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Irish Times
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
‘It makes us look like Neanderthals': UDA leader laments loyalist street violence but sees role for ‘paramilitary influence'
Jackie McDonald, the influential south Belfast Ulster Defence Association leader, listened recently to former Alliance leader John Alderdice's complaints that loyalist paramilitaries have not gone away, and will not do so. 'Lord Alderdice says nothing is happening, but you don't know the hard work that goes into making nothing happen,' says McDonald in community offices in the Taughmonagh estate in south Belfast. McDonald's line about Alderdice is sharp. In a world where few agree on much, there is general agreement that whatever about other loyalist leaders McDonald has put in the hard yards in his own terrain to maintain discipline and order. The plan by the Irish and British governments to appoint an interlocutor to establish whether loyalist paramilitaries, and republican dissidents, can be persuaded to fade away is 'a good thing', he says. READ MORE However, he opposes the central aim of the idea first put forward by the Independent Reporting Commission of disbandment: to bring about the disbandment of all paramilitary organisations. Such a course makes no sense, says McDonald, who has been involved in the Ulster Defence Association since the early 1970s. 'For loyalist paramilitaries to go away would leave a void that would be filled within minutes,' he says. 'If the UVF, the UDA, the Red Hand Commando, whatever, were to say, 'We're leaving the stage at 12 o'clock tonight', at 12.05 there'd be the new UDA, or another version of the UVF or Red Hand.' Criminal elements would 'fill that void', though in the view of many observers in Northern Ireland large elements of loyalist paramilitarism have long been involved in drug-dealing, prostitution and extortion. 'There's no paramilitary activity here, but there's paramilitary influence.' And that, he believes, is needed. 'The drug dealers and the criminals have to know that it's there, that you can't mess about, that the community comes first. The same exists in republican areas.' McDonald has managed to keep the south Belfast UDA people 'fairly sensible and steady', in the words of one He also argues that the threat posed by dissident republicans still offers reasons why loyalist paramilitaries cannot quit the stage. Union flags fly proudly outside the Taughmonagh offices – one visited by his long-time friend and former president of Ireland Mary McAleese and her husband, Martin. Everything looks ready for this Twelfth of July weekend. This and other parts of south Belfast such as Sandy Row and the Village area have been McDonald's bailiwick for decades. He joined the UDA in July 1972, immediately after the Bloody Friday bombings in the city, when the Provisional IRA exploded at least 20 bombs in Belfast, killing nine and injuring more than 130. 'Bloody Sunday or internment did it for young republicans, Bloody Friday did it for me,' says McDonald. He rose steadily, ending up as one of the UDA's six brigadiers, his turf south Belfast. He will be 78 next month, but is still in great shape, five weekly visits to the gym keeping him energetic and trim. Jackie McDonald, former head of the UDA. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty McDonald has a reputation as 'a hard man', but one many politicians and officials believe they can do business with. When Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair's reign caused mayhem in the Lower Shankill, it was McDonald who brought him to heel, forcing him to flee to Scotland in 2003. In the years since, McDonald has managed to keep the south Belfast UDA people 'fairly sensible and steady', in the words of one, including during the internecine loyalist feuds that have flared from time to time. Throughout, McDonald insists that he is speaking only for his own patch, but accepts that he knows of the charges made linking loyalists to criminality of all hues. However, he will not comment. 'I hear the same stories, but I don't get involved. We're still very close with our colleagues. I don't know who's doing what, or if the allegations are true, or if the allegations are exaggerated.' Drug dealing happens in south Belfast, like elsewhere, but his members are not involved, he says. 'It's not about being a community worker by day and a terrorist or a paramilitary by night. It's nothing like that here,' he says while acknowledging that 'unfortunately' that is not the case everywhere. He refers with disdain to those whose lifestyle is one of 'Rolexes, 4x4s and three holidays a year'. More than a decade ago, he told loyalists gathered on Remembrance Sunday on Sandy Row: 'There's no such thing as a loyalist drug dealer. If you're a loyalist, you wouldn't want to be a drug dealer, and if you're a drug dealer, you can't be a loyalist.' Jackie McDonald at the Sandy Row Remembrance Day service in Belfast. