The man alleged to have been the British Army’s most high-ranking agent
in the Provisional IRA has been arrested and is being questioned about
allegations that he murdered dozens of people while working undercover
in the IRA’s feared internal security unit.
Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) have confirmed no immediate plans to
decommission their weapons following the breakaway IRA group’s
announcement that it is to “suspend all armed actions against the
British State”.
In a dramatic day at Belfast’s High Court, a judge who sought to quash a
report which found British state collusion in the Loughinisland massacre
is to step aside from the case.
The sister of a man shot dead on Bloody Sunday has said the erection of
flags for the British Army’s Parachute Regiment outside Derry is “blind
sectarianism”.
The new British Direct Ruler Karen Bradley has characterised the latest
round of the talks process in Belfast as a final chance to salvage the
devolved power-sharing institutions at Stormont.
Concerns have been expressed at the accelerating rate at which
undocumented Irish people living in the United States are being deported
back to Ireland.
Mary Lou McDonald will be confirmed as the next leader of Sinn Fein
within two weeks. A look at the woman who has set herself the challenge
of leading the party into government in the 26 Counties.
The full text of today’s ceasefire statement by the
breakaway IRA armed group, Oglaigh na hEireann. It was released at a
press conference involving Fianna Fáil TD Eamon O Cuiv and senior trade union figures who have been in
talks around the group’s future.
The breakaway IRA group Oglaigh na hEireann has announced a suspension
of its armed actions, saying the “environment is not right for armed
conflict” at this time, according to news reports this morning.
Mary Lou McDonald will succeed Gerry Adams as Sinn Fein leader, the
party has confirmed, and will formally ascend to the leadership at a
special Ard Fheis [conference] next month.
Sinn Fein has condemned new proposals to redraw the north’s electoral
constituencies as a Tory/DUP gerrymander. A new revised plan is being
prepared by the Boundary Commission which is a dramatic shift from
previous plans.
Two decades after the murder of Fergal ‘Ricky’ McCusker by the LVF, his
family have said they and other victims across the area “deserve
answers, truth and accountability”.
A row has broken out over this year’s Bloody Sunday march in Derry,
with some republican organisations preparing to boycott the event due
to the appearance of a British soldier and other contentious names on
advertising material.
Gerry Adams gave what is thought to be his last speech as president of
Sinn Fein to the party’s Cuige Uladh [Ulster department] in Belfast
on Saturday morning before his succession by Mary Lou McDonald. The full text of Mr Adams’s speech.
Sinn Fein’s Barry McElduff has resigned as West Tyrone MP following an
outcry over an intended humourous video in which he used a loaf of
bread as a prop.
A short internet video intended as humourous by Sinn Fein MP for West
Tyrone Barry McElduff caused a wave of sectarian recrimination this week
when a loaf of bread he perched on his head inside a petrol station
carried the word ‘Kingsmill’.
Prominent Derry councillor Gary Donnelly has again been arrested and
released by Gardai in County Donegal in connection with the execution of
British agent and Sinn Fein informer, Denis Donaldson.
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the killing, the Dublin government has
refused to release a report into the British army killing of Aidan
McAnespie as he made his way to a Gaelic sports pitch.
The deputy leader of a far-right unionist group in Britain is to go on
trial on charges of hate speech in Belfast, it was confirmed in court
on Tuesday.
The Craigavon 2, Brendan McConville and John-Paul Wootton, are innocent
Irishmen who have been wrongfully imprisoned for the past 8 years. Sign the petition now!
If the NI Retired Police
Officers’ Association wins on Loughinisland, it will have succeeded in closing down an
important official source of information about alleged collusion and its
scale, small or large. John Ware looks at a crucial upcoming ruling.
A 47-year-old English MP has been appointed as the new British Direct
Ruler in the north of Ireland, taking over from the departing James
Brokenshire. Karen Bradley has no known connection to Ireland.
The head of British government in the north of Ireland, James
Brokenshire, has quit the Tory cabinet ahead of a major reshuffle by
Prime Minister Theresa May.
The DUP has been accused of not facing reality after the hardline
unionist party called for a return of full Direct Rule of the north of
Ireland from London, and condemned comments by the 26 County Taoiseach
that he supports a united Ireland.
A republican prisoner recently extradited into British jurisdiction was
dragged away from a Christmas visit by prison warders before being
subjected to a vicious strip search.
Miami Showband massacre survivor Stephen Travers says the 26 County
government should be ‘getting answers’ from London about revelations
emerging from declassified state papers.
The number of patients waiting for a hospital bed on trolleys in the 26
Counties reached a record earlier this week as the Dublin government
admitted it was baffled by its own failures.
There have been calls for the Dublin government to hold a proper
investigation into the Belturbet car bombing which claimed two lives of
two teenagers 45 years ago this week.
A notorious Irish civil servant who claims that homelessness is “normal”
and that some of those seeking shelter are trying to “game the system”
has been reappointed as head of the Dublin government’s Housing Agency.
2018 will present many challenges. If progress with the DUP proves
impossible then the onus falls on to the Irish and British governments
to spell out how they intend to jointly ensure that all past agreements
are honoured.