Novel: Close to Home @hamishh1931 & @fsgbooks (US) | Agent: @eleanorbirne
Béal Feirste
Joined December 2010
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Michael Magee retweeted
OPEN LETTER: Sally Rooney is a writer, not a terrorist. Her books must be available to the public. Their withdrawal from sale, on the basis of ill-conceived and draconian anti terror legislation, is an affront to basic principles of free speech and expression so long taken for granted in this country. We categorically reject censorship - whether direct or indirect - and urge the government to change course, amending the legislation which has led us to this point of repressive absurdity.
Michael Magee retweeted
I can now confirm after speaking to officers; that despite a firearms risk assement from the PSNI.
Negotiators who were sent into the crowd and the air support unit were not briefed of any firearms risk.
They are asking me why they weren’t told if one existed. @BelTel
I can confirm, despite the PSNI assessment that dissidents may have had ready access to weapons on Garvaghy road, no surveillance was launched to follow potential weapons.
There was no contact with security services and no counter terrorism specialist firearms teams were put in place at any point.
Serious questions now being asked of the PSNI that if they believed weapons were on the road why they did not follow that belief @BelTel
Michael Magee retweeted
I can confirm, despite the PSNI assessment that dissidents may have had ready access to weapons on Garvaghy road, no surveillance was launched to follow potential weapons.
There was no contact with security services and no counter terrorism specialist firearms teams were put in place at any point.
Serious questions now being asked of the PSNI that if they believed weapons were on the road why they did not follow that belief @BelTel
This chart on intelligence is very important in context of today’s court case around Drumcree / Garvaghy Road.
It’s worth noting that my sources say that PSNI intelligence was separate to the intelligence of MI5 who unlike PSNI intel- were on the Garvaghy Road, in person.
That intelligence is unreleased but my source says it significantly differs from that of the PSNI @BelTel
Michael Magee retweeted
A cross-border trade in Sally Rooney books has developed after their removal from UK distribution for her Palestine Action support.
Northern Ireland bookshops buy them from Dublin wholesalers and they quickly sell out, with many online orders from Britain
irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/…
Michael Magee retweeted
SALES OF SALLY ROONEY BOOKS SURGE IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND AFTER PUBLISHER STOPS DISTRIBUTION: @IrishTimes @SeaninGraham22
The Irish Times are reporting this morning that there has been a surge locally in the sales of Sally Rooney Books following the decision by her publisher to stop distribution of her books in Britain and the North of Ireland due to her support for Palestine Action.
The Belfast Independent Bookstore "No Alibis" (on Botanic Avenue) ran out of her books at 11am yesterday morning (Friday).
Other independent local stores who are continuing to sell her book include:
@LittleAcornsBks (Derry)
@BridgeBooksDro1 (Dromore)
@sally_rooney
🇵🇸🇵🇸
several independent bookshops in the North of Ireland including No Alibis in Belfast and Bridge Books (@BridgeBooksDro1) are continuing to source and sell Sally Rooney’s books because they stand on the right side of history and not with the regressive, authoritarian laws and legislation of the British state
they are able to do this because the North has dual access to both UK and EU markets (thanks Brexit) and can order books through Irish distributors (Argosy etc) meaning that they are technically operating outside UK jurisdiction (any revenue made off Sally’s books in this case would be Irish revenue / sales)
so hypothetically, if there was an owner of an independent bookshop in Britain who wants to put two fingers up to the British government and this ridiculous law, you could do what the bookshops here are doing and source Sally’s books through those same Irish distributors…
just a thought…
and sure if you’d like to tag your local bookshop below / share this post, and if they want or need advice or more clarity about this… I know a guy, that’s all I’m saying
Michael Magee retweeted
We’ll continue stocking and supplying Sally Rooney’s books. We recognise support for Palestine Action, proscribed under UK terrorism law, is a divisive and contentious issue. We oppose antisemitism and all forms of violence and oppression. Peace ✌️
Michael Magee retweeted
Update: Thousands have gathered here on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown to show support to residents who blocked an Orange Order parade almost a week ago.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill was amongst those who gave speeches today @BelTel
Michael Magee retweeted
This Saturday, the Garvaghy Road residents are holding a rally and calling on people from across Ireland to stand with them in support of their right to live free from sectarian harassment and intimidation.