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA Favouring a quasi-local policing role for paramilitaries, he sees no contradiction in arguing for tougher action by the courts and police against drug dealers and other forms of criminality. 'People get caught and they get a slap on the wrist, they get suspended sentences. If you're a young adult caught selling drugs at this time of year, you say to yourself, 'I'll not be in court now until about October/November. The winter's coming. The cold nights are coming. I do three months, or I do six months over the winter, and I won't have to worry about paying for the heat or electric or anything.' This is the way they think.' Too many young loyalists 'think they missed out on the conflict', he says. 'They're saying, 'We'll not be told what to do by grey-haired old men. We'll do a better job than you.' A better job on who? 'Republicans are not a physical threat any more. It's the drug dealers are a threat. But some of them want to build up some sort of notoriety, get themselves a reputation. They get involved in protests and if it's about flags, about immigration, about any protest at all, it always ends up with the police getting hammered. And that takes away from everything. That makes us all look like Neanderthals, it doesn't do the reputation of loyalism any good at all.' [ 'Isn't it brilliant' a mother says, photographing her children at the bonfire topped with an effigy of a migrant boat Opens in new window ] A 40-minute drive west from Taughmonagh is Moygashel, the centre of controversy this week when loyalists placed effigies of migrants in a boat on a bonfire with anti-immigration banners. It came as the Institute for Strategic Dialogue , a counter-extremism organisation, published a new report showing anti-migrant far-right figures in the Republic are increasing their co-operation with loyalist groups in Northern Ireland. The report said such groups were entering a 'more organised phase'. Asked about last month's rioting in Ballymena, McDonald said he was 'totally against' the street violence that erupted after two Romanian-speaking teenagers were charged with the attempted rape and sexual assault of a teenage girl. However, he says a 'tipping point' on immigration has been reached, with many people having genuine concerns. 'There is a feeling that these people are getting priority and preference over some of our people.' Police officers on Clonavon Road in Ballymena, during riots over an alleged sexual assault in the Co Antrim town. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire McDonald admits his paramilitary past, including a 1989 racketeering sentence. 'I got 10 years for extortion, yeah, but that was to buy guns, to look after prisoners' families, to buy explosives. It was something that I hated doing. 'I'd been doing all sorts of things for many, many years, and I got away with it, but I knew that getting involved in that sort of thing was going to get me 10 years, and it did. But now we don't need the criminality. 'We don't need to buy guns any more. We haven't got prisoners any more. What's the money for? Where does the money go?' says McDonald, who acknowledges the record of loyalist paramilitaries carrying out sectarian killings during The Troubles. 'On many occasions that was true.' But republican paramilitaries must own their sins, too: 'I've had this argument with IRA members. They'd say they were fighting for 'Brits out'. There were at least 50,000 people in uniform here, between the British army, the RUC, prison officers, etc. 'Fifty-thousand uniforms and the IRA still planted bombs on the Shankill Road and in the pubs and the clubs and in the Sandy Row. What was that? That was to terrorise the people. That was pure sectarianism.' Mary changed things for us. The politicians didn't want to know us. Mary played a vital role. She is a great woman — McDonald on Mary McAleese Faced with talk of Irish unity and Sinn Féin successes, McDonald emphasises that unionist politicians and loyalists must unite, although complaining how little the former has ever delivered for the latter. 'Unionists are in the castle. When they see us loyalists coming, they lift up the drawbridge. They'll say, 'You can stay out there and we'll look after you and we'll feed you and so on but you're not getting in here'.' That must change, especially since 'Britain would dump us in the morning': 'I want unionism to be united. The word loyalist is always followed by some derogatory word, and it shouldn't be like that. 