Category Archives: Current Affairs

A County Donegal man wanted in Northern Ireland for suspected involvement in the murder of two soldiers has been released on bail from a Dublin prison.

John Downey has been in custody since Monday when he was arrested at his home near Creeslough.

The 66-year-old was granted bail on Thursday morning, but was not released from prison until 22:00 local time.

The delay was caused by the processing of a financial surety, amounting to 35,000 euros (£30,453).

Mr Downey is facing extradition over the murder of two UDR men in Enniskillen in 1972. Read more »

A leaked email outlines how the PSNI sought to come to an arrangement with the republican Felons club to withdraw any objections to the club. Simultaneously the PSNI continue to press such spurious allegations against social clubs within the loyalist community, with no such offers of undertakings or agreements.

A leaked document obtained by Unionist Voice shows that the PSNI sought to obtain a simple undertaking from the republican Felons club not to advertise on social media, in exchange for dropping any objections to their clubs registration. Read more »

Last Friday, a letter was sent to an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, by over 1,000 people from right across nationalist civic society. Individuals with political affiliations and none, from the worlds of academia, health, the legal profession, business, the community and voluntary sector, sport and the arts made a direct public appeal to the Taoiseach to stand by his government’s stated commitment that no Irish citizen living in the north would ever be left behind by an Irish Government. Read more »

More details have been revealed by the journalist Susan McKay about the circumstances of the arrest of the two journalists who researched Alex Gibney’s  exposé documentary No Stone Unturned.  The film gives a compelling account of alleged police negligence and collusion between some police officers and the murderers who committed the Loughinisland massacre in 1994, killing six people and wounding five when they burst into the Heights bar and sprayed it with bullets. The Ombudsman cleared one police commander.   Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey from the film-making arm of The Detail investigative website were arrested by armed police at their homes in August. They face further interrogation at the end of this month. The police inquiry is being conducted by Durham police on behalf of the PSNI, although the local force is heavily involved. Read more »

Sinn Fein activists spent Halloween calling themselves ‘civic nationalists’ as part of a carefully contrived political stunt. It was little more than a blatant attempt to sectarianise civic society and build a ‘nationalist bloc’ within the professional sectors.

“If I was to write a letter on behalf of loyalists and unionists and flaunt myself all over the media promoting it, I would be shunned and drummed out of the profession.” That was the view of one astounded legal professional speaking to me in recent days about the ‘Leo Letter’. Read more »

It was if a rewind button had been hit and what followed was a playback into conversations that have spanned two-plus decades.

The panel discussion in north Belfast on Tuesday was on tackling paramilitarism; the question: How can government and civil society work together?

We now have an Independent Reporting Commission – established under the Fresh Start Agreement of 2015 to report on progress towards ending paramilitary activity.

Our processes and our conversations travel in circles. Read more »

WHILE the issue of the so-called ‘On the Runs’ was managed quietly by Tony Blair during a challenging time in the peace process, the ‘nod and a wink’ process always had the potential to end in controversy.

In 2006, there was an attempt to introduce legislation to cover the OTRs, however, this was shelved in the face of widespread opposition.

Sinn Féin initially supported but later rejected the plans, because it would have also covered the British Army and RUC. Read more »

Interesting letter in the Irish News from my old friend Trevor Ringland, reproduced here without further comment:

The deaths of 11 people In Ballymurphy during August 1971 were a tragic consequence of the events that led to the army being deployed on our streets. I sincerely hope the families are successful in their quest to establish the truth about what happened. Read more »

The on-mic/on-the-record commentary was bad enough – but what was whispered on the sidelines of Thursday’s Stormont talks was all the more telling.

“Shit show” was one summary. “Complete bollocks” another. “Bloody awful” yet another two word put down of this all-party meeting with Secretary of State Karen Bradley.

When you think things are as bad as they can be on the political hill, they just get worse. Read more »