Jackie McDonald
Encyclopedia
John "Jackie" McDonald (born 2 August 1947) is a senior Northern Irish loyalist
and the incumbent Ulster Defence Association
(UDA) brigadier
for South Belfast, having been promoted to the rank by former UDA commander Andy Tyrie
in 1988, following John McMichael
's killing by the Provisional IRA
in December 1987. He is also a member of the organisation's Inner Council and the spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group
(UPRG), the UDA's political advisory body.
, Northern Ireland
into a Protestant family, McDonald lives in the south Belfast housing estate of Taughmonagh
. His paramilitary activities have attracted considerable publicity from the media, and he was the subject of interviews by journalist Peter Taylor
for the latter's book Loyalists. Described by journalist Rosie Cowan as the UDA's most powerful player, he is an outspoken critic of former Ulster Freedom Fighters' notorious brigadier, Johnny Adair
.
He joined the UDA in 1972 about a year after it was formed in Belfast as an umbrella organisation for loyalist vigilante groups. These groups, such as the Woodvale Defence Association
(WDA) and Shankill Defence Association
(SDA), had sprung up in loyalist areas following the outbreak of The Troubles
in the late 1960s as a means of protecting their local communities from attacks by nationalists
.
He was already a senior UDA member when he played a part in the Ulster Workers Council Strike, helping people on his south Belfast housing estate obtain food, medicine, transport and other necessities during the general strike which had brought Northern Ireland to a standstill in May 1974. At this time he held a job as dispatches manager for the Balmoral Furniture Company in the Shankill Road. It had been the target of a Provisional IRA
bomb in December 1971, in which four people had died, including two infants. According to author Ian S. Wood, McDonald was almost killed during the strike when Military Police
fired upon the hijacked vehicle he was driving in a chase along the Lisburn Road into Sandy Row
.
's large protection racket. In 1988, just after the death of UDA's South Belfast brigadier John McMichael
, who was blown up in a booby-trap car bomb planted by the Provisional IRA outside his home in Lisburn
, Supreme Commander Andy Tyrie
promoted McDonald to the rank of brigadier. He subsequently assumed command of McMichael's South Belfast brigade. Described by Peter Taylor as an "effective and popular commander";, many people, however considered McDonald to have been one of Craig's "henchmen in the latter's profitable racketeering business." McDonald admitted to Taylor: "Through not being able to get a job anywhere else and not being able to look after my own family and being part of the orginisation that needed the money, eventually I did [join Craig] yes."
The same year McDonald took over the South Belfast brigade, Andy Tyrie resigned as UDA commander and James Craig was put permanently out of the picture. The latter was shot dead in an east Belfast pub by two masked gunmen from the UDA (using their cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters") in October 1988 for "treason". It was claimed by younger elements within the UDA that he had set up John McMichael to be targeted by the IRA.
McDonald was arrested in 1989, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in the Maze Prison for extortion, blackmail and intimidation in January 1990. Following his imprisonment he was replaced as brigadier by Alex Kerr
. He was released in 1994.
(LVF) group which was founded by Billy Wright
in 1996, McDonald found himself in 1997 facing the possibility of a loyalist feud
with the local Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), with whom he had previously been on good terms. In June 1997 the son of murdered UDA man, James Curtis Moorehead, shot and killed his father's killer, the UVF's Robert "Basher" Bates
(who was also part of the Shankill Butchers
gang, led by Lenny Murphy
), leading to the Shankill Road UDA "exiling" the young killer to Taughmonagh. UVF members began to prowl McDonald's Taughmonagh stronghold looking for the killer, and a clash between the Donegall Pass UVF and the Sandy Row UDA looked imminent as relations deteriorated both in South Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland as a whole. McDonald did not want a war with the UVF and, according to authors Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack, ultimately negotiated a settlement whereby the killer would be housed on the edge of Taugmonagh and told to keep a low profile.
