Category Archives: Northern Ireland

UK plan to end Troubles prosecutions ‘could breach international law’

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European human rights commissioner warns Northern Ireland secretary that amnesty is ‘deeply problematic’

Boris Johnson’s plan to impose a statute of limitations to end all prosecutions related to the Troubles before 1998 could be in breach of international law, a European human rights commissioner has told the government.

Dunja Mijatović of the Council of Europe has written to the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, saying the UK’s proposals appear indistinguishable from an unconditional amnesty for those not yet convicted.

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Joe Biden warns UK not to damage Northern Ireland peace over Brexit – video

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 Joe Biden has underlined the importance of ensuring peace in Northern Ireland is not jeopardised by post-Brexit tensions. Asked about a UK-US trade deal, the US president told reporters in Washington on Tuesday: 'There are two separate issues: on the deal with the UK, that continues to be discussed, but on the protocols, I feel very strongly about those. It was a major bipartisan effort made, and I would not at all like to see – nor, I might add, would many of my Republican colleagues – like to see a change in the Irish accords, and the end result having a closed border again'

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Lyra McKee: two men charged with murder of Northern Irish journalist

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Pair, aged 21 and 33, charged with killing McKee as she covered rioting in Derry in 2019, police say

Two men have been charged with the murder of the Belfast journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead during disturbances in Derry in 2019.

McKee, 29, one of Northern Ireland’s most promising young journalists, was killed as she observed rioting in the Creggan area of the city on 18 April 2019.

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Anti-vaxxer mother and daughter die from Covid in Belfast hospital

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Heather Maddern and her daughter, Sammie-Jo Forde, were care workers and Maddern had shared conspiracy theories online

An anti-vaxxer mother and her daughter died just days apart in a Belfast hospital after they contracted Covid-19, leaving their family “devastated”.

The BBC reported that Sammie-Jo Forde, 32, died in the Ulster hospital on Saturday, where she had been treated on the same ward as her mother, Heather Maddern, 55, who died on 31 August.

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UK government threatens to suspend Northern Ireland protocol

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Brexit minister Lord Frost tells House of Lords that the European Commission must take renegotiation proposals seriously

The row over Brexit and Northern Ireland has escalated after the UK government issued a new warning to the EU that it will not shy away from unilaterally suspending the Northern Ireland protocol agreed by Boris Johnson last year.

Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, told the House of Lords on Monday night that the EU should take the UK’s proposals to renegotiate part of the protocol “seriously” if it wanted to avoid the protocol collapsing.

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‘Not always easy to comprehend’: Hollywood struggles with Belfast accent

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Reviewers in the US have lauded the film, but complain it is too difficult to understand and needs subtitles

Kenneth Branagh’s new autobiographical film, Belfast, is tipped for Oscar glory, but his home town will not be happy if it’s in the foreign language category.

Hollywood reviewers who have lauded the film’s storytelling and acting complain the Northern Ireland accents are difficult to understand and require subtitles.

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UK and EU extend post-Brexit grace period over Northern Ireland indefinitely

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Government source says UK wants to ‘create space for talks to happen without deadlines looming’

Plans for post-Brexit checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland have been suspended indefinitely by the UK after negotiations with the EU reached a stalemate.

Grace periods designed to ease the transition into new trading arrangements and checks on the island of Ireland have twice been extended as part of diplomatic wrangling labelled “the sausage wars”.

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David Frost: Irish Sea row risks damaging UK-EU relations long term

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Minister says government will not ‘sweep away’ NI Brexit protocol, but renews demands for major changes

The UK will not “sweep away” the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol, despite renewed calls for its abolition by the Democratic Unionist party, the Brexit minister has said.

However, David Frost renewed his demands for fundamental changes on its implementation, warning the row could have a long-term chilling effect on wider EU-UK relations unless it was resolved.

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Couple divided by Irish border because of post-Brexit rules

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Corrinne and Brett Giles live in Donegal and Derry counties due to ‘borderline unconstitutional’ application of immigration rule

A South African doctor and her British husband are living on either side of the Irish border because of what one MP called a “borderline unconstitutional” application of post-Brexit immigration rules.

Corrinne and Brett Giles live 25 miles apart in Donegal and Derry counties respectively, with Corrinne in a “constant state of anxiety” waiting for a family permit to join her husband in the UK.

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Majority of Northern Irish voters want vote on staying in UK

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Two-thirds of people say a border poll should be held at some point in the wake of Brexit

Two-thirds of voters in Northern Ireland believe there should be a vote over its place in the UK, but only 37% want it to take place within the next five years, according to a new poll for the Observer.

Some 31% of voters said there should be a vote at some point about Northern Ireland’s place in the UK but after 2026, the LucidTalk poll found. A further 29% said there should never be such a vote. There is currently a seven-point lead for Northern Ireland remaining part of the UK should any vote take place.

