Category: Ireland
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The DCIs: Britain’s intelligence chiefs in the Northern Ireland Troubles (Working Draft)
The new year is a good time to think about the best way of using my Patreon. While some of the posts there give a good flavour of my research, I’ve been thinking for some time about following the example of writers like Kevin Carson, who post the full working draft of their books online.Over…
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Will Stakeknife Inquiry defy the Stalker precedent?
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, of Bedfordshire Police, said this week that he has evidence to bring a number of prosecutions in relation to the activities of the alleged British Army agent inside the IRA known as ‘Stakeknife’. According to the BBC, the Stakeknife investigation, Operation Kenova, could recommend the prosecution of members of the IRA,…
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Military Reaction Forces, Mobile Reaction Forces and ‘FRED’ Force
Researcher Ciarán MacAirt has done sterling work in the past few years in dismantling the official story in relation to the 1971 McGurks Bar bombing in North Belfast, an attack which security forces claimed at the time was an IRA own goal. Ciarán's latest research at Paper Trail reveals that the British Army's undercover Military…
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The Walker report: How MI5 shaped RUC Special Branch
The 1980 Walker report on RUC Special Branch has been something of a holy grail for documentary researchers of the Troubles. After a long-running campaign, the Committee for the Administration of Justice has published a redacted version (PDF) released by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The Rights NI blog has a valuable analysis of…
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Justice for the Forgotten to speak on Troubles Legacy in London
The legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland is unusually high on the Westminster agenda at the moment, so it worth taking note of a very timely meeting being organised by the Labour Party Irish Society next Monday: We want to alert you to an extremely important event we are organising for MONDAY 2 JULY,…
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The Good Friday Agreement, Twenty Years On
Lewes Labour Party very kindly invited myself and Professor Mary Hickman to speak on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement this week. Below is the text of my prepared remarks, which I think bears some resemblance to what I actually said! I'd like to talk a little bit about where we are…
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Equal marriage bill is big test for Theresa May
After being moved in the Lords by Lord Hayward on Tuesday, the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Bill passed its first hurdle in the Commons yesterday. The bill secured first reading without objections after a powerful speech by St Helens North MP Conor McGinn
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Equal Marriage Bill shows limits of DUP leverage
Conservative peer Lord Hayward will introduce a bill on equal marriage in Northern Ireland in the House of Lords on Tuesday, with Labour MP Conor McGinn set to introduce an identical bill in the Commons on Wednesday.
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Hooded Men ruling risks new era of torture
Last year I wrote for the Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) on documents which raised questions about the role of MI5 in the handling of internees in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.
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Donor data underlines DUP-Tory alliance
The Electoral Commission has today released its first ever figures for party donations in Northern Ireland. Thanks to the DUP-Conservative alliance in the Commons, the figures do not cover the Brexit referendum. Despite an extensive investigation by openDemocracy, we still do not know who made the mysterious $435,000 donation to which the DUP used to…