'Somehow, we have to get unionism united and get genuine loyalists into a position where they can close that gap between unionism and loyalism. But we have to widen the gap between genuine loyalism and criminality. That's the key.' A united Ireland will not happen in his lifetime, he believes. But if it were ever to happen, he asks:' Where would the Orange Order go? Where would the 30,000 bandsmen go? Where would ex-loyalist prisoners go? 'Are we going to be like the Apaches or the Indians put away in a reservation somewhere?' asks McDonald, who has a good working relationship with senior republicans across Belfast, and elsewhere. Mary McAleese and her husband, Martin, struck up unlikely but an important friendship with UDA leader Jackie McDonald. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien During tense periods – and this weekend is one – a network of republican-loyalist contacts – largely unrecognised and unnoticed – defuse many volatile situations. Though he lost friends during the Troubles, he displays no bitterness. Recalling a conversation with former IRA prisoner Sean 'Spike' Murray, he noted how Murray said they 'probably would have tried to kill each other' in the past, but now they can even share car lifts. For a number of years, former loyalist and republican paramilitaries visited schools to talk about the real cost of the conflict, the coffins of fathers and sons carried, the pain, not the imagined past of heroic actions. 'We wanted to deromanticise paramilitarism. ''Do you want to go to prison?' we told them, 'Your life's ruined. When you come out your wife's divorced you and married somebody else and has children with somebody else.' I think we did a great job of deglamourising paramilitarism.' Today, McDonald keeps in touch with the McAleeses. 'Mary changed things for us,' he says. 'The politicians didn't want to know us. The police wanted to arrest us. She made it easier for politicians up here to talk to us. Mary played a vital role. She is a great woman.' McDonald has no notion of stepping down. 'It wouldn't matter what plans I had, people are telling me, 'You are not retiring.' I want to keep going as long as I can.'
Sunday World
10-07-2025
- Business
- Sunday World
Terror group rakes in £1m as members pay mega-bonfire builder's pals £5k to get out
According to sources, South East Antrim UDA are believed to have trousered up £1 million in the last 12 months thanks to the scheme. South East Antrim UDA loan shark David Murray(blue jacket)at work on the Craigyhill bonfire last night. UDA boss David Murray the man behind the 'world's biggest bonfire' has recieved a cool £1million from former members wishing to leave the organisation. The Sunday World understands that Murray charged 200 men £5,000 each to walk away from the terror group. South East Antrim UDA loan shark David Murray(blue jacket)at work on the Craigyhill bonfire last night. UDA boss David Murray the man behind the 'world's biggest bonfire' has recieved a cool £1million from former members wishing to leave the organisation. The Sunday World understands that Murray charged 200 men £5,000 each to walk away from the terror group. South East Antrim UDA loan shark David Murray(blue jacket)at work on the Craigyhill bonfire last night. UDA boss David Murray the man behind the 'world's biggest bonfire' has recieved a cool £1million from former members wishing to leave the organisation. The Sunday World understands that Murray charged 200 men £5,000 each to walk away from the terror group. Associates of a loyalist leader are charging UDA men £5,000 a time to leave the organisation, the Sunday World has learned. David 'Shark' Murray – who was previously the focus of a major police probe into loyalist money laundering – is said to have helped arrange the paramilitary buy-out scheme for UDA members in Larne, Co. Antrim. According to sources, South East Antrim UDA are believed to have trousered up £1 million in the last 12 months thanks to the scheme. During a Sunday World investigation in the ferry-port town this week, we were told that more than 200 UDA members had already taken advantage of the exit strategy. And although master bonfire builder Murray doesn't want Sunday World readers to know it, we can also reveal that the UDA in Larne has been reduced to around 40 fully paid-up members. 'UDA men who were associated with the organisation in the town left in droves,' a resident living on the largely loyalist and UDA-controlled Craigyhill estate told us. 'Many families decided the best thing to do in the circumstances was to pay up. It was an opportunity to get their sons away from of the paramilitaries.' 