Let’s stand together!
Ná habair é, déan é
Bígí linn ✊🏻💚
Michael Magee retweeted
Drumcree has brought into sharp focus the residual blind spot within our broadcast media which continues to frame discussions thru a unionist lens.
That needs spoken about & addressed.
There is no way BBCNI frames a Shankill Rd Republican parade as an issue of competing rights.
Michael Magee retweeted
This image was circulated last night by unionist leaders, showing DUP MP Carla Lockhart addressing a huge crowd at a car park at the end of the Garvaghy Road. It’s a fake, AI-generated image. Most people's reaction has been to laugh, and that’s fair enough...
there’s a very concerted effort from all the usual outlets to paint the Garvaghy Road residents and their supporters as an unreasonable, irrational mob led by sinister elements of republicanism intolerant of ‘the rule of law’ while the orange order and its advisers are seen as moderate, pragmatic, law-abiding people (sometimes old and harmless) who simply want to walk down a road
all context of the residents grievances and decades-long hurt are barely alluded to, history begins with the parades commission decision and the court ruling to allow the march to go ahead, and the completely predictable reaction to this decision (a peaceful, community led protest overwhelmingly supported by people from across Ireland, from both religious backgrounds) is being disingenuously portrayed as the root of the problem, not the forces within unionism that have orchestrated this standoff for their own political gain
Could a ‘one and done’ final Drumcree parade work? Before he died, the most senior Orangeman in Portadown told me of a secret plan to definitively resolve the Drumcree dispute — with the Catholic Church at its heart.
belfasttelegraph.co.uk/comme…
incredible that Shamey Bryson’s attempt to stoke division to shore up support for a unionism in perpetual crisis has galvanised republicans from across Ireland and led to a Garvaghy Road fleadh
Michael Magee retweeted
WATCH: Spirits remain high on Garvaghy Road on Monday afternoon as musicians break into song.
Michael Magee retweeted
I ll just leave it for these three young ladies to talk about the Garvaghy Road.
#JoinTheConversation
#think32
Michael Magee retweeted
On the money from @kevseyg on TikTok.
The DUP seems to have settled on only representing hard-line Loyalists. Unifying the unionist vote no longer seems to be on their political agenda.
I wonder is the DUP realigning with a new voter base in preparation for a role within a United Ireland?
Also I didn't know that the Orange Men had the option of walking through Protestant areas to get to the church?
Michael Magee retweeted
I suspect there's a not insubstantial chance that in the risk decision-making model used in the police assessment
Police violence on the Garvaghy Road residents and their supporters did not come within the operational definition of 'violence'
The PSNI told the parades commission that they didn’t believe there would be violence at Garvaghy Road, thus enabling the Orange march to go forward, this despite the history of Garvaghy Road and the intense pain and trauma the residents there have suffered… There was no way they were ever going to sit back and let this happen, and they should never have been expected to.
Yet within a matter of hours of the parade being announced, the PSNI drafted in additional forces from Britain to support what they suddenly predicted would be an extensive police operation?
The PSNI are now using the rule of law to justify their actions, potentially forcibly removing residents from the road in a way that would’ve been unimaginable to them when a model of a mosque was placed on top of a bonfire, or while racist pogroms were being carried out in Belfast.
This is starting to feel like something straight out of a playbook, approaching the protestors to ‘negotiate’ while at the same time arming themselves in riot gear, inflaming a situation they created then criminalising the people they have provoked. Breandán Mac Cionnaith sees it clear as day, as do all the residents of Garvaghy Road, ‘you’re not trusted,’ he said.
Hard to see anyway back from this, trust in the PSNI in particular has fallen to pieces.