The UDA gave its support to the Belfast Agreement
in 1998 although McDonald was one of three Inner Council members - the others being John Gregg
and Billy McFarland
- who was less convinced about its merits, particularly the prospect of Sinn Féin
entering any power-sharing executive. Nonetheless McDonald did not advocate a return to armed struggle and in late 1999 when it became clear that a feud between the UVF and LVF was about to begin he joined fellow brigadiers McFarland, Gregg and Jim Gray
in announcing that the UDA would not be getting involved. Such sentiments were not echoed by west Belfast brigadier Johnny Adair however as he saw the LVF as close allies and resented the UVF.
areas, McDonald was a lot less enthusiastic than Adair about getting involved in the Drumcree conflict
. He had grown weary of seeing the mainstream unionist parties seek to ally themselves to loyalist paramilitaries when it was expedient only to sever any links as soon as the relationship no longer suited them. Similarly he was unconvinced by a series of vandalism attacks on loyalist areas in Belfast in late June by three carloads of "republicans", feeling that the missile throwing youths were actually members of Adair's C Company sent to stir up sectarian hatred and win support for Adair's Drumcree strategy. McDonald was one of a number of brigadiers to accept Adair's invitation to a "Loyalist Day of Culture" on the Shankill Road on 19 August 2000 but was shocked to find that C Company had used the day to drive UVF members and their families from the road, even attacking the homes of such UVF "elder statesmen" as Gusty Spence
and Winston Churchill Rea
. At the culmination of the day, McDonald and other brigadiers, as well as Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast
Frank McCoubrey
, were brought onto a makeshift stage where C Company members emerged and fired machine guns into the air in a show of strength.
McDonald however retained his earlier attitude towards feuding with the C Company UDA, and along with McFarland and Gray, told his men to leave the Shankill that evening. McDonald promptly contacted his opposite number in the South Belfast UVF and concluded a pact that their members would not attack each other. Even when the initial feud cooled, the enmity between McDonald and Adair continued to simmer and in Inner Council meetings the two frequently clashed as, according to one veteran loyalist, "Jackie was the only one with the balls to stand up to him". Nonetheless when Adair was released from prison on 15 May 2002, McDonald, arguing that he deserved a second chance and hoping that his return to prison may have mellowed him, was one of the brigadiers to appear at Adair's Boundary Way home and welcome him back in front of the television cameras.
The public show of bonhomie between McDonald and Adair did not result in improved relations in the long term. On 14 September 2002, East Belfast LVF man Stephen Warnock was killed by the Red Hand Commando and immediately afterwards Adair, seeing an opportunity to strike back at a rival, went to his family home to inform visiting LVF members that the killing had been actually ordered by Jim Gray. On Adair's encouragement, an LVF hit team waited for Gray to appear at Warnock's house where, after he paid his respects to the family, he was shot in the face as he left. Gray was seriously injured but survived the attack. McDonald called a crisis meeting of brigadiers, including Adair, at Sandy Row
but it failed to reach a conclusion as Adair denied involvement in the attack on Gray. As soon as the meeting was over, Adair drove to Ballysillan in north Belfast to meet with allies in the LVF, although he was unaware that a mainstream UDA team were following him and recording his movements. When McDonald was told about this second meeting he secured agreement with the other brigadiers that Adair should be expelled from the UDA. Tension simmered for the next few months with little real fighting although McDonald threw a ring of steel around his Taughmonagh stronghold and even obtained an air raid siren to be sounded if any C Company members attempted to enter the estate.
The killing of John Gregg and his associate Rab Carson by C Company in Sailortown
on 1 February 2003 however finally led to a showdown, with McDonald taking charge of the anti-Adair faction. McDonald quickly got word to A and B Company of the West Belfast UDA
, covering the Highfield estate and Woodvale areas of the Greater Shankill and nominally under Adair's command, that Adair was to be removed and secured the loyalty of these two groups. He also told them to set up an office on the Shankill's Heather Street Social Club as a safe house where members of C Company could defect back to the mainstream UDA. Around 1 a.m. on 6 February about 100 heavily armed UDA members invaded the lower Shankill and set upon the twenty or so members of C Company who had remained loyal to Adair. For his part Adair fled the scene with his family and his close ally John White
, ending his spell in charge on the Shankill. Several weeks later McDonald organised a "battle of the bands" (competition between loyalist flute bands) at which he made it clear that unity had been re-established. He then received a standing ovation from those present as, marching behind a masked man carrying an AK 47, McDonald led the other five brigadiers onto the stage.
When asked by Peter Taylor whether he had any regrets about his past involvements, McDonald replied
(UPRG). Politically he always considered former Ulster Democratic Party
(UDP) spokesman Davy Adams to be his main political advisor. He has in recent years turned his attention to community-building activities and helping former loyalist prisoners as a full-time organiser of the John McMichael Centre in Belfast's Sandy Row
district, named after his deceased friend and former comrade.