'Some of them even borrowed cash under the guise of buying a second-hand car. But in reality it bought young lads – who have been under the control of the paramilitaries – the freedom to start a new life.' He added: 'But if you do the maths, five thousand times two hundred quid is one million. And that's a nice pay-off for anyone.' Murray – who drives a McLaren supercar – was previously named by police in court as the Larne boss of South East Antrim UDA. However, he has denied all involvement in criminality. David Murray In 2022, Murray took to social media to deny he was involved in a loan-sharking operation under investigation by the police. He claimed had been 'fully investigated by the NCA (National Crime Agency) for four years, and they found no wrongdoing at all. Case closed.' On Thursday evening we called to the Craigyhill bonfire site in the hope of persuading Murray to give us his side of the story and if he knew anything about charging UDA members a £5,000 fee to quit the illegal organisation. But the master bonfire builder was too busy overseeing pallet-laying at the top of the massive bonfire to come down to speak to us. Instead, a Craigyhill resident out walking his dog told us he was happy to speak about the buy-out scheme as long as we didn't use his name. Describing himself as a 'former UDA veteran', the man told us: 'If you think this is only about money then you're making a big mistake. It's about control,' he said. 'Of course, raising a £1 million in such a short period of time is very good business from the SEA UDA's point of view. 'But here's the real story – the UDA doesn't need 250 men to control loyalist estates in Larne. It can be done with less than 50 and that's what the current buy-out programme is about. 'A UDA army of over 200 men is very difficult to control. And of course it makes the organisation much more vulnerable to PSNI infiltration. But 50 men of the right calibre can provide all the muscle you'll ever need,' he said. However, a security source also told us: 'The UDA in South East Antrim has evolved into a criminal and drugs organisation with similarities to the West Indian Yardies and that's not going to change.' Plans are currently under way for Murray's annual 11th night loyalist jamboree to go ahead as usual. It is staged adjacent to where the Craigyhill super-bonfire is currently under construction. And on Thursday afternoon, lorries transporting fairground attractions arrived constantly on the site. However, a well-placed source at Mid and East Antrim Council – which owns the land where the Craigyhill bonfire and show ground is sited – said it still hadn't received a single penny in income from the July festivities in Larne Men at work on the the 'world's biggest bonfire' in Craigyhill late into the night. As these pictures show, McLaren-driving Murray – who runs his own cleaning company – spends most of his downtime directing building operations around the bonfire site. Standing at well over 200ft, Craigyhill bonfire is believed to be the biggest of its kind in the world. It attracts thousands of visitors from right across County Antrim. And many loyalist families from Belfast will also make the 20-mile journey to Larne to witness the spectacle of it being lit at midnight on Friday. But not all residents on the Craigyhill estate are happy with the bonfire. Some of those we spoke to this week said the estate appears to have been abandoned by the PSNI, who have no real input or take-away about what happens. One man who said he was once linked to the UDA leadership said: 'If these people really cared about the legacy of loyalism in Larne then they would let the men go freely, because there is no need for them any more. 'The stark reality is the leadership of most UDA Brigades are motivated by money. Fighting republicanism was well down their list of priorities. 'The reality is the loyalist people are under no threat from republicans. We need to face that head-on. When is the last time a republican came into a loyalist area and shot dead a loyalist or a Protestant? It's so long ago no one can remember. 'The UDA was supposed to develop into a community organisation, but for the past 20 years South East UDA has been one of the biggest drugs dealing organisations in Northern Ireland and that's a fact,' said the Craigyhill resident. Four years ago, John Steele – who was born and reared on the nearby Antiville estate – lost his life when he was struck by a falling pallet on a bonfire he helped build. Locals wanted the bonfire at Antiville cancelled as a mark of respect for John and his family. John was extremely popular on both housing estates where he worked as window cleaner. The entire community was stunned by John's death, but despite offering condolences, the local UDA leadership refused to do away with the Antiville bonfire because it saw it as means of attracting youngsters into the ranks of the UDA. It was only when a relative of Mr Steele spoke to the SEA leadership in Rathcoole that their concerns were addressed.
