The BelTel

The seizure last week of a bomb containing almost 400g of Semtex plastic explosive has put the New IRA back on to the front pages after a lull in violence.

Two people connected to the political group Saoradh have been charged in relation to the incident.

The sophisticated device has fuel fears that the group has gained access to fresh stocks of military-grade explosives.

The New IRA has been long been associated with but the group also has a presence in Dublin.

Who are the New IRA and what are they capable of?

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Robin Shiller, News and Security Correspondent with the Irish Independent.

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A west Belfast Accountant whose business was destroyed in an arson attack is blaming associates of a convicted death driver.  

Tim ‘Timo’ Molloy says people close to Martin Olali Jnr, who is awaiting sentencing for mowing down a pedestrian and his pet dog in a hit-and-run, are to blame. 

Mr Molloy’s office, which he lived above, was torched in May 2025 as he slept, he says thugs linked to has former friend meant to kill him.  

Martin Olali Jnr has admitted causing the death of Richard Boyle and his pet Jack Russell Junior in February 2021 by careless driving.  

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sunday Life’s John Toner. 

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The DUP's support has slumped disastrously – that's according to the latest Belfast Telegraph / LucidTalk polling.  The dramatic fall in backing for the party comes in the wake of former leader Jeffrey Donaldson's conviction for child sex offences.  

Sinn Féin and the Alliance party have also seen a drop in their support. This is all good news for the TUV, the SDLP, and especially for the UUP.  

Meanwhile – the decision to drastically scale back the planned Casement Park GAA stadium – has irked many Sinn Féin supporters. 

Ciarán Dunbar joined by the Belfast Telegraph's political editor, Suzanne Breen. 

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A “significant” bomb built for “catastrophic” damage, and a suspected plot to bring violence to the north-west of Northern Ireland. The foiling of an alleged New IRA plot to detonate a bomb was a stark reminder of the dissident republican activity that quietly continues on both sides of the border. 

At the heart of the case are two suspects: Simon O’Donovan (44), an employee at the National Museum in Collins Barracks, and Isobella Perrie Sullivan (25), a law student.  

Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Ken Foy, crime correspondent at the Irish Independent, to look at how the plot was uncovered – and what comes next. 

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In July 2000, a summer barbecue ended in unimaginable violence.  

Father-of-one Paul McCauley (29), alongside his two friends, were brutally beaten by a loyalist mob in the Chapel Road area of Derry, in what police described as an unprovoked sectarian attack.  

Paul never regained consciousness – spending almost a decade in care before dying from his injuries in 2015. 

Olivia Peden is joined by Senior Journalist with the Belfast Telegraph in Derry, Louise Doyle. 

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Last week in London the great and good of the political right arrived for a conference focusing on ‘saving the west’. The three-day CPAC event hosted a star-studded cast – from Nigel Farage, to Liz Truss, to Ian Paisley Jr. It also hosted conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine speakers. 

At the ‘Winston Churchill Gala Dinner’ in the programme, one of the prizes was a stay at The Galgorm, in Co. Antrim.  

The link between the event which a conservative critic has deemed ‘Yankee-brained slop’ and the hotel which is home to the most expensive guinness in the UK appears to be the former north Antrim MP. 

The Galgorm resort and spa says that the prize is not an endorsement of the event.  

Olivia Peden is joined by Sam McBride. 

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This episode contains references to rape and sexual assault, and may not be suitable for everyone.

Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, like to talk about male empowerment and freedom, yet both are currently shackled away from the outside world.  

Arrested last weekend by US authorities, the pair are unlikely to find that the confines of a Miami jail cell measure up to the lavish lifestyle they routinely flaunt online – but that’s their home for now. The reason? A volley of 38 new charges, including rape and sex trafficking, courtesy of the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK, with an extradition attempt to follow. The brothers now face a total of 59 charges, all of which they deny.

So, where to now for Andrew and Tristan Tate?  

Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Isabella Kwai, reporter with the New York Times, to break down the complexities of the criminal investigation into the Tate brothers – and to question what made them such prominent public figures in the first place.

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

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Andy Burnham has officially entered Downing Street, and has shook up the Labour Cabinet. In his maiden speech, the former mayor of Manchester has vowed “take power out of downing street, and carry it into every postcode in the land”.

Ministers have been swiftly replaced, from the chancellor to Northern Ireland’s Secretary of state, with Welsh MP Chris Bryant replacing Hilary Benn. 

So what can Andy Burnham do for Northern Ireland? 

Olivia Peden is joined by Sam McBride. 

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The UDA chief behind the Craigyhill bonfire in Larne won’t answer questions about his knowledge of an unsolved murder. David Murray says he has “nothing to hide”. But - he might be feeling the heat after police launched a fresh appeal about the loyalist-feud killing of Andrew Cairns in Larne in 2000. Murray was initially charged with murdering the UVF man, who was beaten before bring shot in the head at an Eleventh Night bonfire. The charge was eventually dropped and Murray pleaded guilty to assault getting a suspended prison sentence. 

But there’s a question for the police... why did they pose for pictures with the so-called master bonfire builder - when they had named him as a UDA commander.  

Ciarán joined by John Toner from the Sunday Life and by the Belfast Telegraph’s John Laverty to discuss some of the pallets used in bonfires, if they are blue or red, they are private property – why do the cops ignore that? 

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On Monday morning an horrific discovery was made in Ballymena - the remains of three people were found inside a house on the Old Cullybackey Road – a man, a woman and an eight-year-old girl. 

It is believed that the man murdered his wife and child before ending his own life, a year after a similar tragedy in Co. Fermanagh. Since 2017 there have been 13 women and children murdered in Northern Ireland by men who later took their own lives.  

This podcast discusses murder and suicide and might not be suitable for some listeners. 

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