Beginning in 2003, McDonald has held peace talks with Irish president Mary McAleese
and her husband Martin. In 2004, he was part of a loyalist delegation which met with Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern
in Dublin.
In 2010, to the surprise of many people, he stated that the Orange Order should walk away from the Garvaghy Road dispute unless the residents of the contentious parade route give their consent for the march to take place. He also criticised republicans and Sinn Féin
for manipulating the parades issue.
McDonald met Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams
in person for the first time in June 2010, although the two had spoken previously over the telephone. The meeting, which went well, took place at the family home of Harry Haggan, a loyalist community worker who had just died. McDonald and Adams had both called at the Haggan home to offer their condolences to the deceased man's family.
On 18 May 2011, McDonald led a delegation of UDA brigadiers to the ceremony at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens
in Islandbridge, Dublin where Queen Elizabeth II laid a wreath during her three-day visit to the Republic of Ireland
. McDonald, who was proud and felt honoured to have participated in the event made the following statements to the Irish Times:
He travels on a Republic of Ireland passport.
His picture and details were published on far right
website Redwatch
when he attended an anti-racist protest in 2009.
Commenting on Martin McGuinness
running for election in the Irish presidential election, 2011, McDonald stated that Unionists had nothing to fear from it and any Unionist that opposed it was hypocritical.
In October 2011 after accepting an invitation to attend an event in Belfast City Hall to unveil a new portrait of famous Irish republican and trade union leader James Connolly
he was later forced to withdraw his attendance at the event. The reason for the withdrawal was attributed to an angry backlash from senior UDA leaders angry at the Sinn Fein mayor of Belfast's decision to remove photos of the Royal Family
from his office.
Criticising young loyalists in November 2011, he suggested they were too interested in drinking alcohol and using drugs than caring about their future. In a further verbal attack, he lambasted some loyalist band members for attacking each other when drunk and when there are no Catholics in the vicinity.
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
and the incumbent Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
(UDA) brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
for South Belfast, having been promoted to the rank by former UDA commander Andy Tyrie
Andy Tyrie
Andrew "Andy" Tyrie is an Ulster loyalist and served as commander of the Ulster Defence Association during much of its early history...
in 1988, following John McMichael
John McMichael
John "Big John" McMichael was a leading Northern Irish loyalist who rose to become the most prominent figure within the Ulster Defence Association as the Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belfast Brigade. He was also commander of the organisation's cover name, the "Ulster Freedom Fighters"...
's killing by the Provisional IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
in December 1987. He is also a member of the organisation's Inner Council and the spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group
Ulster Political Research Group
The Ulster Political Research Group is an advisory body connected to the Ulster Defence Association , providing advice to them on political matters...
(UPRG), the UDA's political advisory body.
Ulster Defence Association
Born in BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
into a Protestant family, McDonald lives in the south Belfast housing estate of Taughmonagh
Taughmonagh
Taughmonagh is a small housing estate in South West Belfast, Northern Ireland, within the civil parishes of Drumbeg and Shankill, and barony of Belfast Upper. When the area was first built, the houses consisted of very basic, small, prefabricated aluminium bungalows. The area was regenerated and...
. His paramilitary activities have attracted considerable publicity from the media, and he was the subject of interviews by journalist Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor (Journalist)
Peter Taylor born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire is a British journalist and documentary-maker who had covered for many years the political and armed conflict in Northern Ireland, widely known as the Troubles...
for the latter's book Loyalists. Described by journalist Rosie Cowan as the UDA's most powerful player, he is an outspoken critic of former Ulster Freedom Fighters' notorious brigadier, Johnny Adair
Johnny Adair
Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...
.
He joined the UDA in 1972 about a year after it was formed in Belfast as an umbrella organisation for loyalist vigilante groups. These groups, such as the Woodvale Defence Association
Woodvale Defence Association
The Woodvale Defence Association was a loyalist vigilante group in the Woodvale district of Belfast.The organisation grew from a few smaller vigilante groups. It initially met in a pigeon fancier's club on Leopold Street, a location found on the initiative of Charles Harding Smith, who kept some...
