The BelTel

NI21 appeared to many as a great idea. But the enthusiasm and positivity did not last long and the party’s collapse into chaos was a spectacular one. Just a day before the party’s first electoral test in 2014 – the party decides that they are now agnostic on the issue of the border, it was then torn apart by controversy and infighting. 

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sam McBride to talk about how the wheels came off NI21, where the party’s leaders are now, and if a liberal unionist party could ever work. 

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NI21 – A party that sought to change the direction of a century of unionist politics but ended in disaster. Two charismatic Ulster Unionist MLAs – Basil Mccrea and John McAllister - quit their party in 2013 for pastures new. But following a last-minute decision to become agnostic on the border, sexual misconduct allegations against its leader, and a host of other fiascos, things quickly fell apart.  

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sam McBride to talk about what NI21 believed in, who the big personalities involved where, and if the party was always destined to end the way it did. 

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Rosemary Nelson died in March 1999 after a bomb exploded under her car. The Red Hand Defenders took responsibility. High-profile clients like IRA man Colin Duffy and the Garvaghy Road Residents’ association had made her a target for sectarian animosity. It was alleged she had been threatened by RUC officers. 

 Ciarán Dunbar is joined by co-author of the book, ‘Who Killed Rosemary Nelson?’ Neil Root and Sunday Life editor Martin Breen. 

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An unlawfully at large Magilligan Prisoner with four names is to face a court in Rhode Island. 

Timothy O’Reilly, also known as Elijah Gavin, Timothy Kelly, or Elijah Thomas, was arrested in New York in January on charges of conning over $800,000 dollars from a 78-year-old woman. He has been on the run since 2022 after failing to return to Magilligan Prison after a temporary compassionate release – at the time he was facing charges over an attempt to trick another elderly woman out of £40,000. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sunday World’s Eamon Dillon. 

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Gerard Conway was last seen in Cookstown in 2007. The 32-year-old father-of-one was recorded on CCTV at a bank in the town on the 25th of January. He was officially reported missing by his family on 13th of February. Despite searches, he has never been seen since. What happened to Gerard remains a mystery, but the coroner is satisfied he is dead. An inquest has heard from family, friends and witnesses. Several of them, believed that there is a possibility that he had been murdered.  

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph reporter Kurtis Reid. 

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The PSNI have broken its silence on claims that it spied on journalist Donal MacIntyre, who is investing the death of teenager Noah Donohoe.  The Chief Constable Jon Boucher says that “No Journalistic material was viewed, recorded, or sought by the PSNI”. He says that the PSNI only accessed information that was publicly posted on two X accounts. The PSNI also now denies breaking into the investigative journalist’s car – after they initially refused to comment. 

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sam McBride, who has been following the story. 

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The New IRA is in secret peace negations with the British and Irish governments. But the group’s leadership, who were previously arrested in an MI5 sting, is understood to be at loggerheads with hardliners over whether they should abandon their armed campaign. The New IRA is currently the most active of the dissident groups and is responsible for at least seven murders. 

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Allison Morris, who broke the story. 

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The tragic and highly unusual nature of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe’s death in 2020, along with criticism of the police search for him, had led to substantial public concern, speculation, and anger. Two years ago, investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre began investigating the disappearance and the circumstances around it. A source has now told the Belfast Telegraph that as Mr MacIntyre began his work, the PSNI moved to put him under significant online surveillance. He says he is “disappointed but not shocked” at the PSNI allegedly spying on him. 

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sam McBride, who broke the story. 

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Journalist Martin Dillon disputes the ending of the ‘Say Nothing’ tv show depicting the murder of Jean McConville. In his new book ‘The Sorrow and the Loss: The Tragic Shadow Cast by the Troubles on the Lives of Women’, he writes about people like Caroline Moreland, shot as an informer just weeks before the IRA ceasefire – he believes Martin McGuinness must have known about it. Mairead Farrell killed by the SAS in Gibraltar despite being well-known to the security services also features in the book. 

Martin Dillon joins Ciarán Dunbar, to talk about his latest work. 

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