The BelTel

After weeks of hints and speculation Carla Lockhart has finally quit the DUP. In a letter penned entitled ‘A renewed vision for unionism’, the Upper Bann MP said she wanted to “be a politician whose word means something”.

Gavin Robinson says the only winner from further divisions within unionism is Sinn Féin.

Is unionism really in ‘meltdown’, is now the time for unionist unity, and will Carla Lockhart eventually join the TUV?

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph's Andrew Madden, former editor of the News Letter and unionist commentator Ben Lowry, and Alex Kane.

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When Richard Moore was 10 years old a British Army captain shot him in the face with a rubber bullet.

The Derry School boy lost his sight completely in an instant but twenty years ago Richard met Charles, the soldier who shot him, and forgave him. They have been friends ever since.

Richard grew up to establish the charity Children in Crossfire in 1996 with the goal of supporting vulnerable children growing up in the crossfire of poverty and injustice.

His work has brought him close the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dali Lama.

Richard Moore joined Ciarán Dunbar to talk about his life and work.

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Islandmagee is a quiet civil parish on the east coast of Northern Ireland.

But in 1711, a newcomer to the area begins to have fits, regurgitates pins and buttons, and suddenly dies.

In the weeks following her death, eight woman and one man are found guilty of witchcraft at a local Courthouse – one man is executed. It was the last witchcraft trial in Ireland.

Olivia Peden speaks to Dr Andrew Sneddon of Ulster University, and Martina Devlin, the author of “The House where it happened” about this mysterious event.

This podcast was originally published in October 2023.

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On the 30th of October 30, 1976, two Belfast Telegraph delivery men Charles Corbett and John Maguire were shot dead in north Belfast.

John Maguire's ten-year-old son witnessed his father's murder. The boy himself was wounded in the leg.

The men were gunned down by very young members of the UVF.

One of gunmen apologised – but fifty years later he couldn't even remember their names.

Liam Tunney tells the story.

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DUP leader Gavin Robinson says Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly will quit joint engagements with First Minister Michelle O’Neill - but he won’t be pulling her out of the executive.

The DUP's party officers met on Thursday to discuss their options.

Before the meeting, Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart published a letter to the party making it clear – that if it didn't pull Emma Little-Pengelly out of the executive, she would take her "own course".

Lockhart insists that Michelle O’Neill must be removed from office over Sinn Féin's part in the Drumcree protests, but the party leader has now stopped short of that.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph’s Political Editor Suzanne Breen.

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Incidents of violent drug-debt intimidation are rising in Ireland – and the methods are becoming more concerning and elaborate.

Brutal enforcers are now using 'disappearing' video technology on social media platforms to capture and distribute graphic footage of torture.

The targeted aggression goes beyond those allegedly in arrears, with innocent friends and family members increasingly caught up in the cruel crossfire.

What are the gardaí doing about it?

Is there a class issue at play?

And what about the incidents we're not hearing about?

Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Irish Independent Southern Correspondent Ralph Riegel to examine a terrifying new trend in Ireland's underworld.

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A judge has dismissed an Orange Order against the Secretary of State’s decision to ban the Drumcree parade from going down the Garvaghy Road.

But Mr Justice Scoffield said those against the march should take “no particular joy in the outcome”.

He said that a lawful decision-making process has established the lodge’s right to parade in law.

He also told the court that Sir Chris Bryant’s decision was lawful but highly regrettable that it happened in the circumstances it did.

And he threw some shade on nationalist protesters saying, “the law does not apply only when you agree with it”.

Ciarán Dunbar was joined by Allison Morris.

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The Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart has been to the forefront of Northern Ireland's politics ever since the re-emergence of the Drumcree Parade issue.

The DUP-woman has stridently defended the rights of Orangemen to march down the Garvaghy Road in the face of nationalist opposition.

She has been clear - the DUP must get Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill out of power over her actions in the Garvaghy protest.

The problem is, the party leader Gavin Robinson disagrees – so what happens next?

Who is Carla Lockhart, what are her options, and how does this affect unionism?

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Professor Jon Tonge and by Belfast Telegraph reporters Claire Dickson and Andrew Madden.

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Jeffrey Donaldson was doing paid work for the ministry of defence in Africa even as acute political turmoil was engulfing his party at home in Northern Ireland.

Why was the then DUP leader undertaking sensitive work in dictator-led Cameroon just a week after he himself collapsed Stormont in 2022?

Why was he helping sell arms in Egypt alongside a British general?

Why did a special forces officer say he’d worked with Donaldson before?

Profound political questions remain over who all the now convicted paedophile was working for – alongside concerns about whether he had access to children in developing countries.

Sam McBride joined Ciarán Dunbar.

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The Metropolitan Police in London are investigating Jeffrey Donaldson over a rape allegation

It is alleged to have happened in the former MP's Westminster office.

Donaldson is currently serving a prison sentence in Maghaberry for 18 counts of child sex abuse, including the rape of a child.

