Archive for the ‘Democratic Unionist Party’ Category
A series of Tributes to the Investigative Journalist Ed Moloney – “A strong voice against censorship: both that of the state and the more insidious self-censorship that had crept into journalism”
A number of tributes to the investigative journalist Ed Moloney are published below.
Also included is an account of how Ed published sensational evidence about the role of William Stobie (at one time a quarter-master in the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association), in the political murder of Belfast human rights lawyer Pat Finucane. The British state’s unsuccessful attempt to obtain details of the journalist’s confidential sources were defeated.
It is refreshing to read tributes about about a man I knew well that are kind, affectionate, and that do not pretend Ed was a saint.
He had a short fuse!
“If Northerners had a vote, Catherine Connolly would be our next president” – Justine McCarthy’s interesting comment on the 2025 Irish Presidential Election
This article was published in the September 26 2025 edition of the Irish Times.
If Northerners had a vote, Catherine Connolly would be our next president
Northerners have a vested interest in an election portrayed as seminal for the abolition of partition. But they don’t have a vote
Catherine Connolly’s presidential election campaign would be a stroll to the park if Ireland honoured all its citizens’ rights. Instead, the Independent candidate is being accused of lip service by two parties that have ensured the exclusion of hundreds of thousands of potential voters from choosing their head of state.
Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland are allowed no say in an election that is being billed as crucial to their future constitutional status. Sinn Féin insists the next president must “champion a united Ireland”. Fine Gael says its candidate, Heather Humphreys, as a Presbyterian from a Border county, would symbolically unite the island. Fianna Fáil presents its candidate, Jim Gavin, as being Border-blind due to his involvement with the all-island GAA. Yet those living in the North’s six counties are silenced in the election. Their continuing exclusion reduces them to nominal citizens.
Addressing his party’s annual conference last weekend, DUP leader Gavin Robinson rebuked the Republic for what he called its “institutional intolerance of Protestant culture and heritage” but the southern State’s starker prejudice is against its own citizens in the North. Under the 1956 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, affirmed by the 1998 Belfast Agreement, people in Northern Ireland are entitled to choose to be citizens of Ireland. As such, the Irish President is their president. Ever since Mary Robinson’s election to the Áras in 1990, the office’s holders have striven to represent them with their presence and their utterances. But across the Liffey in Government Buildings the realpolitik means that extending voting rights to Northern citizens would be electoral hara-kiri, virtually handing Sinn Féin the presidency on a plate.
Read the rest of this entry »Epping Forest Asylum Hotel Case Judge Mr Stephen Eyre has right-wing form in the 6 County bit of Ireland
We are used to NIMBY (Not in my back-yard) racists in Ireland attacking asylum-seekers and refugees in vulnerable accommodation. This political plague is currently sweeping across the British State. An Epping Forest Judge, Mr Stephen Eyre, has political form in the six-county bit of Ireland
Judge in Epping Forest asylum hotel case ran for Tories in NI poll
Liam Tunney, Belfast Telegraph, August 22nd, 2025
A judge behind a landmark ruling on hotels accommodating asylum seekers in the UK once stood for election in Northern Ireland.
Stephen Eyre’s ruling on the legality of The Bell Hotel’s eligibility to house asylum seekers has sparked a wave of complaints to local authorities across the UK, including three councils in Northern Ireland.
The action, taken by Epping Forest District Council against Somani Hotels, alleged the group had not notified the local planning authority of a change of use for the premises.
Mr Eyre is a former election candidate for the Conservative Party, standing in Birmingham Hodge Hill in 1987, Stourbridge in 2001 and again in a 2004 by-election in Birmingham Hodge Hill.
In the 1992 General Election, he stood in Strangford as the Conservatives attempted to gain a foothold in Northern Ireland.
European Law might overrule bigoted British Supreme Court Anti-Transgender ruling in 6 County bit of Ireland – since Brexit, the north is different from Great Britain
Voters in the 6 County bit of Ireland rejected Brexit in the 2016 British State referendum by a large margin : 55 to 45 per cent. This was a unique political event – opposition to Brexit broke down the normal sectarian divide on an important constitutional development in the north of Ireland : Almost all nationalists voted against Brexit, and they were joined by a significant number of Unionist (perhaps ex-Unionist) voters.