(WDA) and Shankill Defence Association
Shankill Defence Association
The Shankill Defence Association was a loyalist vigilante group formed in May 1969 for the defence of the loyalist Shankill Road area of Belfast, Northern Ireland during the communal disturbances that year....
(SDA), had sprung up in loyalist areas following the outbreak of The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
in the late 1960s as a means of protecting their local communities from attacks by nationalists
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
.
He was already a senior UDA member when he played a part in the Ulster Workers Council Strike, helping people on his south Belfast housing estate obtain food, medicine, transport and other necessities during the general strike which had brought Northern Ireland to a standstill in May 1974. At this time he held a job as dispatches manager for the Balmoral Furniture Company in the Shankill Road. It had been the target of a Provisional IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
bomb in December 1971, in which four people had died, including two infants. According to author Ian S. Wood, McDonald was almost killed during the strike when Military Police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
fired upon the hijacked vehicle he was driving in a chase along the Lisburn Road into Sandy Row
Sandy Row
Sandy Row is a Protestant working-class community in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. It has a population of about 3,000. It is a staunchly loyalist area of Belfast, being a traditional heartland for affiliation with the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and the Orange Order.-Location:Sandy...
.
Brigadier
In the mid-1980s, McDonald became part of UDA "fundraiser" James Pratt CraigJames Craig (loyalist)
James Pratt "Jim" Craig was a Northern Irish loyalist, who served as a fund-raiser for the Ulster Defence Association and sat on its Inner Council. He also ran a large protection racket from west Belfast's Shankill Road area, where he lived...
's large protection racket. In 1988, just after the death of UDA's South Belfast brigadier John McMichael
John McMichael
John "Big John" McMichael was a leading Northern Irish loyalist who rose to become the most prominent figure within the Ulster Defence Association as the Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belfast Brigade. He was also commander of the organisation's cover name, the "Ulster Freedom Fighters"...
, who was blown up in a booby-trap car bomb planted by the Provisional IRA outside his home in Lisburn
Lisburn
DemographicsLisburn Urban Area is within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area and is classified as a Large Town by the . On census day there were 71,465 people living in Lisburn...
, Supreme Commander Andy Tyrie
Andy Tyrie
Andrew "Andy" Tyrie is an Ulster loyalist and served as commander of the Ulster Defence Association during much of its early history...
promoted McDonald to the rank of brigadier. He subsequently assumed command of McMichael's South Belfast brigade. Described by Peter Taylor as an "effective and popular commander";, many people, however considered McDonald to have been one of Craig's "henchmen in the latter's profitable racketeering business." McDonald admitted to Taylor: "Through not being able to get a job anywhere else and not being able to look after my own family and being part of the orginisation that needed the money, eventually I did [join Craig] yes."
The same year McDonald took over the South Belfast brigade, Andy Tyrie resigned as UDA commander and James Craig was put permanently out of the picture. The latter was shot dead in an east Belfast pub by two masked gunmen from the UDA (using their cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters") in October 1988 for "treason". It was claimed by younger elements within the UDA that he had set up John McMichael to be targeted by the IRA.
McDonald was arrested in 1989, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in the Maze Prison for extortion, blackmail and intimidation in January 1990. Following his imprisonment he was replaced as brigadier by Alex Kerr
Alex Kerr (loyalist)
Alex Kerr is a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary. Kerr was a brigadier in the Ulster Defence Association before becoming one of the two founders of the Loyalist Volunteer Force . He is no longer active in loyalism....
. He was released in 1994.
Return to power
Returning to his role as brigadier after Kerr defected to the Loyalist Volunteer ForceLoyalist Volunteer Force
The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and the Portadown unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade was stood down by the UVF leadership. He had been the commander of the Mid-Ulster Brigade. The...
(LVF) group which was founded by Billy Wright
Billy Wright (loyalist)
William Stephen "Billy" Wright was a prominent Ulster loyalist during the period of violent religious/political conflict known as "The Troubles". He joined the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1975 and became commander of its Mid-Ulster Brigade in the early 1990s...
in 1996, McDonald found himself in 1997 facing the possibility of a loyalist feud
Loyalist feud
A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feuds which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland's various loyalist paramilitary groups since they were founded shortly before and after the religious/political conflict known as The Troubles broke out in the late 1960s...
with the local Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), with whom he had previously been on good terms. In June 1997 the son of murdered UDA man, James Curtis Moorehead, shot and killed his father's killer, the UVF's Robert "Basher" Bates
Robert Bates (loyalist)
Robert William Bates was an Ulster loyalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the infamous Shankill Butchers gang, led by Lenny Murphy....
