Irish Republican News

The conviction of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson for serious child sex offences, including rape, has sent shockwaves across Irish and British politics and opened questions about those who surrounded a man who is now one of the most notorious figures in northern politics.

It is not yet clear if Keir Starmer’s resignation as British Prime Minister and his likely replacement with former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham will finally bring movement on a border poll to end the British occupation of Ireland.

Fresh racist intimidation has appeared across several loyalist areas in the wake of the recent anti-immigrant violence that swept through parts of the north, with new incidents in Newtownards, Moygashel, Dungannon, Derry and Rathcoole underlining the organised nature of the campaign directed against migrant communities.

Families were forced to leave their homes with their children after a group of around 20 masked men descended on the Drumnagoon area of Craigavon and re-erected union and Israeli flags that local residents had already removed.

An image of a man carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher hanging from a loyalist bonfire in east Belfast has once again put the spotlight on paramilitary intimidation and public safety concerns that continue to surround the annual bonfire season.