Did you know that Mo Mowlam wanted Wimbledon to become the Belfast Dons and bring Premier League football to Northern Ireland?  

 It never happened but peace did bring Ice Hockey to the city.  

 But it hasn’t been plain sailing, the Good Friday Agreement exacerbated the Republic of Ireland/Northern Ireland football eligibility row with several young players from a nationalist background opting to play under the tricolour.  

 Steven Beacom, Declan Bogue and Jonathan Bradley join Keith Baille.   

The BelTel brings you some of Northern Ireland's top journalists, Allison Morris, Sam McBride and Suzanne Breen to name but a few, giving you the inside stories behind what is in the news. Presented by Ciarán Dunbar, the Bel Tel investigates, debates and informs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The BelTel

Peace and sport in NI: poaching players, police playing GAA, Premier League football in Belfast and the Giants

William McGrath, was an influential loyalist, founder of the paramilitary group Tara, and a hardline evangelical Protestant 

 

He was also a notorious predatory paedophile who rape dozens of young boys.  

 

Widely known as the ‘Beast of Kincora’ McGrath was convicted of abuse at the notorious east Belfast boys’ home and jailed in 1981. 

Now an audio tape of McGrath has emerged after more than half a century. In it he espouses an extreme ideology, inter-mixed with mythology, and fuelled by religion.  

 

?The Belfast Telegraph's Northern Ireland editor Sam McBride joins me to tell the story of the tape, how he got it, and what is on it. 

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

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 disappearance did not contribute to his death.   

However, the jury did find that police failings impacted on their ability to come to a conclusion in the inquest and found that the Department of Infrastructure “erred” in its management of the culvert in which the teenager died.  

But it also found that it was not probable that the Department’s management of the culvert more than minimally contributed to Noah’s death.  

They were unable to explain Noah’s behaviour on the day he went missing because the evidence was insufficient to enable them to reach a conclusion.  

 14-year-old Noah’s body was discovered in north Belfast six days after he went missing as he cycled to meet friends.  

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph’s Liam Tunney, who has been in court throughout the inquest. 

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

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 second evacuation warning of the day went out on the Tannoy. Following the evacuation, a bomb in a van exploded in a loading bay, before many employees had the chance to get out. 

One of them – 64-year-old production worker Joe Paton - who'd been in a locker room above the bay - died from his injuries four days later. 

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by former Belfast Telegraph journalists Billy Graham and Alf McCreary, who were there on the day. 

Peace and sport in NI: poaching players, police playing GAA, Premier League football in Belfast and the Giants

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