NIR ❌ 1921-2026 ⛅ "Ardens sed Virens" & "Ne Obliviscaris"
Northern Ireland
Joined November 2018
- Tweets51.9K
- Following251
- Followers2K
- Likes72.6K
Paddy Shanks retweeted
Sinn Féin would have the Nationalist community believe that all the blame lay with Protestants. It didn’t.
I was raised Catholic, and I know we need to be honest about the wrongdoing on our own side too.
Neither community had clean hands.
Sinn Féin has its own agenda. We shouldn’t let any party’s version of the past stop us from having an honest conversation.
If we’re ever going to move forward, we need to acknowledge the suffering inflicted by BOTH sides—and stop making excuses for our own.
Paddy Shanks retweeted
O’Dowd is only telling half the story. Defence contracts bring money into Northern Ireland, with Thales in Belfast making missiles and Harland & Wolff and the aerospace firms. That supports jobs, wages and supply chains. Defence is supporting our economy, not damaging it.
Brave Ulster woman.
Lance Corporal Sarah Jane Warke was assigned to the Military Reaction Force, a special unit which operated in Northern Ireland in small teams of plainclothes personnel.
Jane was originally from Derry in Northern Ireland, before joining the British Army, where she served in the Women’s Royal Army Corps.
Jane used the alias ‘Kate’ while working for the Four Square Laundry, a front company targeting the homes of suspected IRA members in the Twinbrook estate in West Belfast. When the dirty clothing was picked up, it was forensically examined for gunpowder and explosive residue before being washed, folded, and returned. Jane was friendly, attractive, and her local accent allowed her to easily blend in.
In the fall of 1972, the IRA discovered two double agents named Kevin McKee and Séamus Wright in their ranks who gave up details of the laundry van and other front companies run by the Military Reaction Force. The IRA executed the two double agents and buried them in unmarked graves.
On October 2nd, 1972, the IRA conducted two attacks against known MRF personnel. Jane was speaking to a housewife at her front door while the MRF driver, a Sapper from the Royal Engineers named Corporal Ted Stuart stayed in the delivery van. Four IRA gunmen pulled up near the van and opened fire.
Corporal Stuart was shot at least five times and died on the scene. The IRA claimed they also killed two more intelligence officers conducting surveillance from a hidden space inside the roof of the van, although British forces denied this.
There are varying accounts of Jane’s actions during the attack. Some reports indicate she survived by hiding inside a house until the danger had passed. Others say she was wounded but managed to draw her concealed Browning Hi-Power and shoot back. The IRA gunmen fled the scene in the face of her determined fire and Jane survived. An hour later, they attacked the Gemini Massage Parlour on Antrim Road, injuring one man inside.
In September 1973 Jane was awarded the Military Medal for this and other covert operations in Northern Ireland.
#northernireland #covert #clandestine #troubles #britisharmy
This is all true, but not just that, even in the former Stormont 1921>1970 system an individual Roman Catholic citizen had exactly the same systemic rights as a Protestant in relation to voting, housing, religious worship, employment, education, law, & freedom of speech .
There was of course, personal religious/political discrimination from both sides which is another matter and for other reasons.
For example the 1909-1970 Ne Temere decree of the RC Church was extremely discriminatory against Protestants, outcomes of which are clearly evidenced.
SF most famous words " the days of people being treated like second class citizens are over " them days where over decades ago , the party itself uses this line over and over again for sympathy votes because of our troubled past , tell me in the year 2026 what rights I a protestant have that my catholic neighbours hasnt got ? It's getting old boring and causes tensions in the younger generations as the youth listening to this nonsense will think they are treated unfairly when it's a fact they are not !
Paddy Shanks retweeted
Gerry Carroll compares the blocking of the Garvaghy Road to the Civil Rights campaign. Actually it's more comparable to Paisley's counter protests. @BBCNolan
Paddy Shanks retweeted
Given the seriousness of the circumstances surrounding Michelle O’Neill’s recent reckless conduct, and the damage it has done to the operation of our joint office, I have withdrawn agreement to attendance at tomorrow’s engagements in Glasgow.
This follows on the back of stopping separate planned engagements, including with the President of Ireland, Catherine Connelly over the last number of weeks and I have not agreed further activities or events.
I do not take this action lightly.
The situation surrounding the First Minister’s recent conduct remains extremely serious. There is significant anger, hurt and legitimate public discontent arising from her actions. These concerns cannot simply be dismissed or minimised. This is an exceptionally serious matter, particularly given the responsibilities of the office she holds and the importance of public confidence in the rule of law.
Of further concern is the First Minister’s continuing refusal to recognise or meaningfully acknowledge the depth and legitimacy of the discontent caused by her behaviour. Her approach has contributed to a significant deterioration in confidence and in the working relationship necessary to discharge the responsibilities of our joint office.
Northern Ireland will not miss out. I have requested a separate meeting with the Prime Minister to ensure Northern Ireland’s interests, including the urgent budgetary and funding challenges facing the Executive, continue to be represented directly.
Angus Snoddy, Sinn Féin member of the Irish Parliament, sidekick of Mary Lou McDonald, used €50,000 of governmental printer cartridges in two years.
He is Chairman of Liberty Recycling presently under investigation for money laundering.
Significant amounts of money may have been diverted away from Liberty Recycling, a charity established to help recovering drug addicts, and taken for the benefit of an unlawful organisation, the Charities Regulator has said.
Systemic hatred and blatant discrimination.
MOD:@DefenceHQ.
