Advertise on podcast: The BelTel

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The stand-off between the Drumcree Orange men and the Garvaghy residents continues. In Belfast on Monday – a court reserved judgment on the residents’ renewed application to stop the march. The march – and the protest has sharply divided our politicians. Some fear real damage is being done to community relations. And in other news the SDLP in Armagh has seen fit to dump its siting MLA – Justin McNulty – why? Ciarán Dunbar joined by our political editor, Suzanne Breen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He was once known as the Right Honourable Sir Jeffrey Donaldson but is now known as inmate number E5032. Donaldson once proudly walked the corridors of Westminster, ate in fancy restaurants, and commanded media attention. But now he spends his days behind bars in Maghaberry, reading, doing jigsaws and doing art. The home in Dromore, in which he lived in with wife Eleanor, who was found to have aided and abetting child sexual abuse, has appeared on the market for a modest £650,000. Donaldson was convicted of 18 charges concerning child sexual abuse in June. Prosecution lawyers want him to serve at least ten years in prison. To talk about Donaldson’s new life, Ciarán Dunbar is joined by the Belfast. Telegraph’s Kurtis Reid Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A fearless investigative reporter who exposed the criminal underworld behind Northern Ireland’s paramilitaries, O’Hagan had made dangerous enemies on both sides, but no one has ever been convicted of his murder. Joining Fionnán Sheehan is Sunday World Northern editor Richard Sullivan and Irish Independent special correspondent Paul Williams, as they remember their friend and colleague and examine why, 25 years on, his killing remains unsolved. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The standoff between the Orangemen on Drumcree and the residents of the Garvaghy Road continues in Portadown. Negotiations involving the Secretary of State Chris Bryant, the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents have so far failed to reach an agreement. Garvaghy Road residents' spokesman Breandán Mac Cionnaith, confirmed on Wednesday that there was a document on the table. However, both Jamie Bryson and Carla Lockhart said the Portadown district won’t be accepting any deal that sees them walk away from their right to parade down the Garvaghy Road. Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald and First Minister Michelle O’Neill were back on the Garvaghy road with residents on Wednesday – with the First Minister saying that standing on the road with residents on Sunday was "the right thing to do". Meanwhile, the leaders of the DUP and UUP say they expect to see prosecutions over the protest in the next few days. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by the Belfast Telegraph’s Kevin Scott, Kurtis Reid, and Allison Morris. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1990, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy lost his seminal libel case against the Sunday Times. But formerly secret files reveal the south Armagh republican was actually expected to win it – and that the paper was considering throwing in the towel. But a tactical error by Murphy led to the paper deciding to fight – and not settle, costing him a fortune. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Sam McBride. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.