The BelTel

There is a very senior, well-paid civil servant, working in the higher echelons of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. 

Only a handful of officials work at that level and with every one of these individuals we are entitled to know who they are, what they do and what they are paid – but not when it comes to one man.

Or is it a woman? We don’t know. 

The Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland Editor Sam McBride has discovered a top-mandarin that we know nothing about - a secret civil servant. 

The taxpayer is not allowed to know what they do, not allowed to know how much they are paid and not even allowed to know what their name is.  

Sam McBride joins Ciarán Dunbar on the BelTel to explain this bizarre story.  

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Sinn Féin are still top of the polls north and south – but all polls show the party has lost ground. Many commentators think Sinn Féin have lost their direction and sense of purpose. 

So - has Sinn Féin really lost its mojo and what can it do about it?  

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by politics lecturer and commentator David McCann to discuss what Sinn Féin will have to do to hold its ground ahead of the 2027 Northern Ireland Assembly elections.  

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A report has lambasted ‘institutional misogyny’ in PSNI over failings in the Katie Simpson murder investigation. Police officers on the case were responsible for a catalogue of basic failures including not preserving evidence, missing forensic opportunities, dismissing key witness statements, failing to secure phones or even photographing her injuries. 21-year-old Katie from Tynan, Co Armagh, died almost a week after an incident in Lettershandoney. Police originally thought she had taken her own life. But a year later, Jonathan Creswell was arrested. Creswell’s trial ended in April 2024 after he took his own life following the first day of proceedings. 

The Belfast Telegraph’s Crime Correspondent, Allison Morris, joins Ciarán Dunbar. 

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In the 1990s, DUP leader Ian Paisley railed against the peace process, denouncing it as a sellout. But newly declassified documents reveal that some of his lieutenants, including Gregory Campbell, held in fact much more moderate views that those they professed publicly. East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell has always presented himself as a hardliner who has long been known for tough rhetoric and even gratuitous insults. But formerly secret files from the UK’s archive in Kew have revealed a different side to him and that he and other senior DUP figures were keen to play a part in the peace talks, with NIO officials regarding them as key DUP moderates. 

The Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland editor, Sam McBride, joins Ciarán Dunbar.  

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This is a bonus episode of In Good Company with Cathy Martin, The Belfast Telegraph's new business and lifestyle podcast. Conor Ferguson is an Olympic swimmer who’s faced heartbreak by the narrowest of margins – missing out on the 2016 Rio Olympics by five hundredths of a second, and Tokyo in 2020 by four tenths.  

But rather than stepping away, he’s turned what some might perceive as adversity into innovation, now co-founding Athlete Hub – a tech startup using AI to help athletes optimise every part of their performance.  

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to keep up with In Good Company, releasing every Tuesday, wherever you get your podcasts.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/podcast-series/in-good-company/

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Julia Holmes was born as Cecilia McKitterick in Castlederg, County Tyrone. After leaving Northern Ireland when she was 19, she eventually settled in Texas, where she started her career as a scam artist - using more than 40 names to dupe her targets into handing over huge sums of money. She posed as countless aliases, including a minister and a psychologist. After being deported home for her crimes, she continued her scams, until she was found dead in 2015 alongside her partner, in what appeared as a suicide pact. 

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Gillian Halliday. 

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The inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe, which is being heard before a jury, has now heard 13 weeks of evidence. 

The 14-year-old’s body was discovered in north Belfast on June 27, 2020, six days after he went missing as he cycled to meet friends.  On Monday, the jury heard from Daryl Paul, the thief convicted of stealing Noah Donohoe’s laptop.  

Under cross-examination he denied an image of a hand found on the schoolboy’s phone belonged to him.  

Liam Tunney is covering the inquest for the Belfast Telegraph.  

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Dissident republican bombers have struck twice in recent weeks. On Saturday a bomb exploded at Dunmurry PSNI station in Belfast. The bombers used an almost identical method to those who tried to attack Lurgan police station last month. In both attacks a delivery driver was hijacked, threatened, and told to drive the bomb to its target. These attacks, claimed by the New IRA, came after a lull in violence– so what has sparked this outbreak?

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph security correspondent, Allison Morris.

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Today we know that Stakeknife existed, and that he was Freddie Scappaticci.  We know that Scappaticci, at the top of the IRA unit hunting informers was himself an informer for British security forces. But prior to the story being brought to light by journalist Liam Clarke, then at the Sunday Times, the public, and indeed the IRA, had no idea.  There was a clear public interest in the story, but when it began to emerge M15 and MI6 went to great lengths to try to keep a lid on it – and were worried about another story Clarke was investigating, which involved Martin McGuinness. Formerly secret ‘Kew Files’ reveal their motivations.  

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by the Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland editor, Sam McBride. 

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Stormont, through Invest NI, is funding a CIA-linked firm whose secretive and powerful tech is being used by Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown force - ICE  Software developed in Belfast by Nisos, a company founded by former intelligence operatives, is now being used by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. A former Nisos employee says few people understand the significance of what’s involved, but “it’s like handing a toddler a loaded gun”. Invest NI, is an agency under Sinn Féin Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald’s department – she ordered officials to look into the funding.  

The Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland editor Sam McBride joins Ciarán Dunbar.  

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