Belfast Telegraph
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Sinn Féin MLA brands erection of flags outside Catholic church an act of ‘sectarian intimidation'
Mr Kearney highlighted the same issue in recent years when a variety of flags, including some "associated with the UDA", Parachute Regiment and local unionist flute bands had 'festooned' the same area. Speaking after flags were erected again in the immediate vicinity of St Comgall's chapel, school and car park at the weekend, the South Antrim MLA said it was another 'deliberate attempt at intimidation, and to foment division' in Antrim town. 'I am angered to see the chapel corner in Antrim once again festooned with flags in the run up to the Twelfth. Erecting flags in this location is both an act of sectarian provocation and deliberately insensitive. It is designed to undermine community relations in the town,' he said. 'It is absolutely intolerable that St Comgall's Chapel Corner continues to be targeted in this way. No place of worship anywhere should be subjected to such disrespect or sectarian intimidation. "This has always been an integrated residential area of the town. It is recognised as a shared community space. Those responsible for erecting these flags should be ashamed of themselves. The campaign of intimidation needs to end. 'Shared residential, retail, recreational areas and workplaces must be respected, and kept free from sectarian threat or harassment. 'All flags in the vicinity of St Comgall's Chapel Corner should be removed immediately. This location should be kept free from the erection of any and all flags and emblems. 'The attempts by those attempting to foment community division must be rejected. There is a clear obligation on all political, civic leaders and public agencies to promote and protect good community relations and to uphold the law. That extends to the removal of these flags.'
Times
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Andy Tyrie obituary: UDA leader at height of the Troubles
In two weeks in 1974 Andy Tyrie almost single-handedly brought Northern Ireland to a standstill and stymied the British government's plan to introduce power-sharing. Enraged by the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, in which the British government gave the Republic of Ireland a say in the affairs of Northern Ireland, the leader of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) co-ordinated the Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) strike, an act of civil disobedience so effective that after two weeks it forced the humiliated British prime minister Harold Wilson to back down. Tyrie himself had no workplace to walk out from as he was drawing the dole. Yet he was never less than busy as the events of the Troubles unfolded. As the commander of Northern Ireland's largest paramilitary force, Tyrie would ultimately be accountable for murder, mayhem, racketeering and the infliction of misery on the lives of many ordinary Catholics and Protestants in the province.
Barnama
28-06-2025
- Business
- Barnama
70 Winners Take Home Prizes Worth RM300,000 In UDA Lucky Draw
JOHOR BAHRU, June 28 (Bernama) -- UDA Holdings Berhad (UDA) today announced 70 lucky draw winners who walked away with prizes worth a total of RM300,000, held in conjunction with the UDA Real Estate Campaign 2024/2025. UDA president and chief executive officer Johari Shukri Jamil said a total of 268 property buyers participated in the draw, 55 per cent of whom were Bumiputera. He said a Proton S70 1.5T Executive topped the list of prizes, with lucky winners also taking home two Modenas Elegan motorcycles, three Ogawa massage chairs, and four three-day, two-night holiday packages to the Hard Rock Hotels in Penang and Desaru, Johor. Johari said 30 Harvey Norman vouchers and 30 SSF Home vouchers — each worth RM500 — were also given away as part of the lucky draw. 'Eligible participants are buyers who have signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) during the campaign period,' he said in his speech during the lucky draw held in conjunction with the Jom Heboh Carnival at Angsana Johor Bahru Mall here today. Also present were UDA Group Property Development chief operating officer Azrudyn Rashid, UDA Land (South) Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Muhammad Ismail Dasuki, UDA Angsana Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Imran Salleh and UDA Group Property Sales and Marketing Division head Noorhasniza Kassim. Johari said UDA recorded RM250 million in sales during the campaign, with Johor showing an encouraging response and the majority of properties sold priced below RM1 million. He said some of the preferred property projects during the campaign included the landed homes at Kuala Terengganu Golf Resort (KTGR) Phase 6, Sarai KTGR Phase 5, and Pelindung Heights Phase 1B in Kuantan, as well as Crescent Dew in Bertam, Taman Sena Permai in Kangar, Mawar in Taman Sultan Sallehuddin, Alor Setar, and Areca Terrace 4B in Bandar UDA Utama here. Johari said the campaign also drew favourable response for strata-type developments such as 38 Bangsar, Pangsapuri Dedaun Residensi and Legasi Kampong Bharu in the Klang Valley, Residensi Amaanee and Residensi Evok in Pulau Pinang, Neu Pendington in Kuching, Sarawak, and the 21BizHub office shop in Bandar UDA Utama here.