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UK rejects EU’s Northern Ireland moves, saying Brexit deal must be renegotiated

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Downing Street says Brussels overtures are insufficient and ‘comprehensive’ solutions needed

Boris Johnson has rejected Brussels’ latest attempt to iron out problems with the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, insisting that the withdrawal agreement signed last year must be renegotiated.

Related: If Britain wants to resolve the Northern Ireland protocol, this is not the way to do it | Anand Menon and Jill Rutter

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Omagh bombing could have been prevented, says high court judge

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‘Real prospect’ 1998 attack by dissident republicans could have been thwarted, says Mr Justice Horner

Security forces had a “real prospect” of preventing the 1998 Omagh bombing – the deadliest atrocity of the Northern Ireland Troubles – a Belfast high court has ruled.

Mr Justice Horner recommended on Friday that the British and Irish governments each undertake human rights compliant investigations into the bombing, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 220 people.

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Brexit: Von der Leyen rejects Boris Johnson bid to renegotiate Irish protocol

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EU has already proposed changes to lessen impact on Northern Irish citizens, say officials

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has rejected Boris Johnson’s move to renegotiate the Northern Irish protocol, raising the temperature of a simmering Brexit row.

“The EU will continue to be creative and flexible within the protocol framework. But we will not renegotiate,” she said after a call with the prime minister on Thursday.

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‘Something’s not right’: Northern Irish townland has its 31.2C day in the sun

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Ballywatticock was country’s hottest ever spot last week – but its reign had ended within days

In the annals of climate change it will be remembered, if at all, as a diverting footnote: the brief reign of Ballywatticock.

Few people in Northern Ireland had heard of this townland on the shores of Strangford Lough in County Down until its weather station recorded the hottest temperature for the UK last Saturday: 31.2C (88.16F).

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‘While there’s British interference, there’s going to be action’: why a hardcore of dissident Irish republicans are not giving up

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In the face of scorn and contempt from former IRA members, a small number of dissident groups remain committed to armed action. What do they think they can achieve?

In the early hours of 19 April 2019, Belfast-born Irish republican Anthony McIntyre was awakened by his wife, Carrie, in their home in Drogheda, just south of the border in Ireland. “It’s not true, it can’t be true,” she was saying. “Lyra has been shot dead.”

Drowsy, confused and not quite believing what he had just been told, McIntyre fell back asleep. He awoke the following morning thinking, “What did she tell me?” McIntyre looked online, and saw that it was true: their good friend, the 29-year-old journalist Lyra McKee, had been observing a riot in Derry the previous night when she was shot by a republican gunman.

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Why is UK publishing a ‘command paper’ on Northern Ireland protocol?

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Trading arrangements continue to be a significant flashpoint in relations with Dublin and Brussels

Just seven months after it came into force, the Northern Ireland protocol is proving once again a significant flashpoint in the UK’s relations with Dublin and Brussels.

On Wednesday, the UK published a “command paper” on the protocol. Some will see it as an attempt to tear up the agreement Boris Johnson struck in 2019, others will see it as a serious attempt to fix a deal they argue was flawed from the beginning but signed to help the British prime minister to get Brexit done, as he had promised.

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UK says it wants to substantially rewrite Northern Ireland Brexit protocol

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Blueprint for alternative arrangement published as sources say protocol was flawed at conception

The UK has launched an audacious bid to rewrite a key plank of the Brexit deal, saying the Northern Ireland protocol was flawed at conception but served its purpose to get the UK out of the EU as “one country”.

The European Commission immediately ruled out a renegotiation of the deal, which was trumpeted by Boris Johnson as a solution to the Irish border impasse two years ago. The commission is understood to be open to some changes on the special arrangements for Northern Ireland, however.

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UK confirms plan to call time on Troubles prosecutions

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Proposals to end prosecutions relating to Troubles before 1998 opposed by Irish government

All criminal prosecutions relating to the Troubles and future attempts to take civil actions would be blocked under UK government plans that have united Northern Ireland’s parties in opposition.

The proposals, which are also opposed by the Irish government, were announced by Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, who told MPs it was a “painful truth” that criminal investigations were unlikely to deliver successful outcomes.

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Northern Ireland’s deputy leader urges calm before loyalist parades

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Michelle O’Neill concerned about site of unionist bonfire, as tensions rise over post-Brexit trading rules

Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister has urged people to celebrate peacefully before the start of the loyalist parade season, as tensions increase over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill – who is deputy to the new first minister, Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), in the power-sharing administration – called particularly for calm over a bonfire set up in a contentious site in north Belfast.

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UK-EU relations deteriorate again after ‘strange’ David Frost remarks

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Irish foreign minister hits out at Brexit minister over provocative article on Northern Ireland protocol

The EU fears that Boris Johnson wants to “dismantle” the Northern Ireland protocol, the Irish foreign minister has said, as relations between Brussels and London deteriorated again after remarks by the Brexit minister David Frost in the past 24 hours.

Simon Coveney told RTÉ on Sunday that EU leaders feared the worst after what he felt was a provocative article written by Lord Frost and the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, in the Irish Times on Saturday.

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