Republicans were trying to create “no go” areas for Protestants in rural parts of Northern Ireland, taoiseach Bertie Ahern was told when he brought leading loyalist figures to Dublin in 2003. Welcoming the group to Dublin, Ahern said his own father had been “a good rebel” in his time, adding that he himself devoted so much time to Northern Ireland because he wanted to bring peace and stability there. Jim Wilson, who was then an Ulster Unionist Party Stormont MLA for East Belfast, said Sinn Féin “operated a powerful propaganda machine” that was able to set the narrative about Northern Ireland. They believed that there was an iron triangle of the British and Irish governments and Sinn Féin working against them,” he told Mr Ahern. He was not interested in running Northern Ireland, but he wanted North/South bodies to work,” a note records.

Source: The Irish Times December 28, 2025 07:32 UTC