The BelTel

Siobhán Fenton: Former insider on Sinn Féin' ideological conundrums

When journalist Siobhan Fenton was headhunted by Sinn Féin in 2020 she was an outsider. Entering the party press office in Dublin, she was from Belfast, and didn’t supp

Drumcree: Orange Order to march Garvaghy road again after 28 years

The Parades Commission has given go ahead for Drumcree Orange march down the Garvaghy Road - but with stringent conditions. Permission has been granted for no more than

'Donaldson should get 10 years', court hears

The former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson should serve at least 10 years in prison, a court in Newry has heard. The remarks were made during a submission hearing for disg

Manhunt continues as Derry murderer remains on the run

Gary Anderson is a dangerous murderer –and he’s on the run. The Derry man had been granted compassionate leave for his father's funeral, even though his brother Sean, gui

‘We’ll forget her soon enough’ - Earl Spencer’s explosive claims about Princess Diana and King Charles

 “We’ll forget her soon enough.” That is the extraordinary comment Charles Spencer, Princess Diana's brother, claims King Charles made in the days following her death. No

Johnny ‘Mad dog’ Adair: “He created the mad dog persona”

Johnny Adair, commonly referred to as ‘Mad dog Adair’, was one the most well-known terror bosses of the Troubles. He said his war was aimed at the IRA, but innocent Catho

‘Beast of Kincora’ William McGrath manifesto cassette emerges after 55 years

William McGrath, was an influential loyalist, founder of the paramilitary group Tara, and a hardline evangelical Protestant.    He was also a notorious predatory paedop

The Belfast Telegraph Bomb: The day the IRA attacked the newsroom

On September the 15th, 1976, the Belfast Telegraph offices in Belfast centre was bombed by the Provisional IRA. Journalists were clattering at their typewriters when the

Noah Donohoe: Fiona Donohoe says PSNI and DfI "sought to blame Noah", as jury finds police didn’t contribute to teen’s death

The jury in the inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe has found that the teenager died on the night of his disappearance, meaning that the PSNI’s response to his disappe

Seán Quinn's podcast: How is his version of the story going down?

Once Ireland's richest man, Seán Quinn has returned to tell his story once again, this time through his new podcast, The Quinn Files.  Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Sunda

The ‘Hen House Boy’: 70 years on from the story of neglect which shocked NI

In September 1956 a Crossgar schoolboy made a shocking discovery after peering into a hen house and locking eyes with a child. The eyes belonged to seven-year-old Kevin H

Kew Files: Who was the senior DUP member who supported violence just weeks before the Good Friday Agreement?

A senior DUP member set out their explicit support for violence - just weeks before the Good Friday Agreement.   Files released in the National Archives in Kew have reve

Holy Cross: Clerics Fr Troy and Rev Hamilton on the protest and resolving it

When many people hear the words ‘Holy Cross’ - short for Holy Cross Girls Primary School – the words take them back to a dark time.   Holy Cross is a Catholic School in

Holy Cross 25-years-on: Allison Morris on what she saw, and the loyalist point of view

The Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, but certain areas of Belfast felt little effect of peace. In September 2001, the Holy Cross dispute became one of the most

David Sullivan: The mystery of the headless alleged paedophile’s murder

In September 2000 a body was found in a bog in Fermanagh. This was not a so called ‘bog-body’, sacrificed long ago -  the body turned out to belong to local bus driver Da

God, Religion, the Troubles, and Christian Peacebuilding

For much of the world, the Troubles in Northern Ireland were about Catholics and Protestants fighting each other. With those labels being used as shorthand to this day to

“Everything that I was told was a lie”: Lauren Bradford-Clarke, Colin Howell’s daughter

Lauren Bradford-Clarke grew up believing her mother Lesley had taken her own life before finding out the truth – her father was a murderer. She was told her mum Lesley to

The IRA’s infamous escape from Belfast’s prison ship, the HMS Maidstone

HMS Maidstone, an ex-Royal Navy Ship, was used in the early 1970s to hold internees. In January 1972, a group of IRA prisoners swam 270 meters through an ice-cold Belfas

Drumcree: The crisis over an Orange parade which brought NI to the brink

The Parades Commission acted wrongly in blocking Orangemen from seeking to march down a mainly nationalist road in Portadown, a court has ruled. Senior figures at Portad

Maura Lyons: The Rev Ian Paisley and the 15-year-old 'abducted' from west Belfast

The Rev Ian Paisley rose to prominence as the face of hardline unionism but the first time some would have heard of him would have been in connection with Maura Lyons.