Afterwards a decision was needed : would a new European Union (EU) – Britain border divide the 6 and 26 county bits of Ireland – or would a new border emerge, dividing the island of Great Britain from all of Ireland?
Everybody knew a new Brexit border could not be imposed on Ireland. The British government needed window-dressing for its Unionist allies : the “Windsor Framework” was unveiled with a walk-on part for the reluctant British monarch King Charles.
This rickety constitutional construction kicked a sleeping dog. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement. copperfastened an imperialist crime – the 1922 partition of Ireland. A promise that partition could be ended through an internal 6 county referendum is part of the GFA – but this was never meant to happen. The architects of the GFA reasoned, correctly in 1998, that an anti-partition majority in the north of Ireland was extremely unlikely. The Unionist Veto was safe. After Brexit, not any more.
The former Fine Gael leader and taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is saying out loud what many people know is true but do not want to hear :
A Nigel Farage-led UK goverment could herald a united Ireland – Varadkar
Read the rest of this entry »Racism: The socialism of Fools; Racist Cancer Spreading from Ballymena in Ireland
Introduction :
The writer Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh offers very valuable insights into the June 2025 pogroms spreading from Ballymena in North Antrim to other towns in the 6 County bit of Ireland, notably Larne and Portadown. These vile events are related to similar sewer eruptions in the 26 county bit of Ireland and fit into a global rise of genocidal-racist powers such as Putin’s Russia, Netanyahu’s Israel, and their protectors such as Donald Trump’s USA. The latter is still a capitalist bourgeois democracy – but credible analysts now ask – for how long?
Below Fearghal’ s timely article – which contains very useful warnings from history : relevant references are made to the Marxist scholars and activists August Bebel, Victor Serge and Ernest Mandel :
We add :
A chilling report of an interview with the DUP Westminster MP for the Upper Bann constituency, Carla Lockhart.
A stark report from the 6 County bit of Ireland headlined “Week of Violence in North “Akin to 1930s Germany”
Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh
Link :
Ballymena; Racism the Socialism of Fools; Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh
I recently discussed three interconnected issues on Raidió na Gaeltachta: reform to the South’s rent caps benefiting landlords and international funds, Trump’s authoritarian militarization of US protests, and the racist attacks in Ballymena/Larne.
Read the rest of this entry »Ballymena Riots – Democratic Unionist party Stormont-Racist Minister Gordon Lyons posted location of people sheltering from riots – He Must Resign Immediately
“Christian” charity has disappeared from North Antrim.
Link :
Gordon Lyons Has to Go – by Eamonn McCann
The scenes we’re witnessing in Ballymena, Larne and elsewhere are vile and indefensible attempted pogroms. They should be utterly condemned by all.
These attacks haven’t occurred out of thin air, however.
In a context of community frustration at deprivation, waiting lists and crumbling public services, far right agitators are spreading racist lies on social media to blame migrants, and Unionist politicians have deliberately fanned the flames of their hate.
Last night, the DUP Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons posted the location of people sheltering from riots:
“It has been brought to my attention that a number of individuals were temporarily moved to Larne Leisure Centre in the early hours of the morning following the disturbances in Ballymena.”
The leisure centre was attacked later that evening – motivated by sheer racism. Gordon Lyons should resign immediately.
Other Unionist politicians have been whipping up anti-immigrant rhetoric.
On Monday Paul Frew, also DUP, went on the attack about immigration in a session on violence against women, and also referenced the case of sexual assault which sparked the racist riots in Ballymena. Frew also railed about immigration in Ballymena in a debate on the 20th May.
The TUV’s Timothy Gaston beat the anti-immigration drum on that same day: “Migration puts pressure on hospitals, schools and housing: that is a fact.”
