The BelTel

It was in April 1992 when Patrick 'Patsy' O'Sullivan called into his brother Jerry's home like it was any other day, but it’s a day that will forever remain etched in Jerry’s memory.

Patrick went missing from his home in Co Kerry that year, and despite extensive searches and emotional appeals, efforts to find him proved fruitless.

It would take the O'Sullivan family 34 years to find out the truth.

Tessa Fleming is joined by Kerryman journalist Sinead Kelleher and by Jerry O'Sullivan, Patsy’s brother, to discuss his disappearance and how they eventually found out what happened to him.

This episode of The BelTel was produced by our sister podcast, The Indo Daily.

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The parading crisis in Portadown seems over on the ground, but it is very much alive in the courts, on the airwaves, and in politics.

The Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant stepped in on Friday to ban the Portadown Orange lodge from marching down the Garvaghy Road, now the Orange Order is challenging that decision in the courts.

On Monday afternoon, the Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge from Garvaghy residents to the Parades Commission’s decision to allow the parade.

In Stormont, First Minister Michelle O’Neill will face a confidence motion after taking part in a protest backing the Garvaghy Road residents, while the TUV demands the DUP take Emma Little-Pengelly out of the Executive.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Allison Morris.

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The St Andrews Agreement was signed twenty years ago on 13 October 2006.

Officially. it just amended the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement, but it did bring about some profound changes in Northern Ireland’s politics.

It saw the DUP and Ian Paisley signing up to the peace process.

Sinn Féin bought into policing, agreeing to work with the PSNI; the DUP agreed to go into government with them.

The two parties have dominated Stormont politics ever since.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by political commentator David McCann.

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In recent weeks, the 2020 French hack into the secret gangster phone network Encrochat has continued to see Northern Ireland drug dealers sent to Maghaberry.

Multiple prison sentences have been handed down to some significant figures from Northern Ireland’s criminal world.

Gangsters like ‘cute hur’, ‘mint wind’ and ‘ultra gold’ are just some of those who went down after the notorious platform spilled its secrets.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph’s crime correspondent Allison Morris.

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The stand-off between the Drumcree Orange men and the Garvaghy residents continues.

In Belfast on Monday – a court reserved judgment on the residents’ renewed application to stop the march.

The march – and the protest has sharply divided our politicians. Some fear real damage is being done to community relations.

And in other news the SDLP in Armagh has seen fit to dump its siting MLA – Justin McNulty – why?

Ciarán Dunbar joined by our political editor, Suzanne Breen.

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He was once known as the Right Honourable Sir Jeffrey Donaldson but is now known as inmate number E5032.

Donaldson once proudly walked the corridors of Westminster, ate in fancy restaurants, and commanded media attention.

But now he spends his days behind bars in Maghaberry, reading, doing jigsaws and doing art.

The home in Dromore, in which he lived in with wife Eleanor, who was found to have aided and abetting child sexual abuse, has appeared on the market for a modest £650,000.

Donaldson was convicted of 18 charges concerning child sexual abuse in June. Prosecution lawyers want him to serve at least ten years in prison.

To talk about Donaldson’s new life, Ciarán Dunbar is joined by the Belfast. Telegraph’s Kurtis Reid

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A fearless investigative reporter who exposed the criminal underworld behind Northern Ireland’s paramilitaries, O’Hagan had made dangerous enemies on both sides, but no one has ever been convicted of his murder.

Joining Fionnán Sheehan is Sunday World Northern editor Richard Sullivan and Irish Independent special correspondent Paul Williams, as they remember their friend and colleague and examine why, 25 years on, his killing remains unsolved.

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The standoff between the Orangemen on Drumcree and the residents of the Garvaghy Road continues in Portadown.

Negotiations involving the Secretary of State Chris Bryant, the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents have so far failed to reach an agreement.

Garvaghy Road residents' spokesman Breandán Mac Cionnaith, confirmed on Wednesday that there was a document on the table. However, both Jamie Bryson and Carla Lockhart said the Portadown district won’t be accepting any deal that sees them walk away from their right to parade down the Garvaghy Road.

Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald and First Minister Michelle O’Neill were back on the Garvaghy road with residents on Wednesday – with the First Minister saying that standing on the road with residents on Sunday was "the right thing to do".

Meanwhile, the leaders of the DUP and UUP say they expect to see prosecutions over the protest in the next few days.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by the Belfast Telegraph’s Kevin Scott, Kurtis Reid, and Allison Morris.

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In 1990, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy lost his seminal libel case against the Sunday Times.

But formerly secret files reveal the south Armagh republican was actually expected to win it – and that the paper was considering throwing in the towel.

But a tactical error by Murphy led to the paper deciding to fight – and not settle, costing him a fortune.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sam McBride.

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