(who was also part of the Shankill Butchers
Shankill Butchers
The Shankill Butchers is the name given to an Ulster loyalist gang, many of whom were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force . The gang conducted paramilitary activities during the 1970s in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was most notorious for its late-night kidnapping, torture and murder of random...
gang, led by Lenny Murphy
Lenny Murphy
Hugh Leonard Thompson Murphy, who commonly went by the name Lenny , was an Ulster loyalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Murphy was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force and leader of the infamous Shankill Butchers a gang which became notorious for its torture and murder of Catholic men...
), leading to the Shankill Road UDA "exiling" the young killer to Taughmonagh. UVF members began to prowl McDonald's Taughmonagh stronghold looking for the killer, and a clash between the Donegall Pass UVF and the Sandy Row UDA looked imminent as relations deteriorated both in South Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland as a whole. McDonald did not want a war with the UVF and, according to authors Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack, ultimately negotiated a settlement whereby the killer would be housed on the edge of Taugmonagh and told to keep a low profile.
The UDA gave its support to the Belfast Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...
in 1998 although McDonald was one of three Inner Council members - the others being John Gregg
John Gregg (UDA)
John Gregg was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist organisation in Northern Ireland. From the 1990s until his shooting death by rival associates, he served as brigadier of its South East Antrim Brigade...
and Billy McFarland
Billy McFarland
William "Billy" McFarland, also known as "the Mexican", is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary. A leading figure in the Ulster Defence Association , he has served as head of the North Antrim and Londonderry Brigade of the group.-Early years:...
- who was less convinced about its merits, particularly the prospect of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
entering any power-sharing executive. Nonetheless McDonald did not advocate a return to armed struggle and in late 1999 when it became clear that a feud between the UVF and LVF was about to begin he joined fellow brigadiers McFarland, Gregg and Jim Gray
Jim Gray (UDA member)
James "Jim" Gray, , was the East Belfast brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association in Northern Ireland, a loyalist paramilitary group. He was often nicknamed "Doris Day" for his flamboyant dress sense and dyed blond hair. Another media nickname for Gray was the "Brigadier of Bling"...
in announcing that the UDA would not be getting involved. Such sentiments were not echoed by west Belfast brigadier Johnny Adair however as he saw the LVF as close allies and resented the UVF.
Clashes with Johnny Adair
McDonald grew further apart from Adair as the year 2000 progressed. Whilst supporting the Orange Order's desire to march through nationalistIrish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
areas, McDonald was a lot less enthusiastic than Adair about getting involved in the Drumcree conflict
Drumcree conflict
The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is an ongoing dispute over a yearly parade in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The dispute is between the Orange Order and local residents. The residents are currently represented by the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition ; before 1995 they were...
. He had grown weary of seeing the mainstream unionist parties seek to ally themselves to loyalist paramilitaries when it was expedient only to sever any links as soon as the relationship no longer suited them. Similarly he was unconvinced by a series of vandalism attacks on loyalist areas in Belfast in late June by three carloads of "republicans", feeling that the missile throwing youths were actually members of Adair's C Company sent to stir up sectarian hatred and win support for Adair's Drumcree strategy. McDonald was one of a number of brigadiers to accept Adair's invitation to a "Loyalist Day of Culture" on the Shankill Road on 19 August 2000 but was shocked to find that C Company had used the day to drive UVF members and their families from the road, even attacking the homes of such UVF "elder statesmen" as Gusty Spence
Gusty Spence
Augustus Andrew "Gusty" Spence was a leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force and a leading loyalist politician. One of the first UVF members to be convicted of murder, Spence was a senior figure in the organisation for over a decade but later renounced violence and joined the Progressive Unionist...
and Winston Churchill Rea
Winston Churchill Rea
Winston Churchill Rea , known as Winkie Rea, is the former leader of the Red Hand Commando loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland....
. At the culmination of the day, McDonald and other brigadiers, as well as Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast
Lord Mayor of Belfast
The Lord Mayor of Belfast is the leader and chairman of Belfast City Council, elected annually from and by the City's 51 councillors.The Lord Mayor is Niall Ó Donnghaile of Sinn Féin, while the Deputy Lord Mayor is Ruth Patterson of the Democratic Unionist Party, who were elected in May 2011.The...
