle; Jim McGuckin, Ardboe; Johnny Begley, Carrickmore; John McGurk, Carrickmore; Dermot McAleer, Pomeroy; Hugh Darcy, Tattyreagh and Mick Ward, Beragh. There was no further change of trustees until 1989, when two more local republicans were added.
In the early 1990s there was an unsuccessful attempt to have trustees ‘sign over’ the garden to Provisional Sinn Féin, details of which are for another time.
In 2015, the surviving 1967 trustees – Frank McElroy, Paddy Coyle and Jim McGuckin – permitted the addition of new trustees, all of whom are present members of the Tyrone National Graves Association. The 2015 action, in law, stated that the historic site could be used “exclusively for the purpose of a memorial garden of remembrance in accordance with the objectives of the Tyrone National Graves Association”.
The above provides a timeline which leaves us fast approaching 100 years of the garden’s history and its long association with republican, non-establishment organisations.
GAVAN McELROY, Tyrone National Graves