The former DUP leader Donaldson was sentenced last week to 15 years but will serve just half of that term in prison.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Allison Morris.

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Offers made by Portadown District to allow Orangemen to walk the Garvaghy Road have been revealed in court – including a 4AM march, accompanied by a residents’ protest.

The court has finished hearing submissions during the legal challenge to the Secretary of State’s ban on the Drumcree parade, with Mr Justice Scoffield due to deliver his judgement next week. On Monday the court heard the security risks that were taken into account, with it being “almost certain” that dissident republicans had attended the protest, and “possible” that they had access to firearms.

Olivia Peden is joined by Allison Morris who was in court.

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Perforated Ulster, Give My Head Peace, and The Long and the Short of it, all produced by the Hole in the Wall gang are being axed by the BBC.

The Blame Game has also been culled.

The BBC is making major cuts across the corporation as budget cuts take hold.

BBC bosses say they have to make difficult decisions – but the cuts mean there will be no more local comedy on our screens.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Tim McGarry and Damon Quinn and Michael McDowell from the Hole in the Wall Gang.

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The Burkes are back, but this time it's not Enoch grabbing the headlines, it's his sister Ammi.

In 2019, Ammi Burke was dismissed from her role at one of Ireland’s most prestigious law firms, Arthur Cox, after just over three years with the company.

Seven years, multiple legal battles and countless court appearances later, Ms Burke wants her job back. She and her former employer are facing off at the Workplace Relations Commission.

So, what exactly happened between the two sides? And why is a dispute that began years ago still rumbling on in court today?

Tessa Fleming is joined by court reporter Seán McCárthaigh as Ammi Burke takes on her old employer.

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The PSNI has released the audio statements of Jeffrey Donaldson’s victims, Victim A and Victim B.

Their voices have been artificially generated to protect the victims’ identity.

On Thursday, the former DUP leader was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of 18 charges of child sex abuse.

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Jeffrey Donaldson received a 15 year sentence in prison for his crimes. He was given 11 years for rape against Victim B and four years for all offences against Victim A, to be served consecutively.

The former MP and ex-DUP leader was sentenced in Newry Courthouse on Thursday morning.

However, later on Thursday after the Lady Chief Justice confirmed Donaldson will actually walk free in seven-and-a-half years.

That is because the crimes were committed before the law changed in 2008, so he will automatically be entitled to 50pc remission of his sentence.

He was found guilty of 18 child sex abuse charges, including rape, in June.

Donaldson is trying to win an appeal, and his denials were an aggravating factor in the sentencing.

However, as it stands, the 63-year-old will emerge from prison as a 78-year-old pensioner.

Ciarán Dunbar spoke to Allison Morris outside Newry Crown Court.

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It was in April 1992 when Patrick 'Patsy' O'Sullivan called into his brother Jerry's home like it was any other day, but it’s a day that will forever remain etched in Jerry’s memory.

Patrick went missing from his home in Co Kerry that year, and despite extensive searches and emotional appeals, efforts to find him proved fruitless.

It would take the O'Sullivan family 34 years to find out the truth.

Tessa Fleming is joined by Kerryman journalist Sinead Kelleher and by Jerry O'Sullivan, Patsy’s brother, to discuss his disappearance and how they eventually found out what happened to him.

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

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The parading crisis in Portadown seems over on the ground, but it is very much alive in the courts, on the airwaves, and in politics.

The Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Bryant stepped in on Friday to ban the Portadown Orange lodge from marching down the Garvaghy Road, now the Orange Order is challenging that decision in the courts.

On Monday afternoon, the Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge from Garvaghy residents to the Parades Commission’s decision to allow the parade.

In Stormont, First Minister Michelle O’Neill will face a confidence motion after taking part in a protest backing the Garvaghy Road residents, while the TUV demands the DUP take Emma Little-Pengelly out of the Executive.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Allison Morris.

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The St Andrews Agreement was signed twenty years ago on 13 October 2006.

Officially. it just amended the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement, but it did bring about some profound changes in Northern Ireland’s politics.

It saw the DUP and Ian Paisley signing up to the peace process.

Sinn Féin bought into policing, agreeing to work with the PSNI; the DUP agreed to go into government with them.

The two parties have dominated Stormont politics ever since.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by political commentator David McCann.

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Northern Ireland’s Agriculture and Environment Minister Andrew Muir interviewed by Belfast Telegraph Northern Ireland Editor Sam McBride, discussing how what he says has been a ‘catastrophic’ agricultural policy went disastrously wrong in the race for cheap meat... and whether he is inadvertently embedding what he’s seeking to reverse.

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In recent weeks, the 2020 French hack into the secret gangster phone network Encrochat has continued to see Northern Ireland drug dealers sent to Maghaberry.

Multiple prison sentences have been handed down to some significant figures from Northern Ireland’s criminal world.

Gangsters like ‘cute hur’, ‘mint wind’ and ‘ultra gold’ are just some of those who went down after the notorious platform spilled its secrets.

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph’s crime correspondent Allison Morris.

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