Frank McCoubrey
Frank McCoubrey
Frank McCoubrey is a Unionist politician and loyalist in Northern Ireland, as well as a community activist and researcher. He is a leading member of the Ulster Political Research Group and a member of Belfast City Council, representing the Court area...
, were brought onto a makeshift stage where C Company members emerged and fired machine guns into the air in a show of strength.
McDonald however retained his earlier attitude towards feuding with the C Company UDA, and along with McFarland and Gray, told his men to leave the Shankill that evening. McDonald promptly contacted his opposite number in the South Belfast UVF and concluded a pact that their members would not attack each other. Even when the initial feud cooled, the enmity between McDonald and Adair continued to simmer and in Inner Council meetings the two frequently clashed as, according to one veteran loyalist, "Jackie was the only one with the balls to stand up to him". Nonetheless when Adair was released from prison on 15 May 2002, McDonald, arguing that he deserved a second chance and hoping that his return to prison may have mellowed him, was one of the brigadiers to appear at Adair's Boundary Way home and welcome him back in front of the television cameras.
The public show of bonhomie between McDonald and Adair did not result in improved relations in the long term. On 14 September 2002, East Belfast LVF man Stephen Warnock was killed by the Red Hand Commando and immediately afterwards Adair, seeing an opportunity to strike back at a rival, went to his family home to inform visiting LVF members that the killing had been actually ordered by Jim Gray. On Adair's encouragement, an LVF hit team waited for Gray to appear at Warnock's house where, after he paid his respects to the family, he was shot in the face as he left. Gray was seriously injured but survived the attack. McDonald called a crisis meeting of brigadiers, including Adair, at Sandy Row
Sandy Row
Sandy Row is a Protestant working-class community in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. It has a population of about 3,000. It is a staunchly loyalist area of Belfast, being a traditional heartland for affiliation with the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and the Orange Order.-Location:Sandy...
but it failed to reach a conclusion as Adair denied involvement in the attack on Gray. As soon as the meeting was over, Adair drove to Ballysillan in north Belfast to meet with allies in the LVF, although he was unaware that a mainstream UDA team were following him and recording his movements. When McDonald was told about this second meeting he secured agreement with the other brigadiers that Adair should be expelled from the UDA. Tension simmered for the next few months with little real fighting although McDonald threw a ring of steel around his Taughmonagh stronghold and even obtained an air raid siren to be sounded if any C Company members attempted to enter the estate.
The killing of John Gregg and his associate Rab Carson by C Company in Sailortown
Sailortown, Belfast
Sailortown was a working-class dockland community located in the Docks area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Established in the mid-19th century on partly reclaimed land, it had a mixed Protestant and Catholic population...
on 1 February 2003 however finally led to a showdown, with McDonald taking charge of the anti-Adair faction. McDonald quickly got word to A and B Company of the West Belfast UDA
UDA West Belfast Brigade
The UDA West Belfast Brigade is the section of the Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association based in the western quarter of Belfast in the Greater Shankill area...
, covering the Highfield estate and Woodvale areas of the Greater Shankill and nominally under Adair's command, that Adair was to be removed and secured the loyalty of these two groups. He also told them to set up an office on the Shankill's Heather Street Social Club as a safe house where members of C Company could defect back to the mainstream UDA. Around 1 a.m. on 6 February about 100 heavily armed UDA members invaded the lower Shankill and set upon the twenty or so members of C Company who had remained loyal to Adair. For his part Adair fled the scene with his family and his close ally John White
John White (loyalist)
John White is a former leading loyalist in Northern Ireland. He was sometimes known by the nickname 'Coco'. White was a leading figure in the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and, following a prison sentence for murder, entered politics as a central figure in the Ulster Democratic...
, ending his spell in charge on the Shankill. Several weeks later McDonald organised a "battle of the bands" (competition between loyalist flute bands) at which he made it clear that unity had been re-established. He then received a standing ovation from those present as, marching behind a masked man carrying an AK 47, McDonald led the other five brigadiers onto the stage.
When asked by Peter Taylor whether he had any regrets about his past involvements, McDonald replied
"I have certainly. I would say without a shadow of doubt the worst thing that ever happened to South Belfast, John McMichael and myself especially, was that Jim Craig ever had anything to do with our organisation."