Madden & Finucane Solicitors Belfast can sort this out for you:
The Equality Act 2010 (UK) Section 75 (Northern Ireland):
"Public authorities are legally bound by a statutory duty to promote equal opportunities. If a council blocks a legitimate organisation based on political beliefs, religious affiliations, or other protected characteristics, the decision can be challenged as unlawful discrimination. Legal experts frequently argue that selective exclusion limits career avenues for local residents and violates equal opportunity policies"
Derry City and Strabane District Council has voted to withdraw any involvement in the organisation or marketing of any future jobs fair that includes the British Armed Forces.
bbc.in/4szG890
Paddy Shanks retweeted
HE WAS A #BORNAGAIN #CHRISTIAN.
His killer proudly protests on the #GarvaghyRoad.
On the morning, #Constable #JohnGraham left for work, his youngest daughter was sitting on his knee eating peanut-butter toast — hours later, three little girls had lost their #father forever.
Constable Roland John Graham was not heading into a raid or a specialist operation on 16th June 1997.
He was doing the work that had made him a familiar face in #Lurgan: walking the town centre, speaking to local people, and #policing the #community on foot.
For fourteen years, John had served in the #RUC #RoyalUlsterConstabulary.☘️🇬🇧 Those who knew him remembered a patient, approachable man who treated people with courtesy regardless of their background.
Alongside Reserve #Constable #DavidJohnston, he was one of the officers people recognised.
That visibility made them trusted.
It also made them #targets.
At around 11:45 that morning, the two officers walked through Church Walk, only yards from their station. Two #PIRA Provisional IRA #gunmen approached from behind and opened fire at close range.
Both men died where they fell.
Doctors ran from a nearby surgery when they heard the shots, but there was nothing they could do.
Five children were left without their fathers.
John was just 34. His daughters Rebecca, Abigail, and Katie were ten, seven, and two. Only that morning, they had seen him at home in the kitchen — an ordinary family moment that would become their last memory of him alive.
His #murder shook more than one family. It came at a fragile point in the peace process and showed how quickly violence could tear through lives, communities, and hopes for a better future.
No one has ever been convicted of killing John Graham and David Johnston. BUT THE (CQA) WAS A WELL-KNOWN LURGAN PIRA #HITMAN RESPONSIBLE FOR OVER 10 KILLINGS OF PROTESTANTS AND SECURITY FORCES.
His killer proudly protests on the #GarvaghyRoad.
Yet John’s legacy is not defined only by the manner of his death.
It lives in the people who remembered the respectful #Christian #policeman on their streets, in the family who still carry his absence, and in three daughters who grew up without the father who left home that morning simply to do his duty.
Not for recognition --- Not for reward.
But because serving others was the work he had chosen.
Constable Roland John Graham — husband, father, and community policeman.
Remembered with #honour.
Lest We Forget. 🌺 ☘️🇬🇧
#RolandJohnGraham #RUC #ConstableGraham #DavidJohnston #LestWeForget #BornAgain
Paddy Shanks retweeted
#OnThisDay in 1973 the IRA murdered John Doherty, 31, Catholic, off duty RUC police, ex @metpoliceuk shot in his car after visiting widowed mother, cross border on family home, Ballindrait, Lifford, Donegal. Girlfriend with him #OTD. Grave vandalised 2024. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-i…
Paddy Shanks retweeted
I didn't know that the population of Ireland actually fell under Eamon De Valera, despite enormous fertility. Whatever about Church dominance (Carson et al were right about Rome Rule) the economics of the early Irish Republic were a disaster:
lauraperrins.substack.com/p/…
Paddy Shanks retweeted
Robert McCartney
British government must end shameful resistance to truth for Seán Brown’s family – @MaryLouMcDonald
“The Brown family is entitled to truth, justice and accountability. Sinn Féin will stand with them until that is delivered.”
sinnfein.ie/news/british-gov…
Paddy Shanks retweeted
It's an awful pity we down south don't have the @BBCiPlayer
Perhaps @rte could show in on the @RTEplayer could show it too?
Anybody who protects or those who vote for people withholding information on this murder should hang their heads in shame. 😡
Too touchy Connla Young, whipping up tensions again:
I remember that tune "Home on the Range" from an American folk song, "My Western Home" sometimes called the "unofficial anthem" of the American West.
"Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
No, the skies are not cloudy all day"
Concerns have been raised after a tune associated with hate filled sectarian anthem was played during an Orange Order support parade and rally in Portadown on Saturday night.
The ‘No Pope of Rome’ tune played as a large crowd of Orange Order members gathered in the Co Armagh town on Saturday.
Read more: tinyurl.com/46ufksnj
Paddy Shanks retweeted
Watched the 3 part series on Robert McCartneys murder.
This from Paxman perfectly sums up the absurdity of the bastards.
Is this the very same (Real) IRA James McCormack, then 35, from Co. Louth, (and John Hannan, 19, from Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh), that admitted the charge in 2003.
McCormack, who played the most serious part of the five, was jailed for 22 years in 2003, for plotting a terror bombing campaign in mainland Britain.
theguardian.com/uk/2003/apr/…
They haven't gone away, you know?😡
James McCormack, aged 58, of South Commons, Carlingford, Louth, and nephew Cillian McCormack, aged 24, originally from Co Louth but with an address at Church Hill, Dunlavin, Co Wicklow, were brought before the court.
irishexaminer.com/news/court…
Past two weeks, Sinn Féign Diversionary Tactics:
☘️ Remember the buzz around Belfast during the Fleadh?
Today, Sinn Féin Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins launched plans to extend pedestrianisation to parts of the city centre all year round.
The aim is to give people more space to enjoy Belfast, support our bars, cafés and restaurants, and make better use of our city centre.
Let’s build on what worked during the Fleadh and unlock more of Belfast’s huge potential!
