Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 10th-largest primary urban area in the United Kingdom and the second-largest city in Ireland. It had a population of 345,418 in 2021.
The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.
Gerard Adams is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he followed the policy of abstentionism as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the British Parliament for the Belfast West constituency.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom.
John David Taylor, Baron Kilclooney, PC (NI) is a Crossbench life peer from Northern Ireland, who has sat in the House of Lords since 2001. He previously served as the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Strangford from 1983 to 2001. He was deputy leader of the UUP from 1995 to 2001, and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 1998 to 2007.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by Jeffrey Donaldson, it is the second largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and is the fifth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The party has been described as centre-right to right-wing and socially conservative, being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.
Brendan Smyth O.Praem was a Catholic priest and convicted sex offender from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who became notorious as a child molester, using his position in the Catholic Church to obtain access to his victims. During a period of over 40 years, Smyth sexually abused and indecently assaulted at least 143 children in parishes in Belfast, Dublin and the United States. His actions were frequently hidden from police and the public by Roman Catholic officials. Controversy surrounding his case contributed to the downfall of the government of Republic of Ireland in December 1994.
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, holding seventeen seats, and broke through by placing third in first preference votes in the 2019 European Parliament election and polling third-highest regionally at the 2019 UK general election. The party won one of the three Northern Ireland seats in the European Parliament, and one seat, North Down, in the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1950, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA). In 1921, the jurisdiction of the IFA was reduced to Northern Ireland following the secession of clubs in the soon-to-be Irish Free State, although its team remained the national team for all of Ireland until 1950, and used the name Ireland until the 1970s. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) organises the separate Republic of Ireland national football team.
The Belfast Telegraph is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant population", while also being read within Catholic nationalist communities in Northern Ireland.
Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a united Ireland independent of the UK. Unlike other strands of unionism, loyalism has been described as an ethnic nationalism of Ulster Protestants and "a variation of British nationalism". Loyalists are often said to have a conditional loyalty to the British state so long as it defends their interests. They see themselves as loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to British governments and institutions, while Garret FitzGerald argued they are loyal to 'Ulster' over 'the Union'. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state, believing they cannot rely on British governments to support them. The term 'loyalism' is usually associated with paramilitarism.
Andrea Catherine Catherwood is a Northern Irish television presenter and journalist.
Alexander Reid was an Irish Catholic priest noted for his facilitator role in the Northern Ireland peace process, a role BBC journalist Peter Taylor subsequently described as "absolutely critical" to its success.
Billy McKee was an Irish republican and a founding member and leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
Maurice Leitch MBE is an author born in Northern Ireland. Leitch's work includes novels, short stories, dramas, screenplays and radio and television documentaries. His first novel was The Liberty Lad, published in 1965. His second novel, Poor Lazarus was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1969, and Silver's City won the Whitbread Prize in 1981.
Nelson McCausland is a former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician from Northern Ireland, who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Belfast from 2003 until he lost his seat in 2017. and served as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure (2009–2011) and subsequently Minister for Social Development (2011–2014) in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Jenny Taylor is a cultural analyst and journalist and founder of Lapido Media, a consultancy specialising in religious literacy in world affairs. She has travelled widely, especially in the Islamic world, visiting the South Asian headquarters of Muslim groups settled in Great Britain, and writing and commenting on the work of civil society organisations all over Asia and Africa. She is an expert on the connection between faith and culture, on which she has addressed parliamentary and Commonwealth gatherings. Her doctorate is from SOAS in London on Islam and secularisation. She is an advisor to the Relationships Foundation and a former Whitefield Institute grantee. She is the author of A Wild Constraint: the Case for Chastity.
Lapido Media - Centre for Religious Literacy in World Affairs is a British-based ‘philanthromedia’ charity, founded by journalists to "advocate for greater awareness of the faith dimension in policy, governance, and conflict."
The 2014–2016 Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, often referred to as the HIA Inquiry, is the largest inquiry into historical institutional sexual and physical abuse of children in UK legal history. Its remit covers institutions in Northern Ireland that provided residential care for children from 1922 to 1995, but excludes most church-run schools.
Emma Little-Pengelly is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician. She has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since 12 May 2022 when she was co-opted to replace DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson who declined to take up his seat after being elected at the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election to remain in the House of Commons. She previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Belfast South constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 2017 until 2019, when she lost her seat to Claire Hanna of the SDLP, and as an MLA for the Belfast South constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