Subsequent activity
McDonald remains a member of the UDA's Inner Council and is also the spokesman for its political advisory body, the Ulster Political Research GroupUlster Political Research Group
The Ulster Political Research Group is an advisory body connected to the Ulster Defence Association , providing advice to them on political matters...
(UPRG). Politically he always considered former Ulster Democratic Party
Ulster Democratic Party
The Ulster Democratic Party was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association to replace their New Ulster Political Research Group...
(UDP) spokesman Davy Adams to be his main political advisor. He has in recent years turned his attention to community-building activities and helping former loyalist prisoners as a full-time organiser of the John McMichael Centre in Belfast's Sandy Row
Sandy Row
Sandy Row is a Protestant working-class community in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. It has a population of about 3,000. It is a staunchly loyalist area of Belfast, being a traditional heartland for affiliation with the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and the Orange Order.-Location:Sandy...
district, named after his deceased friend and former comrade.
Beginning in 2003, McDonald has held peace talks with Irish president Mary McAleese
Mary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She was the second female president and was first elected in 1997 succeeding Mary Robinson, making McAleese the world's first woman to succeed another as president. She was re-elected unopposed for a second term in...
and her husband Martin. In 2004, he was part of a loyalist delegation which met with Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
in Dublin.
In 2010, to the surprise of many people, he stated that the Orange Order should walk away from the Garvaghy Road dispute unless the residents of the contentious parade route give their consent for the march to take place. He also criticised republicans and Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
for manipulating the parades issue.
McDonald met Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
in person for the first time in June 2010, although the two had spoken previously over the telephone. The meeting, which went well, took place at the family home of Harry Haggan, a loyalist community worker who had just died. McDonald and Adams had both called at the Haggan home to offer their condolences to the deceased man's family.
On 18 May 2011, McDonald led a delegation of UDA brigadiers to the ceremony at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens
Irish National War Memorial Gardens
The Irish National War Memorial Gardens is an Irish war memorial in Islandbridge, Dublin dedicated "to the memory of the 49,400 Irish soldiers who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914–1918", out of over 300,000 Irishmen who served in all armies....
in Islandbridge, Dublin where Queen Elizabeth II laid a wreath during her three-day visit to the Republic of Ireland
Queen Elizabeth II's visit to the Republic of Ireland
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh made a state visit to the Republic of Ireland from 17 May to 20 May 2011, at the invitation of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese....
. McDonald, who was proud and felt honoured to have participated in the event made the following statements to the Irish Times:
"It shows that there is a relationship and an association between Northern Ireland and the Republic. People need to be aware of the similarities and the sacrifices, especially in the wars. I think it is a time for them to come together and appreciate each other's pasts and give ourselves all a better future. I always thought "The Troubles" would never end in my lifetime, and in many ways they still haven't really, but there is a kind of peace. We need to build on that."
He travels on a Republic of Ireland passport.
His picture and details were published on far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
website Redwatch
Redwatch
Redwatch is a British website associated with members of the far-right British People's Party. It publishes photographs of, and personal information about, alleged far left and anti-fascist activists. It typically targets activists in political parties, advocacy groups, trade unions and the media...
when he attended an anti-racist protest in 2009.
Commenting on Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
running for election in the Irish presidential election, 2011, McDonald stated that Unionists had nothing to fear from it and any Unionist that opposed it was hypocritical.
In October 2011 after accepting an invitation to attend an event in Belfast City Hall to unveil a new portrait of famous Irish republican and trade union leader James Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
he was later forced to withdraw his attendance at the event. The reason for the withdrawal was attributed to an angry backlash from senior UDA leaders angry at the Sinn Fein mayor of Belfast's decision to remove photos of the Royal Family
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
from his office.
Criticising young loyalists in November 2011, he suggested they were too interested in drinking alcohol and using drugs than caring about their future. In a further verbal attack, he lambasted some loyalist band members for attacking each other when drunk and when there are no Catholics in the vicinity.
External links
- http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00135/jackie_135302t.jpg Jackie McDonald
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,888432,00.html
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3420391.stm
- http://www.fortnight.org/grant429.html
- http://www.socialistdemocracy.org/RecentArticles/RecentLoyalismAndBritishPolicy.html
- http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/2009/The-continuing-shame-of-post-conflict-Northern-Ireland.php