This is the racist playbook on display. It blames migrants and minorities for the problems in our society. Migrants didn’t underfund the health service, minorities don’t hike up rents, asylum seekers don’t keep wages down. These problems are caused by the super rich, by landlords, and by politicians who protect them
Unionist politicians bear serious responsibility for the hateful scenes of recent days. They dog-whistled and whipped up racist sentiments. Loyalist paramilitaries and far right agitators took the next logical step, attacking ordinary people and making them fear for their lives.
Don’t be taken in by the DUP, the TUV and the far right. Stand up for humanity in a time of fear and chaos.
Belfast Child Abuse Scandal : KINCORA MONSTER DENIED ALL WHEN CONFRONTED BY AUTHOR IN THIS EXTRACT FROM HIS NEW BOOK, KINCORA: BRITAIN’S SHAME
Child Abuse remains a major crime problem in Ireland, on both sides of the border. Veteran reporter Chris Moore has worked tirelessly researching the issue, and fighting state censorship.
Governments running the two bits of Ireland must stop pocketing knowledge of abuse, and then using the information for political intelligence purposes, and protecting powerful wealthy criminals.
The building at the centre of the scandal was demolished three years ago, but the cover up of the crimes committed behind its walls continues.
Suzanne Breen, Journalist, Belfast
It is long past the time that the full truth was told about what happened in the house of horrors.
McGrath denied his sins to the end – one of his last interviews
Chris Moore, Sunday Life, May 18th, 2025
Source : “McGrath Denied His Sins to the End” Kincora Monster Denied All
KINCORA MONSTER DENIED ALL WHEN CONFRONTED BY AUTHOR IN THIS EXTRACT FROM HIS NEW BOOK, KINCORA: BRITAIN’S SHAME
I parked in the forecourt of a neighbourhood shop with the intention of asking if anyone could direct me to McGrath’s home.
I presented a few items for payment, casually asking the shopkeeper if she could point me in the direction of his house.
Politely, but firmly, she declined, saying that as far as she and others in the village were concerned, ‘Billy’ McGrath was a friendly man who said he had been badly wronged in the courts and pestered by reporters.
“I suppose you are one of them,” she said bluntly. I owned up and then respectfully suggested that the evidence that convicted him indicated that, far from being wronged, McGrath had actually got off very lightly.
Collecting my change, I headed out to the car to consider my next move. I could do the door-to-door routine, but the attitude of the shopkeeper suggested I would receive little cooperation. Then, an elderly man approached, wearing a cardigan, dark trousers and slippers, so obviously he had not travelled too far.
I got out of the car and watched as he moved towards the shop. There is a God, I thought. Gingerly I edged around the car, proffering my hand as he reached me.
He accepted, we shook and I announced myself as “Chris Moore from the BBC”. McGrath smiled wryly and told me he had nothing to say.
Read the rest of this entry »British General Election 2024 – Highlights and Lowlights – Loveless Landslide, Sandcastle Majority. Far-Right Hiding in Plain Sight, House of Paisley Falls in Antrim – and a Message of Hope from new MP Shockat Adam, Leicester South
Let’s start with positive news :
Shockat Adam MP, Leicester South – “This is for the people of Gaza”.
When you listen to this June 25 car-crash interview with former Leicester South Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth, you would be forgiven for thinking he was a member of the far-right racist party, Reform.
Shockat Adam was not alone. Five pro-Gaza independent candidates (including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North) are members of the new Westminster parliament :
Read the rest of this entry »Jeffrey Donaldson Abuse Case : Journalist Sam McBride highlights a key fact
Political journalist Sam McBride points out :
“It has been widely reported that Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said in a letter to the DUP that he will strenuously contest the serious charges against him. However, he has said nothing yet in public. Now we know when he will have to enter a plea: September 10.”
A Stormont law said it’s a criminal offence to say “Jimmy Savile was a paedophile” – Judge ruled this is perverse, Minister Naomi Long launches appeal
On the face of it this is political loony-land – and so much for the liberal reputation of Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, currently trying to take the East Belfast Westminster seat of DUP leader Gavin Robinson – the result will be known in the early hours of Friday July 5.
Political Journalist Sam McBride explains the background in two articles below.
One correspondent asked McBride a relevant question, straining to give Long the benefit of the doubt :
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 